What is an array in PowerShell?
Overview
An array is a type of data structure that stores a collection of items or objects. In PowerShell, an array can store items of different data types.
Let's look at how we can create an array in PowerShell.
Syntax
We can create an array in PowerShell using @() and providing the elements as comma-separated items. If we don't provide elements, an empty array will be created.
$arr = @(1,2,3,4,5)
We can display the array in PowerShell simply by using the variable assigned to it.
$arr
We can access individual elements of an array using their index position.
#displays first element$arr[0]
Example
Let's take a look at an example of this.
#!/usr/bin/pwsh -Command#create an empty array$empty_arr = @()Write-Host "-------Display empty array-------"$empty_arr#create and initialize an array$num_arr = @(1,2,3,4,5)Write-Host "-------Display num array-------"$num_arr#access elements using indexWrite-Host "-------Display first element in num array-------"$num_arr[0]
Explanation
In the above code snippet:
- In line 4, we create an empty array
empty_arr. - In line 6, we display the empty array.
- In line 9, we create and initialize the array
num_arrwith numbers. - In line 11, we display the array
num_arrby just calling its variable. - In line 15, we access the first element of the array
num_arrusing its index, that is,0.