Powershell script if else statements - windows

Question

-U returns the else echo statement and I can't figure out why. Everything else works if just seems to be ignoring my first if statement. The script functions for folder navigation. -U should return the /users/username directory. Thanks in advance for the help.
function display-path {Get-ChildItem Env:Path }
function folder {
[CmdletBinding(DefaultParameterSetName='Default')]
param(
[Alias('u')]
[Parameter(ParameterSetName='User')]
[switch] $Username
,
[Alias('s')]
[Parameter(ParameterSetName='Scripts')]
[switch] $Scripts
,
[Parameter(ParameterSetName='Desktop')]
[Alias('d')]
[switch] $Desktop
,
[Alias('h')]
[Parameter(ParameterSetName='help')]
[switch] $Help
,
[Alias('r')]
[Parameter(ParameterSetName='root')]
[switch] $root
)
$targetFolder =
if ($Username) {
$targetFolder += '\user\username'
}
if ($Scripts) {
$targetFolder += '\Desktop\Scripts'
}
elseif ($Desktop) {
$targetFolder += '\Desktop'
}
if ($root) {
$targetFolder += 'c:\'
}
else {
echo "
-H Display help. This is the same as not typing any options.
-U Change to the 'Username' directory
-S Change to the 'scripts' directory
-D Change to the 'desktop' directory"
}
Push-Location -LiteralPath $targetFolder
}
EDIT:
Here is the code updated with the else if statement that doesn't work, it is ignoring the first if statement.
function display-path {Get-ChildItem Env:Path }
<#
**One of these can be used to navigate to the username directory. The first will only allow you to navigate to one user, the second allows for you to select the user.**
$targetFolder =
if ($Username) {
$targetFolder += '\user\Username' #replace with your username
}
if ($Username) {
Join-Path (Split-Path -LiteralPath $HOME) $Username
} else {
$HOME
} #>
function folder {
[CmdletBinding(DefaultParameterSetName='Default')]
param(
[Alias('u')]
[switch] $Username
,
[Alias('s')]
[Parameter(ParameterSetName='Scripts')]
[switch] $Scripts
,
[Parameter(ParameterSetName='Desktop')]
[Alias('d')]
[switch] $Desktop
,
[Alias('h')]
[Parameter(ParameterSetName = 'help')]
[switch]$Help
,
[Alias('r')]
[Parameter(ParameterSetName = 'root')]
[switch]$root
)
$targetFolder =
if ($Username) {
$targetFolder += '\users\username
}
elseif ($Scripts) {
$targetFolder += '\Desktop\Scripts'
}
elseif ($Desktop) {
$targetFolder += '\Desktop'
}
elseif ($root) {
## same as other but we can use $env:homedrive for the root of C:
$targetFolder = $env:HOMEDRIVE + '\'
$r = ' -R '
}
elseif ($Help) {
echo "
-H Display help. This is the same as not typing any options.
-U Change to the 'Username' directory
-S Change to the 'scripts' directory
-D Change to the 'desktop' directory"
}
else {
echo "
-H Display help. This is the same as not typing any options.
-U Change to the 'Username' directory
-S Change to the 'scripts' directory
-D Change to the 'desktop' directory"
}
Push-Location -LiteralPath $targetFolder
}

Answer 1

If you want parameters to do something mutually exclusive and show help only if none are specified, you need to chain all your checks in a single if ... elseif ... elseif ... else chain:
if ($Username) {
$targetFolder += '\user\swmur'
}
elseif ($Scripts) {
$targetFolder += '\Desktop\Scripts'
}
elseif ($Desktop) {
$targetFolder += '\Desktop'
}
elseif ($root) {
$targetFolder += 'c:\'
}
else {
echo "
-H Display help. This is the same as not typing any options.
-U Change to the 'Username' directory
-S Change to the 'scripts' directory
-D Change to the 'desktop' directory"
}

Answer 2

I added some colorful commentary. This should be pretty close to what you're looking for.
function display-path {
<#
.SYNOPSIS
quick shortcut to get env:PATH
.DESCRIPTION
Call Get-ChildItem with the the -path set to "env:Path" which actually just outputs out the child items of the current folder...
.EXAMPLE
display-path | Format-List
Name : Path
Value : C:\Program Files\Eclipse Adoptium\jdk-17.0.2.8-hotspot\bin;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPow
erShell\v1.0\;C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH\;C:\Program Files\PuTTY\;C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin;C:\Program Files\Go\bin;C:\Program
Files\dotnet\;C:\Program Files\Eclipse Adoptium\jdk-17.0.2.8-hotspot\bin;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\Syste
m32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH\;C:\Program Files\PuTTY\;C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin;C:\Program
Files\Go\bin;C:\Program Files\dotnet\;C:\Python310\Scripts;C:\Users\jedurham\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin
.NOTES
not sure why anyone needs this
#>
Get-ChildItem -Path Env:Path
}
function folder {
<#
.SYNOPSIS
shortcut to move between folder someone uses often
.DESCRIPTION
shortcut to move between folder someone uses often.
can be used to quickly navigate to common directories.
.PARAMETER Username
Moves to the C:\Users\currentuser\ Folder.
.PARAMETER Scripts
Moves to a hard coded path called 'C:\Users\currentuser\Desktop\Scripts'
.PARAMETER Desktop
Moves to a hard coded path called 'C:\Users\currentuser\Desktop\'
.PARAMETER Help
Displays this file.
.PARAMETER root
Moves to the root of the current drive.
.EXAMPLE
folder -Username
C:> folder -U
You chose the -U flag!! Moving to C:\Users\currentuser\
.EXAMPLE
folder -Scripts
C:> folder -S
You chose the -S flag!! Moving to C:\Users\currentuser\Desktop\Scripts
.EXAMPLE
folder -Desktop
C:> folder -D
You chose the -D flag!! Moving to C:\Users\currentuser\Desktop\
.EXAMPLE
folder -root
C:\> folder -r
You chose the -R flag!! Moving to C:\
.NOTES
Needs a lot of work ....
v0.01
#>
[CmdletBinding(DefaultParameterSetName = 'Default')]
param(
[Alias('u')]
[Parameter(ParameterSetName = 'User')]
[switch]$Username
,
[Alias('s')]
[Parameter(ParameterSetName = 'Scripts')]
[switch]$Scripts
,
[Parameter(ParameterSetName = 'Desktop')]
[Alias('d')]
[switch]$Desktop
,
[Alias('h')]
[Parameter(ParameterSetName = 'help')]
[switch]$Help
,
[Alias('r')]
[Parameter(ParameterSetName = 'root')]
[switch]$root
)
$switchoutput = 'You chose the{0} flag!! Moving to {1}{2}'
if ($Username) {
## you need more comments in your code
## are you just trying to move the \user\current logged in?
## just use $env:USERPROFILE
$targetFolder = $env:USERPROFILE
$u = ' -U'
Write-Output -InputObject ($switchoutput -f $U, $targetFolder, '')
}
elseif ($Scripts) {
## a little tougher here because you need to hard code this path
## we could also ask for it ask an addendum to this switch :P
## ill do it this way
$targetFolder = $env:USERPROFILE
$s = ' -S '
## it might be better to define this else
$scriptspath = 'Desktop\Scripts'
$targetFolder = $env:USERPROFILE + $scriptspath
Write-Output -InputObject ($switchoutput -f $S, $targetFolder, '')
}
elseif ($Desktop) {
## same as above
## it might be better to define this else
$desktop = '\Desktop\'
$targetFolder = $env:USERPROFILE + $desktop
$d = ' -D '
Write-Output -InputObject ($switchoutput -f $d, $targetFolder, '')
}
elseif ($root) {
## same as other but we can use $env:homedrive for the root of C:
$targetFolder = $env:HOMEDRIVE + '\'
$r = ' -R '
Write-Output -InputObject ($switchoutput -f $r, $targetFolder, '')
}
else {
Write-Output -InputObject "
-H Display help. This is the same as not typing any options.
-U Change to the 'Username' directory
-S Change to the 'scripts' directory
-D Change to the 'desktop' directory"
-R Change to the Root of home directory"
}
if (Test-Path -Path $targetFolder) {
Set-Location -LiteralPath $targetFolder -Verbose
}
else {
Write-Output -InputObject ('{0} was not found :( exiting' -f $targetFolder)
}
}