CODEWITHSUNDEEP
powershellvariables
Andrew P
Andrew P

Reputation: 3

Powershell reporting wrong variable value

new to stackoverflow. Have been a lurker for years but now need help. I am writing a simple script for an MSP to detect for a base set of applications and if not installed to run the chocolatey install command for that app. When I run this in ISE as an admin it reports back true for all the variable values even if it is not true. If I run just the test-path and tell it to write-host the value it is correct. But when ran all together it always comes back True. Can someone help investigate for me? 

#Are programs installed?

    $a = Test-Path "C:\Program Files\7-Zip" IF ($a = "True") {Write-Host "7-zip is installed"} ELSE {Write-Host "7-zip is not installed, install command sent" choco install 7zip -y}

    $b = Test-Path "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox" IF ($b = "True") {Write-Host "Firefox is installed"} ELSE {Write-Host "Firefox is not installed, install command sent"}

    $c = Test-Path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC" IF ($c = "True") {Write-Host "Adobe Reader is installed"} ELSE {Write-Host "Adobe Reader is not installed, install command sent"}

    $d = Test-Path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome" IF ($d = "True") {Write-Host "Chrome is installed"} ELSE {Write-Host "Chrome is not installed, install command sent"}

Upvotes: 0

Views: 188

Answers (3)

MisterSmith
MisterSmith

Reputation: 3624

Your code has a few issues, 

IF ($a = "True")

You cant use an = equals, you must use a -eq. Also, "True" is a String containing 4 characters, the boolean values for True and False are $true and $false, so your code becomes:

    IF ($a -eq $true)

But you can simplify this further:

    IF ($a)

Below is how i would write this logic:

if(-not (Test-Path -Path "C:\Program Files\7-Zip")){
    Write-Host "Installing 7-Zip...";
    # do stuff ... 
}else{
    Write-Host "7-Zip already installed";
}

(Like in Mathematics you start from the innermost parentheses and work outwards, in this case Test-Path -Path "C:\Program Files\7-Zip" first - which in my case returns $true. The -not() negates the result of the expression in the parentheses ( ) changing it to $false).

Given how you plan to use it, you should probably wrap it up inside a function so you can write the logic once and re-use it without duplicating the code such as:

#Simple function
function InstallIfNessersary([String] $installDir, [String] $chocoPackage){
    if(-not (Test-Path -Path $installDir)){
        Write-Host "Installing Package $chocoPackage...";
        #Do stuff with $chocoPackage
    }else{
        Write-Host "7-Zip already installed";
    }
}

#Call the function for each app
InstallIfNessersary -installDir "C:\Program Files\7-Zip" -chocoPackage 7zip
InstallIfNessersary -installDir "C:\Program Files\X" -chocoPackage X
InstallIfNessersary -installDir "C:\Program Files\Y" -chocoPackage Y

Which on my PC outputs:

7-Zip already installed
Installing Package X...
Installing Package Y...

Upvotes: 1

Andrew P
Andrew P

Reputation: 3

I was setting my variable to true and not checking for the value. Changed = to -eq for if statement and it runs fine now.

Upvotes: 0

James Pogran
James Pogran

Reputation: 4379

Did you enter into the console the code exactly like it is in the question? If so, then it isn't correct syntax. The if statements need to be on a new line, or have ; separating them from the Test-path statement:

$a = Test-Path "C:\Program Files\7-Zip"
IF ($a = "True") {Write-Host "7-zip is installed"} ELSE {Write-Host "7-zip is not installed, install command sent" choco install 7zip -y}

$b = Test-Path "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox"
IF ($b = "True") {Write-Host "Firefox is installed"} ELSE {Write-Host "Firefox is not installed, install command sent"}

$c = Test-Path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC"
IF ($c = "True") {Write-Host "Adobe Reader is installed"} ELSE {Write-Host "Adobe Reader is not installed, install command sent"}

$d = Test-Path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome"
IF ($d = "True") {Write-Host "Chrome is installed"} ELSE {Write-Host "Chrome is not installed, install command sent"}

When trying to figure out when something is not working, proper formatting can help, especially when copy pasting code into a window. If everything still is reporting 'True' check to see if your console has those variables set to true already

Upvotes: 0

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