PowerShell Basics: Loops (For Loop and Foreach Loop)

Written by Ibhadogiemu Esemuede Okougbo on the 27th Aug 2021

1 - For Loop
2 - Foreach

Exported on 11-Nov-2021 11:56:07

POWERSHELL FOR LOOP ON ATTUNE

This is a Blueprint on Attune of how to run a For Loop in PowerShell

The For Loop is also known as a For Statement, is a language construct that can be used to create a loop that runs commands in a command block/script block while a specified condition evaluates to True.

Parameters

Name	Type	Script Reference	Default Value	Comment
Attune Node	Windows Server	attuneNode		This is an Attune Node
Attune Node Credentials	Windows OS Credential	attuneNodeCredentials		This is my Attune Node Credential

1 - For Loop

Below shows the basic For statement syntax:


for (<Init>; <Condition>; <Repeat>)
{
    <Statement list>
}

The Init placeholder represents one or more commands that are run before the loop begins. it creates and initializes a variable with a starting value.

This variable will be the basis for the condition to be tested in the next portion of the For statement.

The Condition placeholder represents the portion that evaluates the condition each time the For loop runs.

If the condition set is True, the commands in the command block run, and the condition is evaluated again.

If still True, the commands in the Statement list run again. This is repeated until the condition becomes False.

The Repeat placeholder represents one or more commands [separated by commas], that is executed each time the loop repeats.

It is mostly used to modify a variable (mostly [Init]) that is tested inside the condition placeholder.

The Statement list placeholder represents one or more commands that are run each time the loop is entered or repeated.

The commands in the Statement list are surrounded by braces.

In the script above, the For loop runs the commands ([Write-Host], [Start-Sleep]) in the statement List while the condition [value of $i is less than sum of the strings in the array ($array.Count)] is satisfied.

Then it goes to the last line of the script and runs the CMDLET [Write-Host].

Below holds in the script above:


Init - is set to 0.

Condition - is set to check if the current value of $i is less than the sum of the strings in the array ($array.Count).

Repeat part - is set to increment the present value of $i by 1 (i++).

The for loop statement can also be written as represented in an alternative syntax using the carriage returns instead of semicolons to delimit the Init, Condition, and Repeat portions.

Example below:


for (<Init>; <Condition>; <Repeat>)
{
    <Statement List>
}

Example in reference to the script written in the step in Attune

for(
    $i = 0
    $i -lt $array.Count
    $i++
){
    Write-Host $array[$i] `n
    Start-Sleep -s 1
}

The connection details have changed from the last step.

Connect via RDP
```
mstsc /admin /v:Attune Node
```
Login as user {Attune Node Credentials}
Then open a command prompt

This is a PowerShell Script make sure you run it with powershell.exe Click start menu, enter "powershell" in the search bar, then select the powersehll program

#Region For Loop
#==============================================================================
# The variable array ($array) is declared and holds an Array of strings.
$array = @("S","E","R","V","E","R","T","R","I","B","E")

# This is a for loop statement.
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $array.Count; $i++) {
    
    # This echos out the present value of the string in the array when the condition is satisfied.
     # `n - it creates a new line after the message.
    # This is a print to screen CMDLET [Write-Host].
    Write-Host $array[$i] `n
    
    # Suspends the activity in the script for 1 second
    Start-Sleep -s 1
}
# This is a print to screen CMDLET [Write-Host]. -- It writes out the number of letters contained in the array.
Write-Host ($array) "has" $array.Count "letters"
#==============================================================================
#EndRegion For Loop

2 - Foreach

Below shows the basic ForEach Syntax:


foreach ($<item> in $<collection>){<statement list>}

The ForEach Loop statement enclosed in parenthesis represents a variable and a collection to iterate.

PowerShell automatically creates the variable ($item) when the loop runs.

Before each iteration through the loop, the variable is set to a value in the collection ($collection).

The block following a Foreach statement {statement list} contains command(s) to execute against each item in the collection.

In the example in this Attune Blueprint, the first time the Foreach statement runs, it sets the $item variable equal to the first item in $array ("S").

Then, it runs the commands ([Write-Host], [Start-Sleep]) in the statement List.

The next time the $item is set to "E", and so on till it gets to the last letter in the array "E" then it exits the loop.

Then it goes to the last line of the script and runs the CMDLET [Write-Host].

Connect via RDP
```
mstsc /admin /v:Attune Node
```
Login as user {Attune Node Credentials}
Then open a command prompt

This is a PowerShell Script make sure you run it with powershell.exe Click start menu, enter "powershell" in the search bar, then select the powersehll program

#Region ForEach Loop 
#==============================================================================
# The variable array ($array) is declared and holds an Array of strings.
$array = @("S", "E", "R", "V", "E", "R", "T", "R", "I", "B", "E")

# This is a ForEach loop block.
foreach ($item in $array) {
    # This echos out the present value of the string in the array when the condition is satisfied.
    # `n - it creates a new line after the message.
    # This is a print to screen CMDLET [Write-Host].
    Write-Host $item `n
    
    # Suspends the activity in the script for 1 second
    Start-Sleep -s 1
}

# This is a print to screen CMDLET [Write-Host]. -- It writes out the number of letters contained in the array.
Write-Host ($array) "has" $array.Count "letters"
#==============================================================================
#EndRegion ForEach Loop