PowerShell / PowerShell/PSScriptAnalyzer

`PSPossibleIncorrectUsageOfAssignmentOperator` fires when assigning value inside `if($())`

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Resolution - By Design
Dominant language
C#
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Before submitting a bug report:

  • Make sure you are able to repro it on the latest released version
  • Perform a quick search for existing issues to check if this bug has already been reported

Steps to reproduce

Invoke-ScriptAnalyzer -ScriptDefinition (
    [scriptblock]::Create{
        if (
            [bool]$(Try{$null=[datetime]('2024-11-12T09:44:00Z');$?}Catch{$false})
        ) {
            Write-Output -InputObject 'Could be parsed as datetime'
        }
        else {
            Write-Output -InputObject 'Could not be parsed as datetime'
        }
    }.ToString()
) -IncludeRule 'PSPossibleIncorrectUsageOfAssignmentOperator' | Format-List

Expected behavior

Actual behavior

RuleName : PSPossibleIncorrectUsageOfAssignmentOperator
Severity : Warning
Line     : 3
Column   : 30
Message  : Did you mean to use the assignment operator '='? The equality operator in PowerShell is 'eq'.

If an unexpected error was thrown then please report the full error details using e.g. $error[0] | Select-Object *

Environment data

PS > $PSVersionTable

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      7.4.6
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    7.4.6
OS                             Microsoft Windows 10.0.26100
Platform                       Win32NT
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0…}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0

PS > (Get-Module -ListAvailable PSScriptAnalyzer).Version | ForEach-Object { $_.ToString() }

1.23.0

PS >

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the provided Invoke-ScriptAnalyzer reproduction and the PSPossibleIncorrectUsageOfAssignmentOperator rule. Trace how the nested if($()) expression is analyzed, then check existing rule coverage for a regression case. Done means the reproduction no longer reports this false positive and existing analyzer checks still pass.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
csharp, powershell
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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