literal_array.md

How to create a literal array in powershell

Create an Empty array

$data = @()

This works....

A literal array

$MyArray = @(
	"Item0";
	"Item1";
	"Item2";
)

Hell, even this works:

Literal Array Easy Syntax

$MyArray = "Item0", "Item1", "Item2";

Both have same type:

> $MyArray.GetType()

result:

IsPublic IsSerial Name                                     BaseType
-------- -------- ----                                     --------
True     True     Object[]                                 System.Array

And both contain strings...

> $MyArray | % { $_.GetType() }

result:

IsPublic IsSerial Name                                     BaseType
-------- -------- ----                                     --------
True     True     String                                   System.Object
True     True     String                                   System.Object
True     True     String                                   System.Object

So I think the second one is simpler. Go with that.

Use an array

Access items by index offset (this offset like most offsets is zero-based)

$MyArray[0]

Fancy ways to access arrays

$MyArray[0,5,12]

and

$MyArray[1..3]

and

$MyArray[-1..-4]

Count Items in an arrays

$MyArray.count

Last Item in an array

$MyArray[-1]

For-Each Through An Array (Iterating)

$MyArray | ForEach-Object {"Item: [$PSItem]"}

returns

Item: [Zero]
Item: [One]
Item: [Two]
Item: [Three]

Add an item to an array

To add an item to an array in powershell - we do not push or concatenate - we "plus equals" or +=

$data = @(
	'Zero'
	'One'
	'Two'
	'Three'
)
$data += 'four'

Sources

• Everything you wanted to know about arrays