AvoidUsingEmptyCatchBlock.md

description	Avoid using empty catch block
ms.date	07/21/2026
ms.topic	reference
title	AvoidUsingEmptyCatchBlock

AvoidUsingEmptyCatchBlock

Severity Level: Warning

Default state: Always enabled

Description

This rule detects empty catch blocks. Empty catch blocks are problematic because they silently suppress exceptions without any error handling, logging, or recovery action. This can mask bugs and make troubleshooting difficult. Always handle exceptions explicitly by using Write-Error to log the error, throw to propagate it, or provide appropriate recovery logic within the catch block.

Example

Noncompliant

try
{
    1/0
}
catch [DivideByZeroException]
{
}

Compliant

try
{
    1/0
}
catch [DivideByZeroException]
{
    Write-Error 'DivideByZeroException'
}

try
{
    1/0
}
catch [DivideByZeroException]
{
    throw 'DivideByZeroException'
}

Configure rule

This rule is always enabled and isn't configurable. Use one of the following methods to avoid using this rule:

• Create a custom rule configuration file to include only the rules you want or exclude the rules you don't want.
• Add the appropriate rule suppression attributes to your code to suppress the rule for specific code blocks. For more information, see the Suppressing rules section of Using PSScriptAnalyzer.