How to return one and only one value from a PowerShell function?

Question

I\'ve learned from this Stack Overflow question, that PowerShell return semantics are different, let\'s say, from C#\'s return semantics. Quote from the aforementioned quest

Answer 1

Don't use echo to write information, use Write-Host, Write-Verbose or Write-Debug depending on the message.

Echo is an alias for Write-Output which will send it as an Object through the pipeline. Write-Host/Verbose/Debug however is only console-messages.

PS P:\> alias echo

CommandType Name                 ModuleName
----------- ----                 ----------
Alias       echo -> Write-Output               

Sample:

function test {
    Write-Host calc
    return 11
}

$t = test
"Objects returned: $($t.count)"
$t

#Output
calc
Objects returned: 1
11

Also, if you return the value on the last line in your function, then you don't need to use return. Writing the Object/value by itself is enough.

function test {
    Write-Host calc
    11
}

The difference is that return 11 would skip the lines after it you use it in the middle of a function.

function test {
    return 11
    12
}

test

#Output
11