ShouldProcess.md

description	Pair ShouldProcess with SupportsShouldProcess
ms.date	07/21/2026
ms.topic	reference
title	ShouldProcess

ShouldProcess

Severity Level: Warning

Default state: Always enabled

Description

This rule detects mismatches between SupportsShouldProcess declarations and ShouldProcess calls. When a cmdlet declares the SupportsShouldProcess attribute, it should also call the ShouldProcess method.

Violations occur when:

• A function declares SupportsShouldProcess but doesn't call ShouldProcess
• A function calls ShouldProcess but doesn't declare SupportsShouldProcess

To fix this violation, ensure that ShouldProcess calls are paired with the SupportsShouldProcess attribute declaration.

For more information, see the following articles:

• about_Functions_Advanced_Methods
• about_Functions_CmdletBindingAttribute
• Everything you wanted to know about ShouldProcess

Example

Noncompliant

function Set-File
{
    [CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess=$true)]
    Param
    (
        # Path to file
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        $Path
    )
    'String' | Out-File -FilePath $Path
}

Compliant

function Set-File
{
    [CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess=$true)]
    Param
    (
        # Path to file
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        $Path,

        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [string]$Content
    )

    if ($PSCmdlet.ShouldProcess($Path, ("Setting content to '{0}'" -f $Content)))
    {
        $Content | Out-File -FilePath $Path
    }
    else
    {
        # Code that should be processed if doing a WhatIf operation
        # Must NOT change anything outside of the function / script
    }
}

Configure rule

This rule is always enabled and isn't configurable. Use one of the following methods to avoid using this rule:

• Create a custom rule configuration file to include only the rules you want or exclude the rules you don't want.
• Add the appropriate rule suppression attributes to your code to suppress the rule for specific code blocks. For more information, see the Suppressing rules section of Using PSScriptAnalyzer.