QuickTip: Determine current line number in PowerShell

When scripting it can be interesting to know which line of the script is currently being executed, to determine this we take a look at the $Myinvocation automatic variable. This variable contains the ScriptLineNumber property which can be used what the current line of the script is. We can try run the following code:

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PS > $Myinvocation.ScriptlineNumber
0

Although the output is correct this is not the output we are looking for. In order to display the line numbers for a script or function the variable should be placed in a function. The reason for this is that it determines from which line its function has been invoke, it cannot determine that if accessed directly. The following code is :

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Function Get-CurrentLine {
    $Myinvocation.ScriptlineNumber
}
# Some comments
Get-CurrentLine
$null
Get-CurrentLine

This will output the numbers 5 and 7 which correspond to the line numbers. This can be useful when implementing the Write-Debug and Write-Verbose parameters in your scripts or functions in order to establish at what position in the script you currently are.

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