PowerShell strings are the most efficient way to concatenate, expand and format text. In this article, we’ll explore what PowerShell strings are and how they work in a simple program. We will also take a look at some popular formatting options of PowerShell string functions that you may want to use as well!
The “substring powershell” is a command-line tool that allows users to extract and format strings. The “substring powershell” has the ability to concatenate, expand and format strings.
Strings are perhaps the most often used data type in PowerShell. Strings are nearly always used in scripts, whether they are used to show messages, ask for input, or transmit data to files.
You’ll discover in this essay that strings aren’t simply for reading and displaying data. They may also be changed to match the needs of the work for which you’re composing the script. For example, substituting letters or whole words, concatenating strings to generate a new string, or even breaking one string into many strings are all possibilities.
Getting to Know Strings
“A string is a sequential collection of characters that is used to represent text,” according to the.NET specification. In conclusion, a string exists whenever a succession of letters forms a text.
Using PowerShell to Create System Strings
Strings are made up of a succession of characters encased in single or double quotations. Here are some string examples.
PS> ‘Hello PowerShell – Today is $(Get-Date)’PS> “Hello PowerShell – Today is $(Get-Date)”
System is made up of strings. In.NET, strings are used.
The first string is encased in a single quotation, while the second string is enclosed in a double quote, as seen in the example above. If you’re curious, the only difference between the two is that strings in double quotes may expand, but strings in single quotes can only represent literal strings.
When you put both texts from the example above into PowerShell, it will validate the single-quote vs. double-quote notion.
A single-quoted string returns the exact literal string that was specified, as seen in the picture below. The double-quoted string, on the other hand, returns the string containing the Get-Date cmdlet’s expression result.
String Output: Single Quote vs. Double Quote
When creating strings, the difference between using single and double quotes is shown in the example above.
The Object of Strings
As stated in the previous section, the collection of characters that form a text is a string. The resulting value of the string is The Object of Strings. The Object of Strings is a .NET object that is of the [System.String] type.
Because System.String is an object, you may use the Get-Member cmdlet to retrieve its attributes. With double-quotes, we’re placing a variable within a string.
PS> “Hello PowerShell – Today is $(Get-Date)” | Get-Member=
The screenshot below shows the TypeName and the partial list of properties of The Object of Strings.
Properties of a String Object
Putting PowerShell Strings Together
String concatenation is the process of connecting two or more strings together to create a single string object from several individual string objects. In PowerShell, there are multiple techniques for concatenating strings. Each approach is unique, and the one you choose depends on how you want to utilize string concatenation.
The creation of Active Directory users is a good example of string concatenation in action. Perhaps you’re writing a user creation script that pulls data from a list for the first name, last name, and department.
You may create the standard naming convention for the name, display name, username, and email address using string concatenation. You’ll be dealing with the strings displayed below in this example. Copy and paste the code below into your PowerShell session.
‘contoso.com’ is the domain name. $firstname = ‘Jack’; $lastname = ‘John’; $lastname = ‘ ‘Ripper’ is the final name of the character. ‘Health’ as $department
By concatenating strings together, the purpose is to generate the following values using the example variable values above.
- Name is made up of two parts: firstname and lastname.
- DisplayName is made up of two parts: firstname and lastname. (department)
- firstname.lastname = SamAccountName
- [email protected] is the email address.
The values indicated above will be produced in the next sections utilizing PowerShell’s various string concatenation techniques.
Let’s get started!
Using the Concatenation Operator for PowerShell Strings
Programming languages have their own string concatenation operator used for concatenating strings. For example, in Visual Basic, the concatenation method is the ampersand sign (&). PowerShell also has its own concatenation method, which is the plus sign (+).
The code below uses the string concatenation operator to concatenate strings.
## Your name ## DisplayName $firstname +” + $lastname ## SamAccountName = $firstname +” + $lastname +'(‘ + $department + ‘)’ ## Email Address $firstname + ‘.’ + $lastname $lastname + ‘@’ + $domain + $firstname + ‘.’
Using the Strings Expansion in PowerShell
When concatenating strings, string expansion may be the approach that produces the smallest code. All that is required, as seen in the code below, is to arrange the strings as they should appear and enclose them in double-quotes.
# Expansion of Strings ## Your name “## DisplayName “$firstname $lastname” $firstname $lastname” $firstname $lastname” $firstname $lastname” $firstname $ $department ($lastname)” ## AccountNameSam “”[email protected]” ## Email Address “$firstname.$lastname” $domain”
The concatenated string is then produced by PowerShell after it analyzes and manages the string expansion within the double quotes string. You may see an example of the output below.
Expansion of Strings
How to Use the Format Operator in PowerShell
For composite formatting, the format operator (-f) is often employed. It’s vital to know that there are three elements to using -f with this strategy.
Please see the third line of the code below for further information. The format and placeholders are represented by the “0 1.” The index of the string in the collection to show in its place is indicated by the numbers in the curly brackets. Single or double quotations are acceptable.
$firstname,$lastname indicate the collection of strings used as input in this example. This signifies that the $firstname variable’s index is 0 and the $lastname variable’s index is 1.
Finally, -f is the space between the placeholder and the string collection denoted by (-f).
## DisplayName “0 1 (2)” -f $firstname,$lastname,$department ## SamAccountName “0.1” -f $firstname,$lastname ## Email Address “0.1@2” -f $firstname,$lastname,$domain
The results of the code above are displayed below.
How to Use the Format Operator
Using the -Join Operator in PowerShell
There are two methods to utilize the -Unite operator to join strings into a single string.
The first time you use -Join, you must precede it with an array of strings to concatenate. There is no opportunity to add a delimiter to the -Join operator. The array’s strings will be glued together with nothing between them.
The -Join operator may also be used to indicate the delimiter to be used. The array of strings will be linked together, but the delimiter character supplied will be placed between each string.
<String[]> -Join <Delimiter>
Returning to the purpose of string concatenation, the code below shows how to utilize the -Join operator to join strings together.
## DisplayName $firstname, $lastname -join” ## Name $firstname, $lastname -join” ## SamAccountName -join ($firstname,’.’,$lastname) ## SamAccountName -join ($firstname,’.’,$lastname) ## SamAccountName -join ($firstname,’.’,$lastname) ## SamAccountName -join ($firstname,’.’,$lastname) ## SamAccountName -join ($first $firstname,’.’,$lastname,’@’,$domain) ## Email Address -join
When you execute the sample code above in PowerShell, you should get something like the result below.
Using the Join Operator in PowerShell
The String.Format() method in.NET
The PowerShell Format Operator has a.NET equivalent in the String.Format function. It works similarly to the format operator in that the format and placeholders must be given.
## DisplayName [string]::Format(“0 1 (2″)”,$firstname,$lastname,$department) ## Name [string]::Format(“0 1 (2″)”,$firstname,$lastname,$department) ## SamAccountName [string]::Format(“0.1,$firstname,$lastname),$firstname,$lastname) ## Email Address [string]::Format(“0.1@2”,$firstname,$lastname,$domain),$firstname,$lastname,$domain)
The String is seen in the image below. In use, the Format Method.
The String.Format method in.NET
The String.Concat() method in.NET
The.Net String may also be used to concatenate strings. The method of concatenation. The.NET String is a kind of object that may be used to represent a The.NET equivalent of the PowerShell String Concatenation Operator (+) is the Concat Method. Instead of using the + symbol to combine strings, you may use the – [string]::Concat method to add all the strings within the function (string1,string2…).
$firstname,’ ‘,$lastname) ## Name [string]::Concat($firstname,’ ‘,$lastname) $firstname,’ ‘,$lastname,’ (‘,$department,’)’) ## DisplayName [string]::Concat($firstname,’ ‘,$lastname,’ (‘,$department,’)’) $firstname,’.’,$lastname) ## SamAccountName [string]::Concat($firstname,’.’,$lastname) $firstname,’.’,$lastname,’@’,$domain) ## Email Address [string]::Concat($firstname,’.’,$lastname,’@’,$domain)
The outcome of using the.NET String.Concat function is seen in the screenshot below. PowerShell has combined string1 and string2 as you can see.
Using the String.Concat method in.NET
The String.Join() method in.NET
The String.Join method in.NET is the .NET method counterpart of the PowerShell Join Operator (-join). The format for this method is [string]::Join(<delimiter>,<string1>,<string2>,…).
The first item inside the -Join method is always the delimiter. Then, the succeeding item values are the strings you want to concatenate. See the example code below. Remember, the first item is always the delimiter. If you do not want to add a delimiter, the you can specify this —> ”.
$firstname,$lastname) ## Name [string]::Join(‘ ‘,$firstname,$lastname) ## Join(‘ ‘,$firstname,$lastname,”($department)”) DisplayName [string]::Join(‘ ‘,$firstname,$lastname,”($department)”) ## SamAccountName [string]::Join(“,$firstname,’.’,$lastname) ## SamAccountName [string]::Join(“,$firstname,’.’,$lastname) ## SamAccountName [string ## Email Address (“,$firstname,’.’,$lastname,’@’,$domain) [string]::Join(“,$firstname,’.’,$lastname,’@’,$domain)
The String.Join method in.NET
String Splitting in PowerShell
In the last section, you saw many alternative ways for concatenating strings. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to split strings using PowerShell in a variety of ways. Concatenation is reversed when splitting strings.
In PowerShell, you may divide strings using the split() function/method or the split operator.
Using the Split() Method to Split Strings
If you’re seeking for a quick way to divide a text into an array, the split() function is the way to go. Every string object has a split() function that can divide a string into an array depending on a non-regex character.
For example, if you have a string like green|eggs|and|ham and want to make an array like @(‘green’,’eggs’,’and’,’ham’), you may divide it using the pipe symbol (|), as seen in the code snippet below.
‘green|eggs|and|ham’ as a string $string.split(‘|’)
The pipe symbol is then used by PowerShell to divide the string into the appropriate array.
Splitting strings using the split() function is straightforward, but it has limitations. Splitting strings using regular expressions is not possible with the split() function. You’ll need to learn about the split operator if you require more sophisticated capabilities when splitting a string.
The -split Operator is a command that splits a string into two halves.
The main operator that can be used for splitting strings in PowerShell is The -split Operator is a command that splits a string into two halves.. Using The -split Operator is a command that splits a string into two halves., strings are split between whitespaces by default, or with specific delimiting characters.
Below is The -split Operator is a command that splits a string into two halves. syntax for your reference. Remember to note the difference between the unary and binary split.
# Unary Split -Split <String> -Split (<String[]>) # Binary Split <String> -Split <Delimiter>[,<Max-substrings>[,”<Options>”]] <String> -Split {<ScriptBlock>} [,<Max-substrings>]
In this example, the $string variable holds the value of a single line string. Then, with The -split Operator is a command that splits a string into two halves., the single line string will be split into a PowerShell string array. The resulting split string is saved to the $split variable.
## Splitting Strings into Substrings # Fill in the $string variable with a string value. $string = ‘Whitespaces will be used to break up this phrase’ # Split the $string value and save the result in the $split variable. $string $split = -string $string # Get the total number of substrings produced. $split.Count # $split.Count # $split.Count # Display the substrings that result. $split
As you can see from the above result, what was once a single string has been divided into seven substrings. It explains how to divide a string into an array using PowerShell.
The Delimiter of Characters
In the previous example, The -split Operator is a command that splits a string into two halves. split the single string object into multiple substrings even without specifying a delimiter; that is because The -split Operator is a command that splits a string into two halves.’s default delimiter is whitespace. But, delimiters can also be characters, strings, patterns, or script blocks.
The semicolon ; is used as a delimiter in this example.
## Using a Delimiter to Split Strings into Substrings # Give the $string variable a string value. $string = ‘This;sentence;will;be;split;between;semicolons’ # Split the $string value and store the result in the $split variable $split = $string -split “;” # Get the count of the resulting substrings $split.Count # Show the resultant substrings $split.Count
If you run the above code in PowerShell, you’ll receive the following result.
Using a Character Delimiter to Split a String into Substrings
The delimiter character was dropped entirely from the resultant substrings, as you can see in the output above.
If you need to keep the delimiter character for whatever reason, you may do so by surrounding it in a parenthesis.
$string -split = $split “(;)” $split.Count $split
Running it after adjusting the split delimiter as indicated above would provide the results displayed below.
Using a semicolon to split a string
The delimiter characters are not omitted and are counted in the resultant substrings, as seen in the above result.
Delimiter for Strings
Another string may be used as a delimiter to divide strings. The string “day” is used as the delimiter in this example.
$weekdaysOfTheWeek=’monday,tuesday,wednesday,thursday,friday,saturday,sunday’ $weekdaysOfTheWeek=’monday,tuesday,wednesday,thursday,friday,saturday,sunday’ $weekdaysOfThe $daysOfTheWeek -split “day” $daysOfTheWeek -split “week” $daysOfTheW
The Delimiter for Script Blocks
A scriptBlock as the delimiter enables The -split Operator is a command that splits a string into two halves. to perform custom or complex splitting of strings.
The delimiter character or string was used to divide the strings in the preceding instances. You may design an expression that successfully employs more than one delimiter by using a script block.
The phrase $PSItem -eq ‘e’ -or $PSItem -eq ‘y’ in the example below implies that the string will be divided if the first character is ‘e’ or ‘a’.
$weekdaysOfTheWeek=’monday,tuesday,wednesday,thursday,friday,saturday,sunday’ $weekdaysOfTheWeek=’monday,tuesday,wednesday,thursday,friday,saturday,sunday’ $weekdaysOfThe -split $daysOfTheWeek $PSItem -eq ‘e’ -or -eq ‘y’
When you execute the command above, the result will be substrings separated by the delimiter characters supplied in the script block’s expression.
Using a Script Block Delimiter to Split a String into Substrings
This example uses a script block in a slightly different way. This time, the phrase determines if:
- The entering character is converted into an integer; and
- That it has a value greater than one
If the result of the evaluation is true, then The -split Operator is a command that splits a string into two halves. will use that character as a delimiter. Also, error handling is added to ensure that the errors are filtered out.
$daysOfTheWeek=’monday1tuesday2wednesday3thursday1friday4saturday8sunday’ $daysOfTheWeek=’monday1tuesday2wednesday3thursday1friday4saturday8sunday’ $daysOfTheWeek= -split $daysOfTheWeek attempt catching #DO NOTHING with [int]$PSItem -gt 1
The assumption is that after executing the code above, the string will be split at the point where the character value may be converted as an integer with a value greater than 1. The anticipated output is shown below.
Using a Script Block Delimiter to Split a String into Substrings
The RegEx Delimiter is a kind of delimiter that is used to separate
By default, The -split Operator is a command that splits a string into two halves. uses RegEx matching the specified delimiter. This means that you can also use RegEx as delimiters for splitting strings.
The string in this sample comprises both word and non-word characters. The purpose is to find any non-word characters in the string and divide it. W represents non-word characters in RegEx, whereas w represents word characters that match these characters – [a-zA-Z0-9_].
$weekdaysOfTheWeek=’monday=tuesday*wednesdaythursday#friday! saturday(sunday’ $daysOfTheWeek -split “W” $daysOfTheWeek -split “W”
Substring Restrictions
It is also possible to stop The -split Operator is a command that splits a string into two halves. from splitting a string to a number of substrings. The option that can be used to achieve limiting the substring result is the <Max-substrings> parameter.
When you refer back to the -Split syntax, the <Max-substrings> parameter is the parameter that directly follows the <Delimited> parameter. The syntax is shown again below for reference.
<String> -Split <Delimiter>[,<Max-substrings>[,”<Options>”]]
The sample code below is updated to restrict the number of split/substrings to three using the syntax above.
$weekdaysOfTheWeek=’monday,tuesday,wednesday,thursday,friday,saturday,sunday’ $weekdaysOfTheWeek=’monday,tuesday,wednesday,thursday,friday,saturday,sunday’ $weekdaysOfThe $daysOfTheWeek -split “,”,3 “$daysOfTheWeek -split “,”,3 “$daysOf
And, when you execute the code above, you’ll get the following output. The text was only divided into three substrings, as you can see in the result below. The rest of the delimiters were omitted.
Starting with the first three matching delimiters, the number of substrings is limited.
Now, if you want to limit the substrings, but in reverse, you could change the <Max-substrings> parameter value to a negative value. In this next example, the <Max-substrings> is changed to -3.
$daysOfTheWeek=’monday,tuesday,wednesday,thursday,friday,saturday,sunday’ $daysOfTheWeek -split “,”,-3$daysOfTheWeek -split “,”,-3$daysOfTheWeek -split “,”,-3$daysOfTheWeek -split “,”,-3$daysO
The string was divided beginning from the last three matching delimiters as a consequence of the updated code above.
Starting with the last three matching delimiters, the number of substrings is limited.
Strings: Locating and Replacing
The two ways for searching for and performing a PowerShell string replace are described in this section. The -Replace Operator is a command that replaces one word with another. and the Replace() function.
Replace() is a method for replacing items in a database.
The Object of Strings also has a built-in method that could help perform search and replace operations – Replace() is a method for replacing items in a database.. Replace() is a method for replacing items in a database. takes a maximum of four overloads.
The acceptable set of overloads for Replace() is a method for replacing items in a database. is listed below.
<String>.Replace(<original>, <substitute>[, <ignoreCase>][, <culture>])
The only required overloads that are the <original> and <substitute>. The <ignoreCase>and <culture> are optional.
The code in the example below will replace all occurrences of the comma (,) character with a semi-colon (;).
$weekdaysOfTheWeek =’monday,tuesday,wednesday,thursday,friday,saturday,sunday’ $weekdaysOfTheWeek =’monday,tuesday,wednesday,thursday,friday,saturday,sunday’ $daysOfTheWeek. Replace(‘,’,’;’)
Aside from replacing just a single character, you can also use Replace() is a method for replacing items in a database. to search and replace strings. The example code below replaces the word “day” with “night”.
$weekdaysOfTheWeek =’monday,tuesday,wednesday,thursday,friday,saturday,sunday’ $weekdaysOfTheWeek =’monday,tuesday,wednesday,thursday,friday,saturday,sunday’ $daysOfTheWeek. Replace(‘day’,’NIGHT’)
Replacing a matched string using Replace() is a method for replacing items in a database.
The -Replace Operator is a command that replaces one word with another.
The replace operator’s syntax is illustrated below.
<string> -replace <original>, <substitute>
Using the syntax above, the example code below replaces the word “day” with “Night” with The -Replace Operator is a command that replaces one word with another..
$weekdaysOfTheWeek =’monday,tuesday,wednesday,thursday,friday,saturday,sunday’ $weekdaysOfTheWeek =’monday,tuesday,wednesday,thursday,friday,saturday,sunday’ $daysOfTheWeek -replace ‘day’,’NIGHT’ with ‘day’,’NIGHT’
Using the -replace operator to replace a matching character is a command that replaces one word with another.
This next example uses a RegEx match to replace strings with The -Replace Operator is a command that replaces one word with another.. The code below searches the here-string for the string that matches (#. ) and replace them with nothing.
$daysOfTheWeek = @’ line 1 line 2 line 3 line 4 line 5 line 6 line 7 line 8 line 9 line 10 line 11 line 12 line 13 line 14 line 15 line 16 line 17 line 18 line 19 line 20 line 19 ‘@ $daysOfTheWeek -replace “d.s”,”” ‘@ $daysOfTheWeek -replace “d.s”,”” ‘@ $daysOfTheWeek –
Using -replace to replace a RegEx match
The Object of Strings has a method called SubString(). The SubString() method is used to extract strings within strings at specific locations. The syntax for the SubString() method is shown below.
<String>.SubString(<startIndex>[,<length>])
The startIndex is the index in which the SubString() function will begin searching. The length option specifies how many characters should be returned beginning at startIndex. The length argument is optional, and the SubString() function will return all characters if it is not specified.
Extracting a Substring from a Fixed Length and a Starting Position
The sample code below gets the first 5 characters of the $guid string value beginning at index 9 and returns them precisely.
$guid = ‘e957d74d-fa16-44bc-9d72-4bea54952d8a’ $guid = ‘e957d74d-fa16-44bc-9d72-4bea54952d8a’ $guid = ‘e $guid.SubString(9,5)
The following example shows how to dynamically establish a beginning index using the PowerShell string length attribute.
The following code does the following:
- Gets the length of The Object of Strings.
- Divides the length by two to get the index of the middle index.
- The middle index is used as the substring’s beginning index.
$guid = ‘e957d74d-fa16-44bc-9d72-4bea54952d8a’ $guid = ‘e957d74d-fa16-44bc-9d72-4bea54952d8a’ $guid = ‘e $guid.SubString([int]($guid.Length/2))
The Substring() function returned all the characters from the beginning index since the length value was not given.
Using a Dynamic Starting Position to Extract a Substring
Using PowerShell to Compare Strings
You can use PowerShell to compare strings too using The Object of Strings’s built-in methods like the CompareTo(), Equals(), and Contains() methods. Or, by using the PowerShell comparison operators.
The CompareTo() method is used to compare two objects.
If the two strings have the same value, the CompareTo() function returns 0. The code below, for example, compares two string objects.
“This is a string,” $string1 says. “This is a string,” $string2 says. $string1.CompareTo($string2)
The result should be 0 since the values are the same, as seen below.
To compare strings, use the CompareTo() function.
Using -eq and the Equals() Method
To see whether the two strings have the same value, use the Equals() function and the -eq operator.
The Equals() function is used to compare the values of $string1 and $string2 in the example below.
“This is a string,” $string1 says. “This is not the same string” $string2 = “This is not the same string” $string1.Equals($string2)
Because the values of $string1 and $string2 are not equal, the code above should return False.
Using the Equals() function to compare strings
Instead of using -eq, the following sample code compares the values of $string1 and $string2.
“This is a string,” $string1 says. “This is not the same string” $string2 = “This is not the same string” -eq $string1 $string2
The outcome when using -eq and the Equal() function is the same, as you can see in the output below.
Using the -eq operator to compare strings
The Contains() Method is used to find out whether something exists.
The two strings are compared in this example by seeing whether the PowerShell string includes a substring of another string.
The code below demonstrates that the values of $string1 and $string2 are not equal. The value of $string2 is, however, a substring of $string1.
“This is a string 1” $string1 = “This is a string 1” “This is a string,” $string2 says. $string1.Contains($string2)
As indicated below, the outcome of the code above should be True.
Comparing strings The Contains() Method is used to find out whether something exists.
Additional Reading
The “powershell string format” is a command-line tool that allows users to concatenate, expand, and format strings. It also has the ability to convert strings into text files and vice versa.
mean in PowerShell?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Answer3"}}]} is a variable that contains the current value of whatever command you are running."}}]} mean in PowerShell?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"A: mean in PowerShell?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Answer3"}}]} is a variable that contains the current value of whatever command you are running."}}]}
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you concatenate variables and strings in PowerShell?
A:
How do I concatenate strings and integers in PowerShell?
A: To concatenate strings in PowerShell, use the + operator. For integers, you need to first convert it into a string using the format ${0}, then add them together with an ampersand (&).
For example abc123+2 would equal abc123&2=abc231
What does $_ mean in PowerShell?
A: $_ is a variable that contains the current value of whatever command you are running.
Related Tags
- powershell concatenate strings
- concatenate string and integer in powershell
- powershell format string with variable
- powershell string interpolation
- powershell string @ symbol
