You can comment out code in a PowerShell script for documentation or debugging purposes, just like in any other programming language. There are line comments and block comments in PowerShell.
In PowerShell v.1, only single-line comments could be used using the # (Hash) character. Use a hashtag followed by a white-space(!) for this:
# This is a comment in PowerShell. Everything from the first # until the end of the line is treated as a comment.
Hint. This is not a comment:
#This is not a PowerShell comment as there is no space after the hash.Anything following the hashtag (#) on the same line is ignored by the PowerShell interpreter when processing code.
In newer versions of PowerShell, you can use multi-line comments using the block <# #>.
<# This is a multiline comment. #>
In the following example, we have commented out part of the code using a comment block:
$servicename = “Spooler”
if (Get-Service $servicename -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)
{
Write-Host "$servicename exists"
<#
Get-service $servicename |Restart-Service
Write-host “Service $servicename has been restarted”
#>
}Multiline comments are commonly used in PowerShell to add descriptive help at the beginning of a PS script file but are also used to embed comment text in a command.
You can use a block comment to insert the comment text into a PowerShell command:
Get-Content -Path <#specify the path to your file here #> C:\ps\list.txt
When editing PowerShell ISE code, the commented-out code is highlighted in green.
To add a comment block in PowerShell ISE, press CTRL+J and select “Comment block” from the drop-down menu. As a result, a PowerShell block with a comment will be added to the editor pane.
Also, you can select a line your want to comment out and press the Ctrl+K keyboard shortcut.
More conveniently, you can define a comment block in PowerShell ISE using the following function:
function Toggle-Comment
{
$file = $psise.CurrentFile
$text = $file.Editor.SelectedText
if ($text.StartsWith("<#")) {
$comment = $text.Substring(3).TrimEnd("#>")
}
else
{
$comment = "<#" + $text + "#>"
}
$file.Editor.InsertText($comment)
}
$psise.CurrentPowerShellTab.AddOnsMenu.Submenus.Add('Toggle Comment', { Toggle-Comment }, 'CTRL+K')Add this function to your PowerShell profile and it will be automatically imported into your session when PowerShell ISE starts. Now just press CTRL+K to put a block comment for the selected lines of code.
If you prefer to use Visual Studio Code to edit PowerShell scripts, you can comment out one or more code lines by selecting the lines you want and pressing the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + /” or “Alt + Shift + A” for toggling block comments.
It’s a good habit to start your PowerShell scripts with a description comment block like this:
<# .SYNOPSIS Short description .DESCRIPTION Long description .EXAMPLE PS C:\> <example usage> Explanation of what the example does .INPUTS Inputs (if any) .OUTPUTS Output (if any) .NOTES General notes #>
In Visual Studio Code, you can automatically add a default comment-based help block to your script by typing the comment-help command:
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