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PowerShell: Refreshing date stored in a variable

I have the following variable that is used in many of my scripts for logging:

$uDate = get-date -format "ddd MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss"

Only problem is that the date is never refreshed and only shows the date/time when the variable was declared.

Solution

  • This should not be done with a variable. Variables should store data, not take actions. So the right way to do this is to create a function that returns the current date in the format you want.

    But... if you want to get really hack-tastic you can do this by setting a breakpoint on all reads to your variable. The -Action of the breakpoint will reset the value of the variable to the current time.

    $rightNow = Get-Date
$null = 
  Set-PSBreakpoint -Variable rightNow -Mode Read -Action { 
    Set-Variable -Scope 1 -Name rightNow -Value (Get-Date) 
  }

    Testing...

    PS > $rightnow

Monday, August 20, 2012 11:46:04 AM

PS > $rightnow

Monday, August 20, 2012 11:46:09 AM