Prerequisites

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Steps to reproduce

This is a sub-issue of #25242.

The cmdlet Where-Object does not respect explicit $false values for any of its 31 operator switch parameters. This affects all comparison and logical operator switches.

Example with -EQ:

$data = @(
    [PSCustomObject]@{ Name = 'Alice'; Age = 25 }
    [PSCustomObject]@{ Name = 'Bob'; Age = 30 }
)
$result = $data | Where-Object Name -EQ:$false
$result.Count

Example with -GT:

$result = $data | Where-Object Age -GT:$false
$result.Count

Expected behavior

PS> $result = $data | Where-Object Name -EQ:$false
PS> $result.Count
2

When -EQ:$false is specified, the -EQ operator should not be active. The cmdlet should fall back to default boolean evaluation of the property value, returning all objects where Name is truthy (non-empty strings).

Similarly for other operators, -[Operator]:$false should behave as if the operator switch was not specified at all.

Actual behavior

PS> $result = $data | Where-Object Name -EQ:$false
PS> $result.Count
0

The -EQ:$false is incorrectly interpreted as -EQ $false, comparing the Name property against the boolean value $false instead of disabling the -EQ operator. This causes the filter to return no results because no Name values equal $false.

Affected parameters

All 31 operator switch parameters are affected:

Error details

No error is thrown. The cmdlet executes but misinterprets the explicit $false value as an operand rather than as a directive to disable the switch.

Environment data

PS> $PSVersionTable

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      7.5.4
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    7.5.4
OS                             Microsoft Windows 10.0.26100
Platform                       Win32NT
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0…}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0

Visuals

No response