Out-File: why should I combine -Append and -NoClobber? Isn't -Append enough?

Question

I fail to see the difference between

... | Out-File -Append

and

... | Out-File -Append -NoClobber

Both append information to the file, both don't overwrite the contents, both create the file if it doesn't exist. And yet, all the examples on the internet use the combination of -Append and -NoClobber.

Am I missing something?

Answer 1

-NoClobber will set the FileMode (how the operating system should open a file) to CreateNew (= if the file already exists, an IOException exception is thrown), unless -Append has been specified in which case it will set the FileMode to Append (= opens the file if it exists and seeks to the end of the file, or creates a new file).

So, for all practical purposes, -Append -NoClobber = -Append