How to convert a Windows CMD Forloop in PowerShell - windows

Question

I have the following code in command shell code.
SET MYdir=%NewPath%\%CUST%\SuppliesTypes
SET "MYsCount=1"
SET /p MYsCount="Number of MYs in project? (default: %MYSCount%): "
for /L %%a in (1,1,%MYsCount%) do (
SET /p MYNums="Enter %%a MY Number: "
call md "%MYdir%\MY_%%MYNums%%"
)
SET "MYsCount="
However, I am converting my code from CMD to PowerShell. I do not fully understand the correct way to convert over. Here might be how it should be done, but it's not working as it just jumps right through.
SET MYdir=%NewPath%\%CUST%\Product
SET "MYsCount=1"
SET /p MYsCount="Number of MYs in project? (default: %MYSCount%): "
For ($MYsCount = 1; $MYsCount -eq 10; $MYsCount++){
SET /p MyNums="Enter %%a Product Numbers: "
CALL MD "%MYdir%\%CUST%\Product_%%"
}
SET "$MYsCount="
I've looked at the following sites and articles:
PowerShell Basics: Programming With Loops (Helped validate)
How to do a forloop in a Django template? (Didn't really help)
Windows PowerShell Cookbook, 3rd Edition (Page 170)
I am running this code inside a While-Loop.
Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

You have an interesting amalgam of batch file and powershell there in your second code block. It is hard to read when some things are one language and some things are another. Let's see if we can't get it all into PowerShell here.
$MYdir = "$NewPath\$CUST\Product"
$MYsCount = 1
$UserMYsCount = Read-Host "Number of MYs in project? (default: $MYSCount): "
If([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($UserMYsCount){
$UserMYsCount = $MYsCount
}
For ($i = 1; $i -le $UserMYsCount; $I++){
$MyNums = Read-Host "Enter $i Product Numbers: "
New-Item -Path "$MYdir\MY_$MyNums" -ItemType Directory
}

Answer 2

I believe the issue is coming from how you are declaring your variables. SET creates the variables as environment variables that powershell does not access natively. Below is how I would write up your section of code:
$MYDir = "$env:NewPath\$env:CUST\SuppliesTypes"
$MYsCount = 1
$MYsCount = read-host -prompt "Number of MYs in project? (default: $MYSCount): "
foreach ($a in 0..$MYsCount){
$MYNums = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter $a Product Numbers: "
New-Item -Path "$MYDir\MY_$MYNums" -ItemType Directory
}
$MYsCount = $null
I used a foreach loop instead of a normal for loop because you were incrementing by one each time and I have noticed a small performance gain from using foreach when the step is not complicated. 0..$variable is a short hand for using each number from 0 to the declared variable.
If you did want to use a for loop as you mentioned then you could use:
For ($MYsCount = 1; $MYsCount -eq 10; $MYsCount++){
as you had expected. This loop will only stop if the $MYsCount variable equals 10 though so if someone set the variable to something above 10 it would run indefinitely.