Is it possible to terminate or stop a PowerShell pipeline from within a filter

Question

I have written a simple PowerShell filter that pushes the current object down the pipeline if its date is between the specified begin and end date. The objects coming down

Answer 1

Try these filters, they'll force the pipeline to stop after the first object -or the first n elements- and store it -them- in a variable; you need to pass the name of the variable, if you don't the object(s) are pushed out but cannot be assigned to a variable.

filter FirstObject ([string]$vName = '') {
 if ($vName) {sv $vName $_ -s 1} else {$_}
 break
}

filter FirstElements ([int]$max = 2, [string]$vName = '') {
 if ($max -le 0) {break} else {$_arr += ,$_}
 if (!--$max) {
  if ($vName) {sv $vName $_arr -s 1} else {$_arr}
  break
 }
}

# can't assign to a variable directly
$myLog = get-eventLog security | ... | firstObject

# pass the the varName
get-eventLog security | ... | firstObject myLog
$myLog

# can't assign to a variable directly
$myLogs = get-eventLog security | ... | firstElements 3

# pass the number of elements and the varName
get-eventLog security | ... | firstElements 3 myLogs
$myLogs

####################################

get-eventLog security | % {
 if ($_.timegenerated -lt (date 11.09.08) -and`
  $_.timegenerated -gt (date 11.01.08)) {$log1 = $_; break}
}

#
$log1