# When Things Go Wrong

Read red text calmly, handle errors in a script, choose where output goes, and step through a script line by line.

Updated: November 10, 2026

## [Errors](https://www.ask-codey.com/courses/powershell-in-depth/topics/powershell-errors)

1. [Reading Errors, and \`-ErrorAction\`](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-errors) (Apprentice): PowerShell's red text names the command that failed, what went wrong and, in a script, the file and line; some errors stop a command and some let it carry on, -ErrorAction decides what happens next, and $Error keeps a list of them.
2. [\`try\`, \`catch\` and \`finally\`](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-try-catch) (Journeyman): try runs your lines, catch runs only if one of them hits an error that stops it (which -ErrorAction Stop arranges), $\_ in catch is the error, so you can tell the user what happened and what to do, and finally runs whatever happens.

## [Output](https://www.ask-codey.com/courses/powershell-in-depth/topics/powershell-output)

1. [Where Output Goes: \`Write-Output\`, \`Write-Host\` and Friends](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-output-streams) (Journeyman): Write-Output sends a script's results down the pipeline, where the next command, a variable or a > file receives them, while Write-Host, Write-Warning, Write-Verbose and Write-Error send words for people to the screen, each on a channel of its own that > and the pipeline leave alone.

## [Debugging](https://www.ask-codey.com/courses/powershell-in-depth/topics/powershell-debugging)

1. [Debugging in VS Code](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-debugging-in-vs-code) (Journeyman): A breakpoint pauses a script on a line in VS Code, so you can look at every variable, step through it one line at a time with F10, and watch an expression until a value surprises you; Set-PSBreakpoint does the same at the prompt.

## [Exercise: Make It Fail Well](https://www.ask-codey.com/courses/powershell-in-depth/topics/exercise-powershell-make-it-fail-well)

1. [Exercise: Make It Fail Well](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/exercise-powershell-make-it-fail-well) (Journeyman): Fix a photo mover that loses photos on a bad day, so a failed copy never deletes a photo, a photo with the same name is never replaced, its results stay apart from its messages and a summary prints whatever happens, then answer four questions on reading errors and debugging while a Pester check tries it for real.

Source: https://www.ask-codey.com/courses/powershell-in-depth/chapters/powershell-when-things-go-wrong