Return keyword in PowerShell - output not formatted correctly [duplicate]

Question

Consider this simple code:

function Fruits {
    Install-WindowsFeature -Name Telnet-Client

    return @("apple", "banana", "orange")
}

$FruitArray = @(Fruits)

Output of $FruitArray[0]:

Success Restart Needed Exit Code     Feature Result
------- -------------- ---------     --------------
True    Yes            Success       {}

Output of $FruitArray[1], $FruitArray[2], $FruitArray[3]:

apple
banana
orange

What is happening here? How can I clear the unwanted output from the first element of the array, using return?

Using PowerShell version 5.1, Server 2012 R2.

kaspermoerch · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-04 10:55:09Z

1

You get the unexpected output because Install-WindowsFeature returns an object.

If you don't care about the result of Install-WindowsFeature you can pipe the result to null like this:

Install-WindowsFeature -Name Telnet-Client *> $null

answered Apr 4, 2018 at 10:55

kaspermoerch

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1 Comment

kim Over a year ago

For the sake of completion, there's also the Out-Null cmdlet. The above line would then become Install-WindowsFeature -Name Telnet-Client | Out-Null

Community · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-20 09:12:55Z

0

It is formatted properly, have a look here

From the link (emphasis mine):

The Return keyword exits a function, script, or script block. It can be used to exit a scope at a specific point, to return a value, or to indicate that the end of the scope has been reached.

Users who are familiar with languages like C or C# might want to use the Return keyword to make the logic of leaving a scope explicit.

In PowerShell, the results of each statement are returned as output, even without a statement that contains the Return keyword. Languages like C or C# return only the value or values that are specified by the Return keyword.

Blockquote

edited Jun 20, 2020 at 9:12

CommunityBot

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answered Apr 4, 2018 at 11:21

Dave

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