Debug powershell in Visual studio code with parameters from command line

Question

Using Powershell ISE I often set breakpoints in a script and start the script from command line. ISE then stops at the breakpoint and lets me debug from there. How do I do the same from Terminal in Visual Studio Code? Below is a script just to show you what I mean. Starting from a terminal I would write:

.\hello.ps1 -firstName "firstName" -lastName "theLastName"

But doing that from terminal it just starts a new window.

param (
   [string] $firstName,
   [string] $lastName
)

Write-Host "Starting test script"
try
{
   Write-Host "Hello $firstName $lastName"        
}
catch
{
    Write-Error "Error. Exception: $_"
}

Write-Host "Script done"

pjpscriv · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-26 03:36:25Z

27

To make the info from Eickhel Mendoza's link explicit - the solution is to set up a Run and Debug config file. This is created in .vscode/launch.json. The content for this case would be:

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Launch Hello Script",
            "type": "PowerShell",
            "request": "launch",
            "script": "${workspaceFolder}\\hello.ps1",
            "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
            "args": ["-firstName \"firstName\" -lastName \"theLastName\""]
        }
    ]
}

Then just open the "Run and Debug" sidebar pane on VSCode (the play button with the bug or Ctrl+Shift+D), where you can run your launch script and any breakpoints you set will be hit as expected.

edited Dec 26, 2021 at 3:36

answered Jul 5, 2021 at 0:37

pjpscriv

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2 Comments

Daniel Williams Over a year ago

Where does this file live? Under the folder where the ps1 is? I am not using workspace, just plain old ps1 files. Will adding this magical file make it work? Will other pwsh scripts then use that file as well?

pjpscriv Over a year ago

I'm not too familiar with the concept of workspaces but afaik the .vscode folder just lives at the root of the folder you have open in VSCode. This If you want to run a different file looks like you just add a new object to the configurations array - more information here

Eickhel Mendoza · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-03 10:43:30Z

6

Maybe this might help... it involves modifying the launch.json file in your workspace.

https://github.com/PowerShell/vscode-powershell/tree/master/examples#passing-arguments-to-the-script

answered Feb 3, 2017 at 10:43

Eickhel Mendoza

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1 Comment

Imran Ali Over a year ago

It is best to post suggestions as comment rather than as answer.

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