A better way to check if a path exists or not in PowerShell

Question

I just don\'t like the syntax of:

if (Test-Path $path) { ... }

and

if (-not (Test-Path $path)) { ... }
if (!(Test-Path $pa         


        

Answer 1

The alias solution you posted is clever, but I would argue against its use in scripts, for the same reason I don't like using any aliases in scripts; it tends to harm readability.

If this is something you want to add to your profile so you can type out quick commands or use it as a shell, then I could see that making sense.

You might consider piping instead:

if ($path | Test-Path) { ... }
if (-not ($path | Test-Path)) { ... }
if (!($path | Test-Path)) { ... }

Alternatively, for the negative approach, if appropriate for your code, you can make it a positive check then use else for the negative:

if (Test-Path $path) {
    throw "File already exists."
} else {
   # The thing you really wanted to do.
}