How to exit from ForEach-Object in PowerShell

Question

I have the following code:

$project.PropertyGroup | Foreach-Object {
    if($_.GetAttribute(\'Condition\').Trim() -eq $propertyGroupConditionName.Trim()) {
           


        

Answer 1

Since ForEach-Object is a cmdlet, break and continue will behave differently here than with the foreach keyword. Both will stop the loop but will also terminate the entire script:

break:

0..3 | foreach {
    if ($_ -eq 2) { break }
    $_
}
echo "Never printed"

# OUTPUT:
# 0
# 1

continue:

0..3 | foreach {
    if ($_ -eq 2) { continue }
    $_
}
echo "Never printed"

# OUTPUT:
# 0
# 1

So far, I have not found a "good" way to break a foreach script block without breaking the script, except "abusing" exceptions:

throw:

try {
    0..3 | foreach {
        if ($_ -eq 2) { throw }
        $_
    }
} catch { }
echo "End"

# OUTPUT:
# 0
# 1
# End

The alternative (which is not always possible) would be to use the foreach keyword:

foreach:

foreach ($_ in (0..3)) {
    if ($_ -eq 2) { break }
    $_
}
echo "End"

# OUTPUT:
# 0
# 1
# End

Answer 2

Answer for Question #1 - You could simply have your if statement stop being TRUE

$project.PropertyGroup | Foreach {
    if(($_.GetAttribute('Condition').Trim() -eq $propertyGroupConditionName.Trim()) -and !$FinishLoop) {
        $a = $project.RemoveChild($_);
        Write-Host $_.GetAttribute('Condition')"has been removed.";
        $FinishLoop = $true
    }
};

Answer 3

I found this question while looking for a way to have fine grained flow control to break from a specific block of code. The solution I settled on wasn't mentioned...

Using labels with the break keyword

From: about_break

A Break statement can include a label that lets you exit embedded loops. A label can specify any loop keyword, such as Foreach, For, or While, in a script.

Here's a simple example

:myLabel for($i = 1; $i -le 2; $i++) {
        Write-Host "Iteration: $i"
        break myLabel
}

Write-Host "After for loop"

# Results:
# Iteration: 1
# After for loop

And then a more complicated example that shows the results with nested labels and breaking each one.

:outerLabel for($outer = 1; $outer -le 2; $outer++) {

    :innerLabel for($inner = 1; $inner -le 2; $inner++) {
        Write-Host "Outer: $outer / Inner: $inner"
        #break innerLabel
        #break outerLabel
    }

    Write-Host "After Inner Loop"
}

Write-Host "After Outer Loop"

# Both breaks commented out
# Outer: 1 / Inner: 1
# Outer: 1 / Inner: 2
# After Inner Loop
# Outer: 2 / Inner: 1
# Outer: 2 / Inner: 2
# After Inner Loop
# After Outer Loop

# break innerLabel Results
# Outer: 1 / Inner: 1
# After Inner Loop
# Outer: 2 / Inner: 1
# After Inner Loop
# After Outer Loop

# break outerLabel Results
# Outer: 1 / Inner: 1
# After Outer Loop

You can also adapt it to work in other situations by wrapping blocks of code in loops that will only execute once.

:myLabel do {
    1..2 | % {

        Write-Host "Iteration: $_"
        break myLabel

    }
} while ($false)

Write-Host "After do while loop"

# Results:
# Iteration: 1
# After do while loop