Powershell prints variables out of order

Question

I'm brand new to powershell, and I'm finding a very odd behavior when I try and pass a parameter into a function:

Code

Param(
  [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string]$vhdSourceDir,
  [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string]$vhdDestinationDir,
  [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][array]$hypervisorList,
  [int]$vhdKeep = 10
)


function getDirectoryBuildNumber ($dir) {

    # Returns a number like 627c6ddeb8776914 from a path like: 
    # c:\BulidAgent\work\627c6ddeb8776914\packer\windows\box\hyperv\win2012r2std-cheflatest-001.box
    return ( Get-ChildItem $dir | Where-Object {$_.Name -match "^[A-Za-z0-9]{16}$" } | Sort-Object LastAccessTime -Descending | Select-Object -First 1 )
}


function findBoxFile ($dir, $build) {

    echo "looking for build $build at $dir "
    echo "the dir is $dir and the build is $build"
    # e.g c:\BulidAgent\work\627c6ddeb8776914\packer\windows\box\hyperv\win2012r2std-cheflatest-001.box
    return ( Get-ChildItem $dir\$build\packer\windows\box\hyperv\ | Where-Object Extension -in '.box' | Sort-Object LastAccessTime -Descending | Select-Object -First 1 )
}

Function Main ()
{
    $THEBUILD=getDirectoryBuildNumber($vhdSourceDir)
    echo "THEBUILD is $THEBUILD"
    findBoxFile($vhdSourceDir,$THEBUILD)
    #echo "BOXFILE is $BOXFILE"

}
main

Problem

Here are the parameters that I call the script with:

.\boxMove.ps1 -vhdSourceDir C:\BuildAgent\work -vhdDestinationDir e:\ -hypervisorList 'foobar'

Here is the output it generates

THEBUILD is 527c6ddeb8776914
looking for build  at C:\BuildAgent\work 527c6ddeb8776914 
the dir is C:\BuildAgent\work 527c6ddeb8776914 and the build is 
Get-ChildItem : Cannot find path 'C:\BuildAgent\work 527c6ddeb8776914\packer\windows\box\hyperv\' because it does not exist.

The parameters show up out of order. For example, the phrase 'looking for build should appear like so"

looking for build 527c6ddeb8776914  at C:\BuildAgent\work

but it shows up as

looking for build  at C:\BuildAgent\work 527c6ddeb8776914

Also the phrase 'the dir is..' should read

the dir is C:\BuildAgent\work and the build is 527c6ddeb8776914

but it reads as

the dir is C:\BuildAgent\work 527c6ddeb8776914 and the build is

Why is powershell not printing the strings in order?

First: Do not use parentheses to call PowerShell functions.

Bill_Stewart
– Bill_Stewart

2015-04-13 20:46:36 +00:00
Commented Apr 13, 2015 at 20:46 — Bill_Stewart
– Bill_Stewart, Commented Apr 13, 2015 at 20:46

Matt · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-14 14:17:04Z

2

When you pass parameters to functions do not encapsulate them in parentheses and where multiple parameters are being passed, they should not be comma separated, instead a space should be used to separate them.

For instance:

findBoxFile($vhdSourceDir,$THEBUILD)

should read:

findBoxFile $vhdSourceDir $THEBUILD

Then you'll find that this removes the issue you were encountering with the incorrectly ordered output.

edited Apr 14, 2015 at 14:17

Matt

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answered Apr 14, 2015 at 13:25

MysticHeroes

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Comments

Trondh · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-13 20:53:32Z

0

Firstly, clean up your function definitions. Instead of

function (params){code}

you should use

function
{
Param ($Param1,$param2)
code
}

Also, when accepting an array as a param, instead of using [array], specify the array type, (probably string in your case), so that would be (line 4)

[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string[]]$hypervisorList,

It's hard do say exactly why the script fails, but I'd start by cleaning up the obvious issues and test again.

answered Apr 13, 2015 at 20:53

Trondh

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