Control flow#

If/else#

Practice: Always use braces. elseif (one word). One space before {. Break complex conditions across lines.

Why: Missing braces cause logic bugs when lines are added later (Make change easy). elseif is idiomatic PowerShell.

How:

# Good
if ($condition) {
    Do-Something
} elseif ($otherCondition) {
    Do-SomethingElse
} else {
    Do-Default
}

# Bad
if ($condition)
{                                         # Brace on wrong line
    Do-Something
}

if ($condition) Do-Something              # Missing braces

Loops#

Practice: Prefer foreach over for when the index is not needed. Always use braces.

Why: foreach reads like prose and avoids off-by-one errors (Clean Code). Braces protect against accidental modification (Make change easy).

How:

# Good
foreach ($item in $collection) {
    Process-Item $item
}

# Bad
foreach ($item in $collection) Process-Item $item  # Missing braces

Switch statements#

Practice: Opening brace on same line. Case blocks indented 4 spaces. Always include default.

Why: A default case makes it explicit that unmatched values are handled intentionally. Unhandled cases are silent failures (Shift Left).

How:

# Good
switch ($value) {
    'Option1' { Do-FirstThing }
    'Option2' { Do-SecondThing }
    default   { Do-DefaultThing }
}