Nested ForEach() in PowerShell

Question

I'm having some troubles with nested ForEach loops in Powershell. First, I need to iterate through list 1. For every object in list 1, I need to iterate through list 2. When I found the resembling object in list 2, I want to go to the next object in list 1.

I've tried break, i've tried continue, but it won't work for me.

Function checkLists() {
  ForEach ($objectA in $listA) {
    ForEach ($objectB in $listB) {
       if ($objectA -eq $objectB) {
           // Do something 
           // goto next object in list A and find the next equal object
       }
    }
  }
}

a) What does a break/continue exactly do in PowerShell?

b) How exaclty should I conquer my 'problem'?

Answer 1

Use a label as described in get-help about_break:

A Break statement can include a label. If you use the Break keyword with
a label, Windows PowerShell exits the labeled loop instead of exiting the
current loop

Like so,

foreach ($objectA in @("a", "e", "i")) {
    "objectA: $objectA"
    :outer
    foreach ($objectB in @("a", "b", "c", "d", "e")) {
       if ($objectB -eq $objectA) {
           "hit! $objectB"
           break :outer
       } else { "miss! $objectB" }
    }
}

#Output:
objectA: a
hit! a
objectA: e
miss! a
miss! b
miss! c
miss! d
hit! e
objectA: i
miss! a
miss! b
miss! c
miss! d
miss! e

Answer 2

Here's an example using break/continue. Reverse the test in the inner loop, and use Continue to keep the loop going until the test fails. As soon as it gets a hit, it will break the inner loop, and go back to the next object in the outer loop.

foreach ($objectA in @("a", "e", "i"))
   {
    "objectA: $objectA"
    foreach ($objectB in @("a", "b", "c", "d", "e")) {
       if ($objectB -ne $objectA)
         {
           "miss! $objectB"
           continue
         }
     else {
           "hit!  $objectB" 
           break
          }
   }
}

objectA: a
hit!  a
objectA: e
miss! a
miss! b
miss! c
miss! d
hit!  e
objectA: i
miss! a
miss! b
miss! c
miss! d
miss! e