[PS] Remove-item ... I must be missing something

After the recent post about aliases I started playing with aliases and
ways of removing them.

One variant, which successfully removes all aliases if run from the
command line is:
remove-item -Path Alias:\* -Include * -force

So far, so good.

If I place the code in a tiny script, clear-alias.ps1 and run the
script nothing is removed. I know the script has run because I
included debug write-host cmdlets in it after it didn't work as
expected.

So, what am I missing here? Having had one "doh!" moment today, this
could well be the second.

Thanks.

Andrew Watt

 

Because you are removing the aliases - but ONLY in the script scope.

There may be a way to explicitly globalize execution within the script, but
the simplest technique is dot-sourcing. See below:

PS> (gal).length
101
PS> clear-alias
PS> (gal).length
101
PS> . clear-alias
PS> (gal).length
'gal' is not recognized as a cmdlet, function, operable program, or script
file
..
At line:1 char:5
+ (gal) <<<< .length
PS>

 

When I execute

.. clear-alias

I get the error message "'clear-alias' is not recognized as a cmdlet,
function, operable program, or script file.
At line:1 char:2
+ . <<<< clear-alias"

Did it work for you?

But
.. .\clear-alias
does work.

Thanks for the pointer.

Andrew Watt MVP

 

It works fine for me, but that's because I save clear-alias into a folder in
my search path.

 

This might be a little confusing, running remove-item on the filesystem
provider within a script removes items NOT ONLY in the script scope...

 

But

Try

.. ..\clear-alias

-bruce

--
Bruce Payette [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell Technical Lead
Microsoft Corporation
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

Yeah, it was my intention to point this out, because until now I had not
read/thought about this particular feature at all.
I think it shoud be mentioned in the help/documentation/books about
PowerShell scoping/providers that there might be differences in the scoping
support of possible providers.

 

+1

Andrew Watt MVP