about_Arrays

Article
03/07/2024

Short description

Describes arrays, which are data structures designed to store collections of items.

Long description

An array is a data structure that's designed to store a collection of items. The items can be the same type or different types.

Beginning in Windows PowerShell 3.0, a collection of zero or one object has some properties of arrays.

Creating and initializing an array

To create and initialize an array, assign multiple values to a variable. The values stored in the array are delimited with a comma and separated from the variable name by the assignment operator (=).

For example, to create an array named $A that contains the seven numeric (integer) values of 22, 5, 10, 8, 12, 9, and 80, type:

$A = 22,5,10,8,12,9,80

The comma can also be used to initialize a single item array by placing the comma before the single item.

For example, to create a single item array named $B containing the single value of 7, type:

$B = ,7

You can also create and initialize an array using the range operator (..). The following example creates an array containing the values 5 through 8.

$C = 5..8

As a result, $C contains four values: 5, 6, 7, and 8.

When no data type is specified, PowerShell creates each array as an object array (System.Object[]). To determine the data type of an array, use the GetType() method. For example:

$A.GetType()

To create a strongly typed array, that is, an array that can contain only values of a particular type, cast the variable as an array type, such as string[], long[], or int32[]. To cast an array, precede the variable name with an array type enclosed in brackets. For example:

[int32[]]$ia = 1500, 2230, 3350, 4000

As a result, the $ia array can contain only integers.

You can create arrays that are cast to any supported type in the .NET. For example, the objects that Get-Process retrieves to represent processes are of the System.Diagnostics.Process type. To create a strongly typed array of process objects, enter the following command:

[Diagnostics.Process[]]$zz = Get-Process

The array sub-expression operator

The array sub-expression operator creates an array from the statements inside it. Whatever the statement inside the operator produces, the operator places it in an array. Even if there is zero or one object.

The syntax of the array operator is as follows:

@( ... )

You can use the array operator to create an array of zero or one object. For example:

$a = @("Hello World")
$a.Count

$b = @()
$b.Count

The array operator is useful in scripts when you are getting objects, but don't know how many to expect. For example:

$p = @(Get-Process Notepad)

For more information about the array sub-expression operator, see about_Operators.

Accessing and using array elements

Reading an array

You can refer to an array using its variable name. To display all the elements in the array, invoke the array name. For example, $a is an array of the numbers 0 through 9:

$a

You can refer to the elements in an array using an index. Enclose the index number in brackets. Index values start at 0. For example, to display the first element in the $a array, type:

$a[0]

To display the third element in the $a array, type:

$a[2]

You can retrieve part of the array using a range operator for the index. For example, to retrieve the second to fifth elements of the array, you would type:

$a[1..4]

Negative numbers count from the end of the array. For example, -1 refers to the last element of the array. To display the last three elements of the array, in index ascending order, type:

$a = 0 .. 9
$a[-3..-1]

7
8
9

If you type negative indexes in descending order, your output changes.

$a = 0 .. 9
$a[-1..-3]

9
8
7

However, be cautious when using this notation. The notation cycles from the end boundary to the beginning of the array.

$a = 0 .. 9
$a[2..-2]

Also, one common mistake is to assume $a[0..-2] refers to all the elements of the array, except for the last one. It refers to the first, last, and second-to-last elements in the array.

You can use the plus operator (+) to combine a ranges with a list of elements in an array. For example, to display the elements at index positions 0, 2, and 4 through 6, type:

$a = 0 .. 9
$a[0,2+4..6]

Also, to list multiple ranges and individual elements you can use the plus operator. For example, to list elements zero to two, four to six, and the element at eighth positional type:

$a = 0..9
$a[+0..2+4..6+8]

Iterations over array elements

You can also use looping constructs, such as foreach, for, and while loops, to refer to the elements in an array. For example, to use a foreach loop to display the elements in the $a array, type:

$a = 0..9
foreach ($element in $a) {
  $element
}

The foreach loop iterates through the array and returns each value in the array until reaching the end of the array.

The for loop is useful when you are incrementing counters while examining the elements in an array. For example, to use a for loop to return every other value in an array, type:

$a = 0..9
for ($i = 0; $i -le ($a.length - 1); $i += 2) {
  $a[$i]
}

You can use a while loop to display the elements in an array until a defined condition is no longer true. For example, to display the elements in the $a array while the array index is less than 4, type:

$a = 0..9
$i=0
while($i -lt 4) {
  $a[$i]
  $i++
}

Properties of arrays

Count or Length or LongLength

To determine how many items are in an array, use the Length property or its Count alias. Longlength is useful if the array contains more than 2,147,483,647 elements.

$a = 0..9
$a.Count
$a.Length

10
10

Rank

Returns the number of dimensions in the array. Most arrays in PowerShell have one dimension, only. Even when you think you are building a multidimensional array like the following example:

$a = @(
  @(0,1),
  @("b", "c"),
  @(Get-Process)
)

"`$a rank: $($a.Rank)"
"`$a length: $($a.Length)"
"`$a[2] length: $($a[2].Length)"
"Process `$a[2][1]: $($a[2][1].ProcessName)"

In this example, you are creating a single-dimensional array that contains other arrays. This is also known as a jagged array. The Rank property proved that this is single-dimensional. To access items in a jagged array, the indexes must be in separate brackets ([]).

$a rank: 1
$a length: 3
$a[2] length: 348
Process $a[2][1]: AcroRd32

Multidimensional arrays are stored in row-major order. The following example shows how to create a truly multidimensional array.

[string[,]]$rank2 = [string[,]]::New(3,2)
$rank2.rank
$rank2.Length
$rank2[0,0] = 'a'
$rank2[0,1] = 'b'
$rank2[1,0] = 'c'
$rank2[1,1] = 'd'
$rank2[2,0] = 'e'
$rank2[2,1] = 'f'
$rank2[1,1]

2
6
d

To access items in a multidimensional array, separate the indexes using a comma (,) within a single set of brackets ([]).

Some operations on a multidimensional array, such as replication and concatenation, require that array to be flattened. Flattening turns the array into a 1-dimensional array of unconstrained type. The resulting array takes on all the elements in row-major order. Consider the following example:

$a = "red",$true
$b = (New-Object 'int[,]' 2,2)
$b[0,0] = 10
$b[0,1] = 20
$b[1,0] = 30
$b[1,1] = 40
$c = $a + $b
$a.GetType().Name
$b.GetType().Name
$c.GetType().Name
$c

The output shows that $c is a 1-dimensional array containing the items from $a and $b in row-major order.

Object[]
Int32[,]
Object[]
red
True
10
20
30
40

Methods of arrays

Clear

Sets all element values to the default value of the array's element type. The Clear() method doesn't reset the size of the array.

In the following example $a is an array of objects.

$a = 1, 2, 3
$a.Clear()
$a | % { $null -eq $_ }

True
True
True

In this example, $intA is explicitly typed to contain integers.

[int[]] $intA = 1, 2, 3
$intA.Clear()
$intA

0
0
0

ForEach()

Allows to iterate over all elements in the array and perform a given operation for each element of the array.

The ForEach() method has several overloads that perform different operations.

ForEach(scriptblock expression)
ForEach(scriptblock expression, object[] arguments)
ForEach(type convertToType)
ForEach(string propertyName)
ForEach(string propertyName, object[] newValue)
ForEach(string methodName)
ForEach(string methodName, object[] arguments)

ForEach(scriptblock expression)

ForEach(scriptblock expression, object[] arguments)

This method was added in PowerShell v4.

Note

The syntax requires the usage of a script block. Parentheses are optional if the scriptblock is the only parameter. Also, there must not be a space between the method and the opening parenthesis or brace.

The following example shows how use the ForEach() method. In this case the intent is to generate the square value of the elements in the array.

$a = @(0 .. 3)
$a.ForEach({ $_ * $_})

Just like the ArgumentList parameter of ForEach-Object, the arguments parameter allows the passing of an array of arguments to a script block configured to accept them.

For more information about the behavior of ArgumentList, see about_Splatting.

ForEach(type convertToType)

The ForEach() method can be used to cast the elements to a different type; the following example shows how to convert a list of string dates to [DateTime] type.

("1/1/2017", "2/1/2017", "3/1/2017").ForEach([datetime])


Sunday, January 1, 2017 12:00:00 AM
Wednesday, February 1, 2017 12:00:00 AM
Wednesday, March 1, 2017 12:00:00 AM

ForEach(string propertyName)

ForEach(string propertyName, object[] newValue)

The ForEach() method can also be used to retrieve, or set property values for every item in the collection.

# Set all LastAccessTime properties of files to the current date.
(dir 'C:\Temp').ForEach('LastAccessTime', (Get-Date))
# View the newly set LastAccessTime of all items, and find Unique entries.
(dir 'C:\Temp').ForEach('LastAccessTime') | Get-Unique

Wednesday, June 20, 2018 9:21:57 AM

ForEach(string methodName)

ForEach(string methodName, object[] arguments)

Lastly, ForEach() methods can be used to execute a method on every item in the collection.

("one", "two", "three").ForEach("ToUpper")

ONE
TWO
THREE

Just like the ArgumentList parameter of ForEach-Object, the arguments parameter allows the passing of an array of values to a script block configured to accept them.

Note

Starting in Windows PowerShell 3.0 retrieving properties and executing methods for each item in a collection can also be accomplished using "Methods of scalar objects and collections". You can read more about that here about_Methods.

Where()

Allows to filter or select the elements of the array. The script must evaluate to anything different than: zero (0), empty string, $false or $null for the element to show after the Where(). For more information about boolean evaluation, see about_Booleans.

There is one definition for the Where() method.

Where(scriptblock expression[, WhereOperatorSelectionMode mode
                            [, int numberToReturn]])

Note

The Expression is a scriptblock that's required for filtering, the mode optional argument allows additional selection capabilities, and the numberToReturn optional argument allows the ability to limit how many items are returned from the filter.

The value of mode must be a WhereOperatorSelectionMode enum value:

Default (0) - Return all items
First (1) - Return the first item
Last (2) - Return the last item
SkipUntil (3) - Skip items until condition is true, return all the remaining items (including the first item for which the condition is true)
Until (4) - Return all items until condition is true
Split (5) - Return an array of two elements
- The first element contains matching items
- The second element contains the remaining items

The following example shows how to select all odd numbers from the array.

(0..9).Where{ $_ % 2 }

The next example shows how to select all non-empty strings.

('hi', '', 'there').Where{ $_ }

hi
there

Default

The Default mode filters items using the Expression scriptblock.

If a numberToReturn is provided, it specifies the maximum number of items to return.

# Get the zip files in the current users profile, sorted by LastAccessTime
$Zips = dir $env:userprofile -Recurse '*.zip' | Sort-Object LastAccessTime
# Get the least accessed file over 100MB
$Zips.Where({$_.Length -gt 100MB}, 'Default', 1)

Note

Both the Default mode and First mode return the first (numberToReturn) items, and can be used interchangeably.

Last

$h = (Get-Date).AddHours(-1)
$logs = dir 'C:\' -Recurse '*.log' | Sort-Object CreationTime
# Find the last 5 log files created in the past hour
$logs.Where({$_.CreationTime -gt $h}, 'Last', 5)

SkipUntil

The SkipUntil mode skips all objects in a collection until an object passes the script block expression filter. It then returns ALL remaining collection items without testing them. Only one passing item is tested.

This means the returned collection contains both passing and non-passing items that have NOT been tested.

The number of items returned can be limited by passing a value to the numberToReturn argument.

$computers = "Server01", "Server02", "Server03", "localhost", "Server04"
# Find the first available online server.
$computers.Where({ Test-Connection $_ }, 'SkipUntil', 1)

localhost

Until

The Until mode inverts the SkipUntil mode. It returns ALL items in a collection until an item passes the script block expression. Once an item passes the scriptblock expression, the Where() method stops processing items.

This means that you receive the first set of non-passing items from the Where() method. After one item passes, the rest are NOT tested or returned.

The number of items returned can be limited by passing a value to the numberToReturn argument.

# Retrieve the first set of numbers less than or equal to 10.
(1..50).Where({$_ -gt 10}, 'Until')
# This would perform the same operation.
(1..50).Where({$_ -le 10})

Note

Both Until and SkipUntil operate under the premise of NOT testing a batch of items.

Until returns the items BEFORE the first PASS. SkipUntil returns all items AFTER the first pass, including the first passing item.

Split

The Split mode splits, or groups collection items into two separate collections. Those that pass the scriptblock expression, and those that do not.

If a numberToReturn is specified, the first collection, contains the passing items, not to exceed the value specified.

The remaining objects, even those that PASS the expression filter, are returned in the second collection.

$running, $stopped = (Get-Service).Where({$_.Status -eq 'Running'}, 'Split')
$running

Status   Name               DisplayName
------   ----               -----------
Running  Appinfo            Application Information
Running  AudioEndpointBu... Windows Audio Endpoint Builder
Running  Audiosrv           Windows Audio
...

$stopped

Status   Name               DisplayName
------   ----               -----------
Stopped  AJRouter           AllJoyn Router Service
Stopped  ALG                Application Layer Gateway Service
Stopped  AppIDSvc           Application Identity
...

Note

Both ForEach() and Where() methods are intrinsic members. For more information about intrinsic members, see about_Intrinsic_Members.

Get the members of an array

To get the properties and methods of an array, such as the Length property and the SetValue method, use the InputObject parameter of the Get-Member cmdlet.

When you pipe an array to Get-Member, PowerShell sends the items one at a time and Get-Member returns the type of each item in the array (ignoring duplicates).

When you use the InputObject parameter, Get-Member returns the members of the array.

For example, the following command gets the members of the $a array variable.

Get-Member -InputObject $a

You can also get the members of an array by typing a comma (,) before the value that's piped to the Get-Member cmdlet. The comma makes the array the second item in an array of arrays. PowerShell pipes the arrays one at a time and Get-Member returns the members of the array. Like the next two examples.

,$a | Get-Member

,(1,2,3) | Get-Member

Manipulating an array

You can change the elements in an array, add an element to an array, and combine the values from two arrays into a third array.

To change the value of a particular element in an array, specify the array name and the index of the element that you want to change, and then use the assignment operator (=) to specify a new value for the element. For example, to change the value of the second item in the $a array (index position 1) to 10, type:

$a[1] = 10

You can also use the SetValue method of an array to change a value. The following example changes the second value (index position 1) of the $a array to 500:

$a.SetValue(500,1)

You can use the += operator to add an element to an array. The following example shows how to add an element to the $a array.

$a = @(0..4)
$a += 5

Note

When you use the += operator, PowerShell actually creates a new array with the values of the original array and the added value. This might cause performance issues if the operation is repeated several times or the size of the array is too big.

It isn't easy to delete elements from an array, but you can create a new array that contains only selected elements of an existing array. For example, to create the $t array with all the elements in the $a array except for the value at index position 2, type:

$t = $a[0,1 + 3..($a.length - 1)]

To combine two arrays into a single array, use the plus operator (+). The following example creates two arrays, combines them, and then displays the resulting combined array.

$x = 1,3
$y = 5,9
$z = $x + $y

As a result, the $z array contains 1, 3, 5, and 9.

To delete an array, assign a value of $null to the array. The following command deletes the array in the $a variable.

$a = $null

You can also use the Remove-Item cmdlet, but assigning a value of $null is faster, especially for large arrays.

Arrays of zero or one

Beginning in Windows PowerShell 3.0, a collection of zero or one object has the Count and Length properties. Also, you can index into an array of one object. This feature helps you to avoid scripting errors that occur when a command that expects a collection gets fewer than two items.

The following example shows that a variable that contains no objects has a Count and Length of 0.

PS> $a = $null
PS> $a.Count
0
PS> $a.Length
0

The following example shows that a variable that contains one object has a Count and Length of 1. You can also use array indexing to access the value of the object.

PS> $a = 4
PS> $a.Count
1
PS> $a.Length
1
PS> $a[0]
4
PS> $a[-1]
4

When you run a command that could return a collection or a single object, you can use array indexing to access the value of the object without having to test the Count or Length properties. However, if the result is a single object (singleton), and that object has a Count or Length property, the value of those properties belong to the singleton object and don't represent the number of items in the collection.

In the following example, the command returns a single string object. The Length of that string is 4.

PS> $result = 'one','two','three','four' | Where-Object {$_ -like 'f*'}
PS> $result.GetType().FullName
System.String
PS> $result
four
PS> $result.Count
1
PS❯ $result.Length
4

If you want $result to be an array of strings, you need to declare the variable as an array.

In this example, $result is an array of strings. The Count and Length of the array is 1, and the Length of the first element is 4.

PS> [string[]]$result = 'one','two','three','four' |
    Where-Object {$_ -like 'f*'}
PS> $result.GetType().FullName
System.String[]
PS> $result
four
PS> $result.Count
1
PS> $result.Length
1
PS> $result[0].Length
4

Indexing support for System.Tuple objects

PowerShell 6.1 added the support for indexed access of Tuple objects, similar to arrays. For example:

PS> $tuple = [Tuple]::Create(1, 'test')
PS> $tuple[0]
1
PS> $tuple[1]
test
PS> $tuple[0..1]
1
test
PS> $tuple[-1]
test

Unlike arrays and other collection objects, Tuple objects are treated as a single object when passed through the pipeline or by parameters that support arrays of objects.

For more information, see System.Tuple.

Indexing .NET types that implement `IDictionary<TKey, TValue>`

PowerShell doesn't call a type's true indexer for types that implement the generic IDictionary<TKey, TValue> interface. Instead, when given a key, PowerShell tests for the existence of the key using TryGetValue(), which returns $null when the key doesn't exist.

By contrast, if you call the type's true indexer using Item(<key>), the method throws an exception when the key doesn't exist.

The following example illustrates the difference.

PS> [Collections.Generic.Dictionary[string, int]]::new()['nosuchkey']
# No output ($null)

PS> [Collections.Generic.Dictionary[string, int]]::new().Item('nosuchkey')
GetValueInvocationException: Exception getting "Item": "The given key 'nosuchkey'
 was not present in the dictionary."

Member-access enumeration

Starting in PowerShell 3.0, when you use the member-access operator to access a member that doesn't exist on a list collection, PowerShell automatically enumerates the items in the collection and attempts to access the specified member on each item. For more information, see about_Member-Access_Enumeration.

Examples

The following example creates two new files and stores the resulting objects in the array variable $files. Since the array object doesn't have the LastWriteTime member, the value of LastWriteTime is returned for each item in the array.

$files = (New-Item -Type File -Force '/temp/t1.txt'),
         (New-Item -Force -Type File '/temp/t2.txt')
$files.LastWriteTime

Friday, June 25, 2021 1:21:17 PM
Friday, June 25, 2021 1:21:17 PM

Member-access enumeration enables you to get values from items in a collection, but not to set values on items in a collection. For example:

$files.LastWriteTime = (Get-Date).AddDays(-1)

InvalidOperation: The property 'LastWriteTime' cannot be found on this object.
Verify that the property exists and can be set.

To set the values you must use a method.

$files.set_LastWriteTime((Get-Date).AddDays(-1))
$files.LastWriteTime

Thursday, June 24, 2021 1:23:30 PM
Thursday, June 24, 2021 1:23:30 PM

The set_LastWriteTime() method is a hidden member of the FileInfo object. The following example shows how to find hidden set methods.

$files | Get-Member -Force -Name set_*

   TypeName: System.IO.FileInfo

Name              MemberType Definition
----              ---------- ----------
Attributes        Property   System.IO.FileAttributes Attributes {get;set;}
CreationTime      Property   datetime CreationTime {get;set;}
CreationTimeUtc   Property   datetime CreationTimeUtc {get;set;}
IsReadOnly        Property   bool IsReadOnly {get;set;}
LastAccessTime    Property   datetime LastAccessTime {get;set;}
LastAccessTimeUtc Property   datetime LastAccessTimeUtc {get;set;}
LastWriteTime     Property   datetime LastWriteTime {get;set;}
LastWriteTimeUtc  Property   datetime LastWriteTimeUtc {get;set;}

Caution

Since the method is executed for each item in the collection, care should be taken when calling methods using member enumeration.

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about_Arrays

Short description

Long description

Creating and initializing an array

The array sub-expression operator

Accessing and using array elements

Reading an array

Iterations over array elements

Properties of arrays

Count or Length or LongLength

Rank

Methods of arrays

Clear

ForEach()

ForEach(scriptblock expression)

ForEach(scriptblock expression, object[] arguments)

ForEach(type convertToType)

ForEach(string propertyName)

ForEach(string propertyName, object[] newValue)

ForEach(string methodName)

ForEach(string methodName, object[] arguments)

Where()

Default

Last

SkipUntil

Until

Split

Get the members of an array

Manipulating an array

Arrays of zero or one

Indexing support for System.Tuple objects

Indexing .NET types that implement `IDictionary<TKey, TValue>`

Member-access enumeration

Examples

See also

Additional resources

Share via

about_Arrays

Short description

Long description

Creating and initializing an array

The array sub-expression operator

Accessing and using array elements

Reading an array

Iterations over array elements

Properties of arrays

Count or Length or LongLength

Rank

Methods of arrays

Clear

ForEach()

ForEach(scriptblock expression)

ForEach(scriptblock expression, object[] arguments)

ForEach(type convertToType)

ForEach(string propertyName)

ForEach(string propertyName, object[] newValue)

ForEach(string methodName)

ForEach(string methodName, object[] arguments)

Where()

Default

Last

SkipUntil

Until

Split

Get the members of an array

Manipulating an array

Arrays of zero or one

Indexing support for System.Tuple objects

Indexing .NET types that implement IDictionary<TKey, TValue>

Member-access enumeration

Examples

See also

Additional resources

Indexing .NET types that implement `IDictionary<TKey, TValue>`