I'm working on a PowerShell script that includes a `-silent` switch. When this switch is used, I want to prevent dialog messages from appearing, although console messages (using `Write-Error` and `Write-Warning`) should still be displayed. I need the `-silent` switch to not only be available when the script is executed (like `.myscript.ps1 -silent`), but I also want to access it within various functions in the script.
I know global variables can be declared using `$global:VariableName`, but I'm not clear on how to apply this to a parameter directly defined in the `param` section of my script. This is what I have so far:
```powershell
param
(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
[switch]$silent # Ideally, this should behave like a global variable
)
```
I'm considering two possible workarounds: I could set the global state using something like `$global:silence = $silent`, or I could pass the switch to every function that needs it. However, both options feel a bit clunky. Does anyone have a better suggestion for making this command-line switch globally accessible across my script?
1 Answer
You can declare the switch as a script-scoped variable within the script block. Here's one way to do it:
```powershell
param
(
[Parameter()]
[switch]$Silent
)
function Do-Something {
param (
[Parameter()]
[switch]$Silent = $Script:Silent
)
Write-Host "The value of Silent is: $Silent"
}
Do-Something
Do-Something -Silent
```
With this setup, call `Do-Something` with or without the `-Silent` switch, and it should work across your script!
Thanks for this tip! I'm looking forward to trying it out since it sounds pretty straightforward to implement.