Test to see if a file exists using PowerShell

Normally I would use just the Test-Path cmdlet for this. The requirement of a project that I’m on needed a “user friendly” output option as well. Below is an example of that user friendly output.

Here is the code:

<#
.SYNOPSIS
Test to see if a file exists.
.DESCRIPTION
Returns TRUE if the file submitted is exists.
Returns FALSE if it does not.
.PARAMETER ExcelFile
The name of the file being tested
.EXAMPLE
get-excelFile Det1.xls -DisplayInfo
File found
True

Verifies that a file names "Det1.xls" exists and also
displays the user friendly information of "File Found"
to the display.  The value of TRUE was returned to the 
pipeline.

.EXAMPLE
get-excelFile "demo.xls"
File not found

Verified that the file named "demo.xls" did not exist
in the location specified.  The value FALSE was
returned to the pipeline.
#>

Function Get-File
{
Param (
[Parameter(Position=0,Mandatory=$True)]$File,
[Switch]$DisplayInfo = $False
)

If (Test-Path $File)
{
# Displays user friendly info on the display.
    If ($DisplayInfo) 
{
Write-Host "File found" -ForegroundColor Green
}
Write-Output $True}
Else {
# Displays user friendly info on the display.
    If ($DisplayInfo) 
{
Write-Host "File not found" -ForegroundColor Red
}
Write-Output $False
}

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Jason Yoder, MCT

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