Merge pull request #12921 from MicrosoftDocs/main

Auto Publish – main to live - 2026-04-02 22:00 UTC

Author: learn-build-service-prod[bot]

reference/5.1/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_Automatic_Variables.md

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ---
 description: Describes variables that store state information for PowerShell. These variables are created and maintained by PowerShell.
 Locale: en-US
-ms.date: 02/10/2026
+ms.date: 04/02/2026
 no-loc: [Reset, Current, Background, Blink, Bold, Foreground, Formatting, Hidden, Italic, Reset, Reverse, Underline, PSEventArgs, PSEventSubscriber, PSEdition]
 online version: https://learn.microsoft.com/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_automatic_variables?view=powershell-5.1&WT.mc_id=ps-gethelp
 schema: 2.0.0
@@ -160,8 +160,8 @@ use this automatic variable to determine the file to update.
 Contains an array of error objects that represent the most recent errors. The
 most recent error is the first error object in the array `$Error[0]`.
 
-To prevent an error from being added to the `$Error` array, use the
-**ErrorAction** common parameter with a value of **Ignore**. For more
+To prevent a non-terminating error from being added to the `$Error` array, use
+the **ErrorAction** common parameter with a value of **Ignore**. For more
 information, see [about_CommonParameters][53].
 
 ### `$Event`

reference/5.1/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_CommonParameters.md

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ---
 description: Describes the parameters that can be used with any cmdlet.
 Locale: en-US
-ms.date: 01/18/2026
+ms.date: 04/02/2026
 no-loc: [Confirm, Debug, ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, InformationAction, InformationVariable, OutBuffer, OutVariable, PipelineVariable, ProgressAction, Verbose, WarningAction, WarningVariable, WhatIf]
 online version: https://learn.microsoft.com/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_commonparameters?view=powershell-5.1&WT.mc_id=ps-gethelp
 schema: 2.0.0
@@ -109,14 +109,13 @@ the display of debugging messages when `$DebugPreference` isn't
 ### -ErrorAction
 
 Determines how the cmdlet responds to a non-terminating error from the command.
-This parameter works only when the command generates a non-terminating error,
-such as those from the `Write-Error` cmdlet.
+This parameter overrides the value of the `$ErrorActionPreference` variable for
+non-terminating errors generated by the command or the `Write-Error` cmdlet.
 
 ```yaml
 Type: ActionPreference
 Aliases: ea
-Accepted values: Suspend, Ignore, Inquire, Continue, Stop, SilentlyContinue
-
+Accepted values: Break, Suspend, Ignore, Inquire, Continue, Stop, SilentlyContinue
 Required: False
 Position: Named
 Default value: Depends on preference variable
@@ -129,9 +128,12 @@ variable for the current command. Because the default value of the
 `$ErrorActionPreference` variable is `Continue`, error messages are displayed
 and execution continues unless you use the `ErrorAction` parameter.
 
-The `ErrorAction` parameter has no effect on terminating errors (such as
-missing data, parameters that aren't valid, or insufficient permissions) that
-prevent a command from completing successfully.
+The `-ErrorAction` parameter doesn't prevent statement-terminating errors
+(such as missing data, parameters that aren't valid, or insufficient
+permissions) from stopping the current statement. However, when set to `Stop`,
+it escalates non-terminating errors to script-terminating errors, making them
+catchable by `try/catch`. For more information about error categories, see
+[about_Error_Handling][15].
 
 - `-ErrorAction:Break` Enters the debugger when an error occurs or an exception
   is raised.
@@ -829,6 +831,7 @@ Mode                LastWriteTime     Length Name
 
 <!-- Using backtick on cmdlet names to avoid localization -->
 - [about_Preference_Variables][03]
+- [about_Error_Handling][15]
 - [`Write-Debug`][11]
 - [`Write-Error`][12]
 - [`Write-Verbose`][13]
@@ -844,4 +847,5 @@ Mode                LastWriteTime     Length Name
 [12]: xref:Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility.Write-Error
 [13]: xref:Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility.Write-Verbose
 [14]: xref:Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility.Write-Warning
+[15]: about_Error_Handling.md