With PowerShell 7, the language gets a new operator that created a lot of debate. Basically, you don’t have to use it, but users with a developer background will welcome it.
Until now, to create a condition you’d always have to write a whole lot of code. For example, to find out whether your script runs in a 32-bit or 64-bit environment, you could query the length of a pointer like this:
[IntPtr]::Size -eq 8) { '64-bit' } else { '32-bit' }
The ternary operator makes this a lot shorter:
[IntPtr]::Size -eq 8 ? '64-bit' : '32-bit'
In essence, the ternary operator (“?”) is a shortcut for standard “if” conditions. It works on any expression that evaluates to $true or $false. If the expression is $true, the expression after “?” executes. If it is $false, the expression after “:” executes.
If you have installed a PowerShell 7 preview, make sure you update to the latest version to be able to use the ternary operator. It was not part of the initial PowerShell 7 preview.
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