If your automated script takes action based on a value, it's critical to make sure the value is correct. Good thing PowerShell has ways to validate the values that are passed to a function. In recent ...

When you first start writing scripts, modularity, reusability, and best practices may not be top of mind. As your scripts become more complex, however, creating reusable elements becomes essential. By ...

Last month, I explored exit codes and how decent error correction in your shell scripts always should include testing the value of $? after each meaningful command ...

If you've been keeping track of my column, you'll know that we're building a Blackjack game as a shell script. Why? Because most shell scripts are far too boring to study without nodding off, so ...

Are all of the default PowerShell cmdlets exactly the way you like them to be? Do they have all of the parameters you think should be standard and have no extras? Probably not. We all have our quirks ...

The next time you need to wait on a step in your script, don't just add a delay. Instead, use a Wait-Action function to wait just the right amount of time. A script is all about defining a set of ...

Shell scripting is one of those skills that are absolutely invaluable on especially UNIX and BSD-based systems like the BSDs, the two zillion Linux distributions as well as MacOS. Yet not every shell ...

Here's how to make the jump from simple lines of code to something that's a lot more useful. After reading countless blogs online, purging through hundreds of pages of books, you feel comfortable ...