PowerShell For Loop (With Examples)

A PowerShell for loop runs a block of code a set number of times. You give it a starting value, a condition and a step, and PowerShell repeats the block while the condition is true:

for (<init>; <condition>; <repeat>) {
    <statement list>
}

Here’s the simplest real example, counting from 1 to 5:

for ($i = 1; $i -le 5; $i++) {
    "Pass number $i"
}

Output:

Pass number 1
Pass number 2
Pass number 3
Pass number 4
Pass number 5

Below, you’ll see how each part works, how to loop from 1 to 10, step by 2, count backwards and walk an array by index. I’ll also cover break, continue, the mistakes I see most, and when foreach is the better choice.

I ran every example in PowerShell 7.6 and Windows PowerShell 5.1. The for loop behaves the same in both.

How the three parts of a for loop work

Part	Example	When it runs
Init	$i = 1	Once, before the first pass
Condition	$i -le 5	Before every pass. The loop stops as soon as it’s $false
Repeat	$i++	After every pass, before the condition is checked again

Because the condition is checked first, the body may never run. for ($i = 10; $i -le 5; $i++) does nothing at all.

Microsoft’s about_For documentation describes the full syntax.

To walk through every item without a counter, use a foreach loop instead.

PowerShell for loop from 1 to 10

To loop from 1 to 10, start at 1 and keep going while the counter is less than or equal to 10:

for ($i = 1; $i -le 10; $i++) {
    Write-Output $i
}

Output:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

When you just need the numbers and don’t care about the counter logic, the range operator 1..10 with foreach is shorter. This one builds server names with a two-digit number:

foreach ($i in 1..10) {
    "Server{0:D2}" -f $i
}

Output:

Server01
Server02
Server03
Server04
Server05
Server06
Server07
Server08
Server09
Server10

Count by 2 or count backwards

The repeat part doesn’t have to be $i++. Use $i += 2 to step by two, or $i-- with -ge to count down:

# count by 2
for ($i = 0; $i -le 10; $i += 2) { $i }

'---'

# count down from 5 to 1
for ($i = 5; $i -ge 1; $i--) { $i }

Output:

0
2
4
6
8
10
---
5
4
3
2
1

Loop through an array by index

This is where the for loop really earns its place. You get the position of each item, not just the item:

$states = 'California', 'Texas', 'Florida', 'New York', 'Ohio'

for ($i = 0; $i -lt $states.Count; $i++) {
    "{0}. {1}" -f ($i + 1), $states[$i]
}

Output:

1. California
2. Texas
3. Florida
4. New York
5. Ohio

Arrays start at 0, so the condition is $i -lt $states.Count, not -le. I add 1 only when I print the number for humans.

Change array items in place

A foreach loop gives you a copy of each value, so assigning to it doesn’t change the ar