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Powershell: Does calling .NET a function always require parenthesis?

I know that PowerShell function calls don't need specific parentheses like C#, but when I try to call .NET class functions, it seems parentheses are always needed, like:

[Int32]::Parse("12")

So is this a syntax rule?

Solution

  • Yes, it is a rule. More specifically, when you call a method on an object (as opposed to a cmdlet or standalone function), you always use what you are calling braces () and you separate your arguments with commas ,:

    # A cmdlet: no use of (), parameter names and values separated by spaces
$obj = New-Object -TypeName PSObject -ArgumentList @{Name='hello'}

# A method: () are used even with no arguments
$obj.GetType()

    Note that in English these are much more commonly referred to as parentheses, and braces typically refer to curly braces which are these: {}.