Operators All Versions

Examples

• 7

  Comparison Operators

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  7

  PowerShell comparison operators are comprised of a leading dash (-) followed by a name (eq for equal, gt for greater than, etc...).

  Names can be preceded by special characters to modify the behavior of the operator:

  i # Case-Insensitive Explicit (-ieq)
  c # Case-Sensitive Explicit (-ceq)
  

  Case-Insensitive is the default if not specified, ("a" -eq "A") same as ("a" -ieq "A").

  Simple comparison operators:

  2 -eq 2    # Equal to (==)
  2 -ne 4    # Not equal to (!=)
  5 -gt 2    # Greater-than (>)
  5 -ge 5    # Greater-than or equal to (>=)
  5 -lt 10   # Less-than (<)
  5 -le 5    # Less-than or equal to (<=)
  

  String comparison operators:

  "MyString" -like "*String"            # Match using the wildcard character (*)
  "MyString" -notlike "Other*"          # Does not match using the wildcard character (*)
  "MyString" -match "$String^"          # Matches a string using regular expressions
  "MyString" -notmatch "$Other^"        # Does not match a string using regular expressions
  "Get-Process" -replace "Get", "Stop"  # Changes the specified elements of a value
  

  Collection comparison operators:

  "abc", "def" -contains "def"            # Returns true when the value (right) is present
                                          # in the array (left)
  "abc", "def" -notcontains "123"         # Returns true when the value (right) is not present
                                          # in the array (left)
  "def" -in "abc", "def"                  # Returns true when the value (left) is present
                                          # in the array (right)
  "123" -notin "abc", "def"               # Returns true when the value (left) is not present
                                          # in the array (right)
  

  edited Jul 27 '16 at 5:21

  

  
• 5

  Arithmetic Operators

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  5

  1 + 2      # Addition
  1 - 2      # Subtraction
  -1         # Set negative value
  1 * 2      # Multiplication
  1 / 2      # Division
  1 % 2      # Modulus
  100 -shl 2 # Bitwise Shift-left
  100 -shr 1 # Bitwise Shift-right
  

  created Jul 21 '16 at 15:00

  
• 4

  Assignment Operators

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  4

  Simple arithmetic:

  $var = 1      # Assignment. Sets the value of a variable to the specified value
  $var += 2     # Addition. Increases the value of a variable by the specified value
  $var -= 1     # Subtraction. Decreases the value of a variable by the specified value
  $var *= 2     # Multiplication. Multiplies the value of a variable by the specified value
  $var /= 2     # Division. Divides the value of a variable by the specified value
  $var %= 2     # Modulus. Divides the value of a variable by the specified value and then
                # assigns the remainder (modulus) to the variable
  

  Increment and decrement:

  $var++   # Increases the value of a variable, assignable property, or array element by 1
  $var--   # Decreases the value of a variable, assignable property, or array element by 1
  

  created Jul 21 '16 at 15:00

  
• 4

  Redirection Operators

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  4

  Success output stream:

  cmdlet > file     # Send success output to file, overwriting existing content
  cmdlet >> file    # Send success output to file, appending to existing content
  cmdlet 1>&2       # Send success and error output to error stream
  

  Error output stream:

  cmdlet 2> file    # Send error output to file, overwriting existing content
  cmdlet 2>> file   # Send error output to file, appending to existing content
  cmdlet 2>&1       # Send success and error output to success output stream
  

  Warning output stream: (PowerShell 3.0+)

  cmdlet 3> file    # Send warning output to file, overwriting existing content
  cmdlet 3>> file   # Send warning output to file, appending to existing content
  cmdlet 3>&1       # Send success and warning output to success output stream
  

  Verbose output stream: (PowerShell 3.0+)

  cmdlet 4> file    # Send verbose output to file, overwriting existing content
  cmdlet 4>> file   # Send verbose output to file, appending to existing content
  cmdlet 4>&1       # Send success and verbose output to success output stream
  

  Debug output stream: (PowerShell 3.0+)

  cmdlet 5> file    # Send debug output to file, overwriting existing content
  cmdlet 5>> file   # Send debug output to file, appending to existing content
  cmdlet 5>&1       # Send success and debug output to success output stream
  

  Information output stream: (PowerShell 5.0+)

  cmdlet 6> file    # Send information output to file, overwriting existing content
  cmdlet 6>> file   # Send information output to file, appending to existing content
  cmdlet 6>&1       # Send success and information output to success output stream 
  

  All output streams:

  cmdlet *> file    # Send all output streams to file, overwriting existing content
  cmdlet *>> file   # Send all output streams to file, appending to existing content
  cmdlet *>&1       # Send all output streams to success output stream
  

  created Jul 21 '16 at 15:00

  
• 3

  Logical Operators

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  3

  -and # Logical and
  -or  # Logical or
  -xor # Logical exclusive or
  -not # Logical not
  !    # Logical not
  

  created Jul 21 '16 at 15:00

  
• 3

  Mixing operand types : the type of the left operand dictates the behavior.

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  3

  For Addition

  "4" + 2         # Gives "42"
  4 + "2"         # Gives 6
  1,2,3 + "Hello" # Gives 1,2,3,"Hello"
  "Hello" + 1,2,3 # Gives "Hello1 2 3"
  

  For Multiplication

  "3" * 2   # Gives "33"
  2 * "3"   # Gives 6
  1,2,3 * 2 # Gives 1,2,3,1,2,3
  2 * 1,2,3 # Gives an error op_Multiply is missing
  

  The impact may have hidden consequences on comparison operators :

  $a = Read-Host "Enter a number"
  Enter a number : 33
  $a -gt 5
  False
  

  edited Jul 22 '16 at 22:02