How can I get powershell exception descriptions into a string?
How about:
$x = ($error[0] | out-string)
Is that what you wanted?
I took it a bit further because I didn't like the multilines from $error[0].InvocationInfo.PositionMessage.
Function FriendlyErrorString ($thisError) {
[string] $Return = $thisError.Exception
$Return += "`r`n"
$Return += "At line:" + $thisError.InvocationInfo.ScriptLineNumber
$Return += " char:" + $thisError.InvocationInfo.OffsetInLine
$Return += " For: " + $thisError.InvocationInfo.Line
Return $Return
}
[string] $ErrorString = FriendlyErrorString $Error[0]
$ErrorString
You can look at what else is availible to construct your own String via:
$Error | Get-Member
$Error[0].InvocationInfo | Get-Member
If you want a bit shorter message (more user friendly sometimes?) than @tomasr suggests this will do:
$error[0].ToString() + $error[0].InvocationInfo.PositionMessage
You will get something like:
Cannot find path 'C:\TEMP\_100804_135716\missing' because it does not exist.
At C:\TEMP\_100804_135716\test.ps1:5 char:15
+ Get-ChildItem <<<< missing
This technical info will be excluded:
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\TEMP\_100804_135716\missing:String) [Get-ChildItem], ItemNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand