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Both, $ErrorActionPreference variable and -ErrorAction cmdlet argument should define behavior for non-terminating errors.

Since variable is global and argument is specific to cmdlet invocation I expect that argument overrides variable. In fact, I can't find a situation, where -ErrorAction does anything at all.

$expression = 'Write-Error "non-terminating error"' # No exception $ErrorActionPreference = 'Continue' Invoke-Expression -Command $expression # Exception $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' Invoke-Expression -Command $expression # No exception, why? $ErrorActionPreference = 'Continue' Invoke-Expression -Command $expression -ErrorAction Stop # Exception, why? $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' Invoke-Expression -Command $expression -ErrorAction Continue

P.S. - I've found this question but it is more focused on related issue rather on priority.

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6

The -ErrorAction parameter applies to errors generated by the command it is applied to. In the case of Invoke-Expression (iex) that means errors encountered while preparing to invoke the passed expression or errors encountered post processing the results. It doesn't, however, apply to the expression/command itself.

In the OP if you apply -ErrorAction to the Write-Error command you will get the expected results, whether or not you use iex.

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You right, I was just confused with behavior of Invoke-Expression. I thought it would be logical if -ErrorAction would affect results of expression execution too.

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