[] cling problem with variablen

PowerShell Help
1

Hello,

i have a problem with a code, and i hope someone can help me.

I have a variable where it is not sure how many entries in it.
so for exemplare:
$a.id(alpha, beta, gamma) -> so i need alpha, i script $a.id[0]

but i don’t no, the variable could also be:
$a.id(alpha) -> so if i also script $a.id[0] - i get only the ‘a’

So i try:
$a.id + $Count -> but then result is also not the right one -> $a.id(alpha, beta, gamma, [0])

Is there any solution for the problem?

regards Betty

2

If you’d put this…

$a.id(alpha, beta, gamma)
$a.id(alpha)
$a.id + $Count

… in the PowewrShell_ISE or VSCode, you’d immediately see this is not syntactically correct. All those red underlines show up.

This …

$a.id

… this is a field / keypair from a Csvfile, hashtable, JSON string, etc., with an ‘id’ property that has an array.

So,

You cannot do this, they way you are without modification…

 
$a.id(alpha, beta, gamma)

To, this…

 
$a = ('alpha', 'beta', 'gamma')

$a[0]
alpha

$a[1]
beta

$a[2]
gamma

So, if you are saying, this is the way you receive this data, then you are going to have to have whomever / whatever is sending this to you to correct this, or you are going to have to manually / automated restructure this the right way to do what you are after.

If you are saying, you are after the values in the $a.id property which holds single string or an array of values, that is different and it also would not be shown as …

(alpha, beta, gamma)

… it would be, shown in braces not parens…

{alpha, beta, gamma}

So, with that in mind, you are getting this from something, let’s say a file and it’s sending back stuff like this.

$a = @{
        'id' =  ('alpha', 'beta', 'gamma')
      }

$a

Name                           Value
----                           -----
id                             {alpha, beta, gamma}

Then you can do this.

 $a.id.Count
3

 $a.id[0]
alpha

 $a.id[1]
beta

 $a.id[2]
gamma

 $a.id[0..2]
alpha
beta
gamma

As for

$a.id(alpha) -> so if i also script $a.id[0] – i get only the 'a'

The reason you are getting the above is the is only one object in the array with x number of characters. So, it’s a simple string element not a array set.

$a1 = @{
        'id' =  ('alpha')
      }

$a1

So, then you have to look at it differently.

$a1.id[0] # give me the first char in the string
a

$a1.id[0..($a.id.Length)] -join '' # get the whole string
alpha

# Or just this, since it is only one entry
$a1.id
alpha

So , you have to evaluate the contents of $a.id every time then make your logic decision regarding just how to handle accessing the content / values.

Meaning…

$a = @{
        'id' =  ('alpha', 'beta', 'gamma')
      }

$a.id.Count
3


$a1 = @{
        'id' =  ('alpha')
      }

$a1.id.Count
1

… and then make your logic decision …

$a.id

alpha
beta
gamma

$a.id[0]

alpha

$a1.id

alpha