Wait-Job

Syntax

Wait-Job
    [-Any]
    [-Timeout <Int32>]
    [-Force]
    [-Id] <Int32[]>
    [<CommonParameters>]

Wait-Job
    [-Job] <Job[]>
    [-Any]
    [-Timeout <Int32>]
    [-Force]
    [<CommonParameters>]

Wait-Job
    [-Any]
    [-Timeout <Int32>]
    [-Force]
    [-Name] <String[]>
    [<CommonParameters>]

Wait-Job
    [-Any]
    [-Timeout <Int32>]
    [-Force]
    [-InstanceId] <Guid[]>
    [<CommonParameters>]

Wait-Job
    [-Any]
    [-Timeout <Int32>]
    [-Force]
    [-State] <JobState>
    [<CommonParameters>]

Wait-Job
    [-Any]
    [-Timeout <Int32>]
    [-Force]
    [-Filter] <Hashtable>
    [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The Wait-Job cmdlet waits for Windows PowerShell background jobs to finish before it displays the command prompt. You can wait until any background job is complete, or until all background jobs are complete, and you can set a maximum wait time for the job.

When the commands in the job are complete, Wait-Job displays the command prompt and returns a job object so that you can pipe it to another command.

You can use Wait-Job cmdlet to wait for background jobs, such as those that were started by using the Start-Job cmdlet or the AsJob parameter of the Invoke-Command cmdlet. For more information about Windows PowerShell background jobs, see about_Jobs.

Starting in Windows PowerShell 3.0, the Wait-Job cmdlet also waits for custom job types, such as workflow jobs and instances of scheduled jobs. To enable Wait-Job to wait for jobs of a particular type, import the module that supports the custom job type into the session before you run the Get-Job cmdlet, either by using the Import-Module cmdlet or by using or getting a cmdlet in the module. For information about a particular custom job type, see the documentation of the custom job type feature.

Examples

Example 1: Wait for all jobs

PS C:\> Get-Job | Wait-Job

This command waits for all of the background jobs running in the session to finish.

Example 2: Wait for jobs started on remote computers by using Start-Job

PS C:\> $s = New-PSSession Server01, Server02, Server03
PS C:\> Invoke-Command -Session $s -ScriptBlock {Start-Job -Name Date1 -ScriptBlock {Get-Date}}
PS C:\> $done = Invoke-Command -Session $s -Command {Wait-Job -Name Date1}
PS C:\> $done.Count
3

This example shows how to use the Wait-Job cmdlet with jobs started on remote computers by using the Start-Job cmdlet. Both Start-Job and Wait-Job commands are submitted to the remote computer by using the Invoke-Command cmdlet.

This example uses Wait-Job to determine whether a Get-Date command running as a background job on three different computers is finished.

The first command creates a Windows PowerShell session (PSSession) on each of the three remote computers and stores them in the $s variable.

The second command uses Invoke-Command to run Start-Job in each of the three sessions in $s. All of the jobs are named Date1.

The third command uses Invoke-Command to run Wait-Job. This command waits for the Date1 jobs on each computer to finish. It stores the resulting collection (array) of job objects in the $done variable.

The fourth command uses the Count property of the array of job objects in the $done variable to determine how many of the jobs are finished.

Example 3: Determine when the first background job finishes

PS C:\> $s = New-PSSession (Get-Content Machines.txt)
PS C:\> $c = 'Get-EventLog -LogName System | where {$_.EntryType -eq "error" --and $_.Source -eq "LSASRV"} | Out-File Errors.txt'
PS C:\> Invoke-Command -Session $s -ScriptBlock {Start-Job -ScriptBlock {$Using:c}
PS C:\> Invoke-Command -Session $s -ScriptBlock {Wait-Job -Any}

This example uses the Any parameter of Wait-Job to determine when the first of many background jobs running in the current session are completed. It also shows how to use the Wait-Job cmdlet to wait for remote jobs to finish.

The first command creates a PSSession on each of the computers listed in the Machines.txt file and stores the PSSession objects in the $s variable. The command uses the Get-Content cmdlet to get the contents of the file. The Get-Content command is enclosed in parentheses to make sure that it runs before the New-PSSession command.

The second command stores a Get-EventLog command string, in quotation marks, in the $c variable.

The third command uses Invoke-Command cmdlet to run Start-Job in each of the sessions in $s. The Start-Job command starts a background job that runs the Get-EventLog command in the $c variable.

The command uses the Using scope modifier to indicate that the $c variable was defined on the local computer. The Using scope modifier is introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0. For more information about the Using scope modifier, see about_Remote_Variables (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=252653).

The fourth command uses Invoke-Command to run a Wait-Job command in the sessions. It uses the Any parameter to wait until the first job on the remote computers is completed.

Example 4: Set a wait time for jobs on remote computers

PS C:\> $s = New-PSSession Server01, Server02, Server03
PS C:\> $jobs = Invoke-Command -Session $s -ScriptBlock {Start-Job -ScriptBlock {Get-Date}}
PS C:\> $done = Invoke-Command -Session $s -ScriptBlock {Wait-Job -Timeout 30}

This example shows how to use the Timeout parameter of Wait-Job to set a maximum wait time for the jobs running on remote computers.

The first command creates a PSSession on each of three remote computers (Server01, Server02, and Server03), and then stores the PSSession objects in the $s variable.

The second command uses Invoke-Command to run Start-Job in each of the PSSession objects in $s. It stores the resulting job objects in the $jobs variable.

The third command uses Invoke-Command to run Wait-Job in each of the sessions in $s. The Wait-Job command determines whether all of the commands have completed within 30 seconds. It uses the Timeout parameter with a value of 30 to establish the maximum wait time, and then stores the results of the command in the $done variable.

In this case, after 30 seconds, only the command on the Server02 computer has completed. Wait-Job ends the wait, displays the command prompt, and returns the object that represents the job that was completed.

The $done variable contains a job object that represents the job that ran on Server02.

Example 5: Wait until one of several jobs finishes

PS C:\> Wait-Job -id 1,2,5 -Any

This command identifies three jobs by their IDs and waits until any one of them are completed. The command prompt returns when the first job finishes.

Example 6: Wait for a period, then allow job to continue in background

PS C:\> Wait-Job -Name "DailyLog" -Timeout 120

This command waits 120 seconds (two minutes) for the DailyLog job to finish. If the job does not finish in the next two minutes, the command prompt returns anyway, and the job continues to run in the background.

Example 7: Wait for a job by name

PS C:\> Wait-Job -Name "Job3"

This command uses the job name to identify the job for which to wait.

Example 8: Wait for jobs on local computer started with Start-Job

PS C:\> $j = Start-Job -ScriptBlock {Get-ChildItem *.ps1| where {$_lastwritetime -gt ((Get-Date) - (New-TimeSpan -Days 7))}}
PS C:\> $j | Wait-Job

This example shows how to use the Wait-Job cmdlet with jobs started on the local computer by using Start-Job.

These commands start a job that gets the Windows PowerShell script files that were added or updated in the last week.

The first command uses Start-Job to start a background job on the local computer. The job runs a Get-ChildItem command that gets all of the files that have a .ps1 file name extension that were added or updated in the last week.

The third command uses Wait-Job to wait until the job is completed. When the job finishes, the command displays the job object, which contains information about the job.

Example 9: Wait for jobs started on remote computers by using Invoke-Command

PS C:\> $s = New-PSSession Server01, Server02, Server03
PS C:\> $j = Invoke-Command -Session $s -ScriptBlock {Get-Process} -AsJob
PS C:\> $j | Wait-Job

This example shows how to use Wait-Job with jobs started on remote computers by using the AsJob parameter of Invoke-Command. When using AsJob, the job is created on the local computer and the results are automatically returned to the local computer, even though the job runs on the remote computers.

This example uses Wait-Job to determine whether a Get-Process command running in the sessions on three remote computers is completed.

The first command creates PSSession objects on three computers and stores them in the $s variable.

The second command uses Invoke-Command to run Get-Process in each of the three sessions in $s. The command uses the AsJob parameter to run the command asynchronously as a background job. The command returns a job object, just like the jobs started by using Start-Job, and the job object is stored in the $j variable.

The third command uses a pipeline operator (|) to send the job object in $j to the Wait-Job cmdlet. An Invoke-Command command is not required in this case, because the job resides on the local computer.

Example 10: Wait for a job that has an ID

PS C:\> Get-Job

Id   Name     State      HasMoreData     Location             Command
--   ----     -----      -----------     --------             -------
1    Job1     Completed  True            localhost,Server01.. get-service
4    Job4     Completed  True            localhost            dir | where

PS C:\> Wait-Job -Id 1

This command waits for the job with an ID value of 1.

Parameters

-Any

-Filter

-Force

-Id

-InstanceId

-Job

-Name

-State

-Timeout

Inputs

System.Management.Automation.RemotingJob

You can pipe a job object to this cmdlet.

Outputs

System.Management.Automation.PSRemotingJob

This cmdlet returns job objects that represent the completed jobs. If the wait ends because the value of the Timeout parameter is exceeded, Wait-Job does not return any objects.

Notes

• By default, Wait-Job returns, or ends the wait, when jobs are in one of the following states:

• Completed
• Failed
• Stopped
• Suspended
• Disconnected To direct Wait-Job to continue to wait for Suspended and Disconnected jobs, use the Force parameter.

Related Links

• Get-Job
• Invoke-Command
• Receive-Job
• Remove-Job
• Resume-Job
• Start-Job
• Stop-Job
• Suspend-Job
• about_Jobs
• about_Job_Details
• about_Remote_Jobs
• about_Remote_Variables