Add-Member
Adds custom properties and methods to an instance of a PowerShell object.
Syntax
Add-Member
-InputObject <PSObject>
-TypeName <String>
[-PassThru]
[<CommonParameters>]
Add-Member
-InputObject <PSObject>
[-TypeName <String>]
[-Force]
[-PassThru]
[-NotePropertyMembers] <IDictionary>
[<CommonParameters>]
Add-Member
-InputObject <PSObject>
[-TypeName <String>]
[-Force]
[-PassThru]
[-NotePropertyName] <String>
[-NotePropertyValue] <Object>
[<CommonParameters>]
Add-Member
-InputObject <PSObject>
[-MemberType] <PSMemberTypes>
[-Name] <String>
[[-Value] <Object>]
[[-SecondValue] <Object>]
[-TypeName <String>]
[-Force]
[-PassThru]
[<CommonParameters>]
Description
The Add-Member
cmdlet lets you add members (properties and methods) to an instance of a PowerShell
object. For instance, you can add a NoteProperty member that contains a description of the
object or a ScriptMethod member that runs a script to change the object.
To use Add-Member
, pipe the object to Add-Member
, or use the InputObject parameter to
specify the object.
The MemberType parameter indicates the type of member that you want to add. The Name parameter assigns a name to the new member, and the Value parameter sets the value of the member.
The properties and methods that you add are added only to the particular instance of the object that
you specify. Add-Member
doesn't change the object type. To create a new object type, use the
Add-Type
cmdlet.
You can also use the Export-Clixml
cmdlet to save the instance of the object, including the
additional members, in a file. Then you can use the Import-Clixml
cmdlet to re-create the instance
of the object from the information that's stored in the exported file.
Beginning in Windows PowerShell 3.0, Add-Member
has new features that make it easier to add note
properties to objects. You can use the NotePropertyName and NotePropertyValue parameters to
define a note property or use the NotePropertyMembers parameter, which takes a hash table of
note property names and values.
Also, beginning in Windows PowerShell 3.0, the PassThru parameter, which generates an output
object, is needed less frequently. Add-Member
now adds the new members directly to the input
object of more types. For more information, see the PassThru parameter description.
Examples
Example 1: Add a note property to a PSObject
The following example adds a Status note property with a value of "Done" to the FileInfo
object that represents the Test.txt
file.
The first command uses the Get-ChildItem
cmdlet to get a FileInfo object representing
the Test.txt
file. It saves it in the $a
variable.
The second command adds the note property to the object in $a
.
The third command uses dot notation to get the value of the Status property of the object in
$a
. As the output shows, the value is Done
.
$A = Get-ChildItem c:\ps-test\test.txt
$A | Add-Member -NotePropertyName Status -NotePropertyValue Done
$A.Status
Done
Example 2: Add an alias property to a PSObject
The following example adds a Size alias property to the object that represents the Test.txt
file. The new property is an alias for the Length property.
The first command uses the Get-ChildItem
cmdlet to get the Test.txt
FileInfo object.
The second command adds the Size alias property. The third command uses dot notation to get the value of the new Size property.
$A = Get-ChildItem C:\Temp\test.txt
$A | Add-Member -MemberType AliasProperty -Name Size -Value Length
$A.Size
2394
Example 3: Add a StringUse note property to a string
This example adds the StringUse note property to a string. Because Add-Member
can't add types
to String input objects, you can specify the PassThru parameter to generate an output
object. The last command in the example displays the new property.
This example uses the NotePropertyMembers parameter. The value of the NotePropertyMembers parameter is a hash table. The key is the note property name, StringUse, and the value is the note property value, Display.
$A = "A string"
$A = $A | Add-Member -NotePropertyMembers @{StringUse="Display"} -PassThru
$A.StringUse
Display
Example 4: Add a script method to a FileInfo object
This example adds the SizeInMB script method to a FileInfo object that calculates the file
size to the nearest MegaByte. The second command creates a ScriptBlock that uses the Round
static method from the [math]
type to round the file size to the second decimal place.
The Value parameter also uses the $This
automatic variable, which represents the current
object. The $This
variable is valid only in script blocks that define new properties and methods.
The last command uses dot notation to call the new SizeInMB script method on the object in the
$A
variable.
$A = Get-ChildItem C:\Temp\test.txt
$S = {[math]::Round(($this.Length / 1MB), 2)}
$A | Add-Member -MemberType ScriptMethod -Name "SizeInMB" -Value $S
$A.SizeInMB()
0.43
Example 5: Create a custom object
This example creates an Asset custom object.
The New-Object
cmdlet creates a PSObject that's saved in the $Asset
variable. The
[ordered]
type accelerator creates an ordered dictionary that's stored in the $d
variable.
Piping $Asset
to Add-Member
adds the key-value pairs in the dictionary to the object as
NoteProperty members. TypeName parameter assigns the type Asset
to the PSObject. The
Get-Member
cmdlet shows the type and properties of the object. However, the properties are listed
in alphabetical order, not in the order that they were added.
$Asset = New-Object -TypeName PSObject
$Asset | Add-Member -NotePropertyMembers @{Name="Server30"} -TypeName Asset
$Asset | Add-Member -NotePropertyMembers @{System="Server Core"}
$Asset | Add-Member -NotePropertyMembers @{PSVersion="4.0"}
$Asset | Get-Member -MemberType Properties
TypeName: Asset
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
Name NoteProperty string Name=Server30
PSVersion NoteProperty string PSVersion=4.0
System NoteProperty string System=Server Core
$Asset.PSObject.Properties | Format-Table Name, MemberType, TypeNameOfValue, Value
Name MemberType TypeNameOfValue Value
---- ---------- --------------- -----
Name NoteProperty System.String Server30
System NoteProperty System.String Server Core
PSVersion NoteProperty System.String 4.0
Inspecting the raw list of properties shows the properties in the order that they were added to
the object. Format-Table
is used in this example to create output similar to Get-Member
.
Example 6: Add an AliasProperty to an object
In this example we create a custom object that contains two NoteProperty members. The type for a NoteProperty reflects the type of the value stored in the property. In this case, the Age property is a string.
PS> $obj = [pscustomobject]@{
Name = 'Doris'
Age = '20'
}
PS> $obj | Add-Member -MemberType AliasProperty -Name 'intAge' -Value age -SecondValue uint32
PS> $obj | Get-Member
TypeName: System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
intAge AliasProperty intAge = (System.UInt32)age
Equals Method bool Equals(System.Object obj)
GetHashCode Method int GetHashCode()
GetType Method type GetType()
ToString Method string ToString()
Age NoteProperty string Age=20
Name NoteProperty string Name=Doris
PS> $obj
Name : Doris
Age : 20
intAge : 20
PS> $obj.Age + 1
201
PS> $obj.intAge + 1
21
The intAge property is an AliasProperty for the Age property, but the type is guaranteed to be uint32.
Example 7: Add get and set methods to a custom object
This examples shows how to define Get and Set methods that access a deeply nested property.
$user = [pscustomobject]@{
Name = 'User1'
Age = 29
StartDate = [datetime]'2019-05-05'
Position = [pscustomobject]@{
DepartmentName = 'IT'
Role = 'Manager'
}
}
$addMemberSplat = @{
MemberType = 'ScriptProperty'
Name = 'Title'
Value = { $this.Position.Role } # getter
SecondValue = { $this.Position.Role = $args[0] } # setter
}
$user | Add-Member @addMemberSplat
$user | Get-Member
TypeName: System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
Equals Method bool Equals(System.Object obj)
GetHashCode Method int GetHashCode()
GetType Method type GetType()
ToString Method string ToString()
Age NoteProperty int Age=29
Name NoteProperty string Name=User1
Position NoteProperty System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject Position=@{DepartmentName=IT; Role=Manager}
StartDate NoteProperty datetime StartDate=5/5/2019 12:00:00 AM
Title ScriptProperty System.Object Title {get= $this.Position.Role ;set= $this.Position.Role = $args[0] ;}
$user.Title = 'Dev Manager'
Name : User1
Age : 29
StartDate : 5/5/2019 12:00:00 AM
Position : @{DepartmentName=IT; Role=Dev Manager}
Title : Dev Manager
Notice that the Title property is a ScriptProperty that has a Get and Set method. When we assign a new value to the Title property, the Set method is called and changes the value of the Role property in the Position property.
Parameters
-Force
By default, Add-Member
can't add a new member if the object already has a member with the same.
When you use the Force parameter, Add-Member
replaces the existing member with the new member.
You can't use the Force parameter to replace a standard member of a type.
Type: | SwitchParameter |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-InputObject
Specifies the object to which the new member is added. Enter a variable that contains the objects, or type a command or expression that gets the objects.
Type: | PSObject |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | True |
Accept pipeline input: | True |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-MemberType
Specifies the type of the member to add. This parameter is required. The acceptable values for this parameter are:
- AliasProperty
- CodeMethod
- CodeProperty
- NoteProperty
- ScriptMethod
- ScriptProperty
For information about these values, see PSMemberTypes Enumeration in the PowerShell SDK.
Not all objects have every type of member. If you specify a member type that the object doesn't have, PowerShell returns an error.
Type: | PSMemberTypes |
Aliases: | Type |
Accepted values: | AliasProperty, CodeMethod, CodeProperty, NoteProperty, ScriptMethod, ScriptProperty |
Position: | 0 |
Default value: | None |
Required: | True |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Name
Specifies the name of the member that this cmdlet adds.
Type: | String |
Position: | 1 |
Default value: | None |
Required: | True |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-NotePropertyMembers
Specifies a hashtable or ordered dictionary that contains key-value pair representing NoteProperty names and their values. For more information about hash tables and ordered dictionaries in PowerShell, see about_Hash_Tables.
This parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.
Type: | IDictionary |
Position: | 0 |
Default value: | None |
Required: | True |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-NotePropertyName
Specifies the note property name.
Use this parameter with the NotePropertyValue parameter. This parameter is optional.
This parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.
Type: | String |
Position: | 0 |
Default value: | None |
Required: | True |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-NotePropertyValue
Specifies the note property value.
Use this parameter with the NotePropertyName parameter. This parameter is optional.
This parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.
Type: | Object |
Position: | 1 |
Default value: | None |
Required: | True |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-PassThru
Returns an object representing the item with which you are working. By default, this cmdlet doesn't generate any output.
For most objects, Add-Member
adds the new members to the input object. However, when the input
object is a string, Add-Member
can't add the member to the input object. For these objects, use
the PassThru parameter to create an output object.
In Windows PowerShell 2.0, Add-Member
added members only to the PSObject wrapper of objects,
not to the object. Use the PassThru parameter to create an output object for any object that has
a PSObject wrapper.
Type: | SwitchParameter |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-SecondValue
Specifies optional additional information about AliasProperty, ScriptProperty, or CodeProperty members.
If used when adding an AliasProperty, this parameter must be a data type. A conversion to the specified data type is added to the value of the AliasProperty. For example, if you add an AliasProperty that provides an alternate name for a string property, you can also specify a SecondValue parameter of System.Int32 to indicate that the value of that string property should be converted to an integer when accessed using the corresponding AliasProperty.
For a CodeProperty, the value must be a reference to a method that implements a Set
accessor. Use the GetMethod()
method of a type reference to get a reference to a method. The
method must take a single parameter that's a PSObject. The Get accessor is assigned using
the Value parameter.
For a ScriptProperty, the value must be a script block that implements a Set accessor. The Get accessor is assigned using the Value parameter.
Type: | Object |
Position: | 3 |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-TypeName
Specifies a name for the type.
When the type is a class in the System namespace or a type that has a type accelerator, you can enter the short name of the type. Otherwise, the full type name is required. This parameter is effective only when the InputObject is a PSObject.
This parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.
Type: | String |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Value
Specifies the initial value of the added member. If you add an AliasProperty, CodeProperty, or ScriptProperty member, you can supply additional information using the SecondValue parameter.
- For an AliasProperty, the value must be the name of the property being aliased.
- For a CodeMethod, the value must be a reference to a method. Use the
GetMethod()
method of a type reference to get a reference to a method. - For a CodeProperty, the value must be a reference to a method that implements a Get
accessor. Use the
GetMethod()
method of a type reference to get a reference to a method. reference. The method must take a single parameter that's a PSObject. The Set accessor is assigned using the SecondValue parameter. - For a ScriptMethod, the value must be a script block.
- For a ScriptProperty, the value must be a script block that implements a Get accessor. The Set accessor is assigned using the SecondValue parameter.
Type: | Object |
Position: | 2 |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Inputs
You can pipe any object to this cmdlet.
Outputs
None
By default, this cmdlet returns no output.
When you use the PassThru parameter, this cmdlet returns the newly extended object.
Notes
You can add members only to PSObject type objects. To determine whether an object is a
PSObject object, use the -is
operator. For instance, to test an object stored in the $obj
variable, type $obj -is [psobject]
.
PSObject type objects maintain their list of members in the order that the members were added to the object.
The names of the MemberType, Name, Value, and SecondValue parameters are optional. If you omit the parameter names, the unnamed parameter values must appear in this order: MemberType, Name, Value, and SecondValue.
If you include the parameter names, the parameters can appear in any order.
You can use the $this
automatic variable in script blocks that define the values of new properties
and methods. The $this
variable refers to the instance of the object to which the properties and
methods are being added. For more information about the $this
variable, see
about_Automatic_Variables.
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