The use of the semicolon in PowerShell is described as a statement separator,
and it certainly can be demonstrated that it is exactly that when more than one
command exists on a line. For example,

echo "aaa"; echo "bbb"; echo "ccc"

Is there more to tell?

I'm still puzzled over the difference in these two constructions, the first as
two lines, and then the same commands separated by a semicolon in one line.

pwd;
dir | Select-Object @{e={"$_"}} | fw -c 8

pwd; dir | Select-Object @{e={"$_"}} | fw -c 8

It seems that the semicolon is allowing some a pipeline to affect the
Select-Object cmdlet when it is on the same line, but does not have that effect
on a separate line.

I'm used to thinking of command separators as lexical only ideas, but there's
something else going on here.

- Larry

On Aug 29, 10:31*am, Larry__Weiss <l...@xxxxxx> wrote:

> The use of the semicolon in PowerShell is described as a statement separator,
> and it certainly can be demonstrated that it is exactly that when more than one
> command exists on a line. *For example,
>
> * *echo "aaa"; echo "bbb"; echo "ccc"
>
> Is there more to tell?
>
> I'm still puzzled over the difference in these two constructions, the first as
> two lines, and then the same commands separated by a semicolon in one line.
>
> * *pwd;
> * *dir | Select-Object @{e={"$_"}} | fw -c 8
>
> * *pwd; dir | Select-Object @{e={"$_"}} | fw -c 8
>
> It seems that the semicolon is allowing some a pipeline to affect the
> Select-Object cmdlet when it is on the same line, but does not have that effect
> on a separate line.
>
> I'm used to thinking of command separators as lexical only ideas, but there's
> something else going on here.
>
> * - Larry

That is strange. As a general rule I don't use the semicolon unless I
absolutely have to, even in a foreach-object scriptblock just for
readability's sake, so I've never run into that.

I've narrowed it down to the difference in these two sequences

PS C:> set-location; get-childitem
PS C:> get-location; get-childitem

Why would get-childitem return different results depending of whether the last
command on the line was set-location or get-location ?

The
PS C:> get-location; get-childitem
case is the one I don't understand.

I'm using V2 CTP3 and XP.

- Larry

Larry__Weiss wrote:

> The use of the semicolon in PowerShell is described as a statement
> separator, and it certainly can be demonstrated that it is exactly that
> when more than one command exists on a line. For example,
>
> echo "aaa"; echo "bbb"; echo "ccc"
>
> Is there more to tell?
>
> I'm still puzzled over the difference in these two constructions, the
> first as two lines, and then the same commands separated by a semicolon
> in one line.
>
> pwd;
> dir | Select-Object @{e={"$_"}} | fw -c 8
>
> pwd; dir | Select-Object @{e={"$_"}} | fw -c 8
>
> It seems that the semicolon is allowing some a pipeline to affect the
> Select-Object cmdlet when it is on the same line, but does not have that
> effect on a separate line.
>
> I'm used to thinking of command separators as lexical only ideas, but
> there's something else going on here.
>

Also contrast

PS C:> get-location; get-childitem
PS C:> get-location; get-childitem | more

I'm starting to be convinced this indicates a bug.

Can anyone reproduce it using PS V2 RTM ?

- Larry


Larry__Weiss wrote:

> I've narrowed it down to the difference in these two sequences
> PS C:> set-location; get-childitem
> PS C:> get-location; get-childitem
> Why would get-childitem return different results depending of whether
> the last command on the line was set-location or get-location ?
> The
> PS C:> get-location; get-childitem
> case is the one I don't understand.
> I'm using V2 CTP3 and XP.
>
> Larry__Weiss wrote:

>> The use of the semicolon in PowerShell is described as a statement
>> separator, and it certainly can be demonstrated that it is exactly
>> that when more than one command exists on a line. For example,
>> echo "aaa"; echo "bbb"; echo "ccc"
>> Is there more to tell?
>> I'm still puzzled over the difference in these two constructions, the
>> first as two lines, and then the same commands separated by a
>> semicolon in one line.
>> pwd;
>> dir | Select-Object @{e={"$_"}} | fw -c 8
>> pwd; dir | Select-Object @{e={"$_"}} | fw -c 8
>> It seems that the semicolon is allowing some a pipeline to affect the
>> Select-Object cmdlet when it is on the same line, but does not have
>> that effect on a separate line.
>> I'm used to thinking of command separators as lexical only ideas, but
>> there's something else going on here.
>>

I believe it to be a bug also. This does repro on what should be the RTM for
Win7

A little more insight look at the helpfile for both Get-Location/Set-Location
Look at the type and members returned from each i.e.

(Get-Location).gettype()
Get-Location | Get-Member

You've learned a-lot but to go beyond where you are these need to be part of
your toolset.

As with most Get/Set properties in any language Set returns nada.

If it weren't for the fact that this caused an out right error I'd think
this to be a low Severity/Priority bug

get-location; get-childitem | fl

I still think this to be a low priority bug; but a bug is a bug.

Like Tojo2000 I never use semi-colons unless I need to which is close to
never.


"Larry__Weiss" wrote:

> Also contrast
>
> PS C:> get-location; get-childitem
> PS C:> get-location; get-childitem | more
>
> I'm starting to be convinced this indicates a bug.
>
> Can anyone reproduce it using PS V2 RTM ?
>
> - Larry
>
>
> Larry__Weiss wrote:

> > I've narrowed it down to the difference in these two sequences
> > PS C:> set-location; get-childitem
> > PS C:> get-location; get-childitem
> > Why would get-childitem return different results depending of whether
> > the last command on the line was set-location or get-location ?
> > The
> > PS C:> get-location; get-childitem
> > case is the one I don't understand.
> > I'm using V2 CTP3 and XP.
> >
> > Larry__Weiss wrote:

> >> The use of the semicolon in PowerShell is described as a statement
> >> separator, and it certainly can be demonstrated that it is exactly
> >> that when more than one command exists on a line. For example,
> >> echo "aaa"; echo "bbb"; echo "ccc"
> >> Is there more to tell?
> >> I'm still puzzled over the difference in these two constructions, the
> >> first as two lines, and then the same commands separated by a
> >> semicolon in one line.
> >> pwd;
> >> dir | Select-Object @{e={"$_"}} | fw -c 8
> >> pwd; dir | Select-Object @{e={"$_"}} | fw -c 8
> >> It seems that the semicolon is allowing some a pipeline to affect the
> >> Select-Object cmdlet when it is on the same line, but does not have
> >> that effect on a separate line.
> >> I'm used to thinking of command separators as lexical only ideas, but
> >> there's something else going on here.
> >>

>

I see from that report
Resolved 7/3/2006 4:38:33 PM
yet
Resolved (Postponed)

Did someone lose track of a code change? That's over 3 years ago!

- Larry


Keith Hill [MVP] wrote:

> This bug was submitted quite a while ago. Feel free to vote on it (link
> below). Unfortunately it was postponed and not fixed in Windows 7 RTM.
> https://connect.microsoft.com/feedba...&wa=wsignin1.0
>
>
> "Larry__Weiss" <lfw@xxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:##2GO6MKKHA.3632@xxxxxx

>> The use of the semicolon in PowerShell is described as a statement
>> separator, and it certainly can be demonstrated that it is exactly
>> that when more than one command exists on a line. For example,
>>
>> echo "aaa"; echo "bbb"; echo "ccc"
>>
>> Is there more to tell?
>>
>> I'm still puzzled over the difference in these two constructions, the
>> first as two lines, and then the same commands separated by a
>> semicolon in one line.
>>
>> pwd;
>> dir | Select-Object @{e={"$_"}} | fw -c 8
>>
>> pwd; dir | Select-Object @{e={"$_"}} | fw -c 8
>>
>> It seems that the semicolon is allowing some a pipeline to affect the
>> Select-Object cmdlet when it is on the same line, but does not have
>> that effect on a separate line.
>>
>> I'm used to thinking of command separators as lexical only ideas, but
>> there's something else going on here.
>>
>> - Larry

>

Using the form of the example from the duplicate of 152205, issue 333752
https://connect.microsoft.com/PowerS...dbackID=333752
(but without using a script), I can duplicate the bug.

PS C:> get-acl; get-acl | Format-List

There must be some intrinsic sameness somehow to executing commands separated by
semicolons, and executing commands in sequence in a script that allows this bug
to be exposed by either structure.

PS C:> &{

>> get-acl
>> get-acl | Format-List
>> }
>>

will cause it as well.

- Larry


Keith Hill [MVP] wrote:

> This bug was submitted quite a while ago. Feel free to vote on it (link
> below). Unfortunately it was postponed and not fixed in Windows 7 RTM.
> https://connect.microsoft.com/feedba...&wa=wsignin1.0
>
> "Larry__Weiss" <lfw@xxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:##2GO6MKKHA.3632@xxxxxx

>> The use of the semicolon in PowerShell is described as a statement
>> separator, and it certainly can be demonstrated that it is exactly
>> that when more than one command exists on a line. For example,
>>
>> echo "aaa"; echo "bbb"; echo "ccc"
>>
>> Is there more to tell?
>>
>> I'm still puzzled over the difference in these two constructions, the
>> first as two lines, and then the same commands separated by a
>> semicolon in one line.
>>
>> pwd;
>> dir | Select-Object @{e={"$_"}} | fw -c 8
>>
>> pwd; dir | Select-Object @{e={"$_"}} | fw -c 8
>>
>> It seems that the semicolon is allowing some a pipeline to affect the
>> Select-Object cmdlet when it is on the same line, but does not have
>> that effect on a separate line.
>>
>> I'm used to thinking of command separators as lexical only ideas, but
>> there's something else going on here.
>>
>> - Larry

>

In message <558222E4-3984-49C4-A59A-A8605DF84F9C@xxxxxx>, "Keith
Hill [MVP]" <r_keith_hill@xxxxxx> writes

>This bug was submitted quite a while ago. Feel free to vote on it
>(link below). Unfortunately it was postponed and not fixed in Windows
>7 RTM.
>
>https://connect.microsoft.com/feedba...eedbackID=1522
>05&SiteID=99&wa=wsignin1.0

v & v!

--
Thomas Lee
doctordns@xxxxxx

See recent discussion under the thread "Powershell bug, MS refuses to fix.".

Perhaps it is not a bug after all!

As I suspected, there is "more to tell".

- Larry


Keith Hill [MVP] wrote:

> This bug was submitted quite a while ago. Feel free to vote on it (link
> below). Unfortunately it was postponed and not fixed in Windows 7 RTM.
>
> https://connect.microsoft.com/feedba...&wa=wsignin1.0
>
>
> --
> Keith
>
> "Larry__Weiss" <lfw@newsgroup> wrote in message
> news:##2GO6MKKHA.3632@newsgroup

>> The use of the semicolon in PowerShell is described as a statement
>> separator, and it certainly can be demonstrated that it is exactly
>> that when more than one command exists on a line. For example,
>>
>> echo "aaa"; echo "bbb"; echo "ccc"
>>
>> Is there more to tell?
>>
>> I'm still puzzled over the difference in these two constructions, the
>> first as two lines, and then the same commands separated by a
>> semicolon in one line.
>>
>> pwd;
>> dir | Select-Object @{e={"$_"}} | fw -c 8
>>
>> pwd; dir | Select-Object @{e={"$_"}} | fw -c 8
>>
>> It seems that the semicolon is allowing some a pipeline to affect the
>> Select-Object cmdlet when it is on the same line, but does not have
>> that effect on a separate line.
>>
>> I'm used to thinking of command separators as lexical only ideas, but
>> there's something else going on here.
>>
>> - Larry

>