Is there a short way to Write-Host and save it to a variable?

Question

I am trying to Write-Host message and save it to a variable in shortest possible way.

Currently my code looks like so:

Write-Host "Branch with name $branch_name already exists!`nNew branch has not been created."
$message = "Branch with name $branch_name already exists!`nNew branch has not been created."

And of course it works. I made a special function to compress this:

function Write-Host-And-Save([string]$message)
{
Write-Host $message
return $message
}

$message = Write-Host-And-Save "Branch with name $branch_name already exists!`nNew branch has not been created."

However it didn't make any output on screen. What is more I think there must be a better solution than new function to do it. And I tried to find one. Unsuccessfully.

Write-Host "Branch with name $branch_name already exists!`nNew branch has not been created." >> $message
Write-Host "Branch with name $branch_name already exists!`nNew branch has not been created." > $message
Write-Host "Branch with name $branch_name already exists!`nNew branch has not been created." -OutVariable $message

Is there any way to short-circuit that script?

Answer 1

On PowerShell 5+, you can achieve the desired behavior by utilizing Write-Host with the common parameter -InformationVariable. The following example stores the string value in $message.

Write-Host "Branch with name $branch_name already exists" -InformationVariable message

Explanation:

Starting with PowerShell 5, Write-Host became a wrapper for Write-Information. This means Write-Host writes to the information stream. Given that behavior, you can store its output into a variable using the -InformationVariable Common Parameter.

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Alternatively, you can achieve similar results with Write-Output using the success stream and the common parameter -OutVariable.

Write-Output "Branch with name $branch_name already exists" -OutVariable message

Typically, I would be in favor of using Write-Output over Write-Host. It has a more synchronous behavior and uses the success stream, which is what you are intending to use here. Write-Host does provide the ability to easily color your console output though.