No operation command

Question

With Bash, you have the command :

Null command.

No effect; the command does nothing.

Exit Status:
Always succeeds.

Example

: 'foo'

Does PowerShell have something similar to this?

@DejanDakić `;` would not work with my example. It would generate `foo` instead of nothing. — Zombo, Jul 21 '14 at 05:51
Use `Out-Null` to delete the output, if that's what you're seeking, as in `'foo' | Out-Null` — PeterK, Jul 21 '14 at 05:51
@StevenPenny: My assumption was that if 'foo' isn't executed, then it's not required, but then I guess I fundamentally misunderstood the docs I found on the colon operator. — PeterK, Jul 21 '14 at 07:04

Zombo · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-22T01:56:13.853

3

With the above example, the ForEach-Object alias % works

% 'foo'

Or

function : {}
: 'foo'

Or

[void] 'foo'

edited Jul 22 '14 at 01:56

answered Jul 21 '14 at 06:17

Zombo

Could you please explain what the code in your second example actually means? Isn't the colon supposed to be for variable namespaces in PowerShell? Why aren't both lines syntax errors? Thanks! – Scott Gartner Mar 19 '21 at 05:01

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 22 '22 at 19:16

Another even shorter solution is to use the alias of Where-Object which is ?.

This command line does nothing (and succeeds):

? .

The trick is simply to pass a single-character argument so that the command does not fail and which has no special meaning in powershell.

2 Answers2