# Incrementing computer names by '1' **URL:** \ **Category:** PowerShell Help\ **Created:** [May 21, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/incrementing-computer-names-by-1/4253 "2015-05-21T22:16:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![thickgit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ebca7d/32.png) [@thickgit](https://forums.powershell.org/u/thickgit)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/incrementing-computer-names-by-1/4253/1 "2015-05-21T22:16:58Z")
Hi Folks, Hope you’re all well! We have a number of virtual machines. Let’s say: ThickGit\_PC1 ThickGit\_PC2 ThickGit\_PC3 ThickGit\_PC4 ThickGit\_PC5 A team of us are building them manually. However, I want to be able to script the creation of the new machine by typing (Get-VM ThickGit\_PC\* | Select Name | Sort Name | Select –Last 1), which will give me the name of the last machine, but how do I increment that by one so I can feed that to the –Name parameter of the New-VM cmdlet? I know I can use the –ExpandProperty parameter within the ‘Select’ cmdlet to make it a string, but I just don’t know how to automatically go from there to get it to create ‘ThickGit\_PC6’. Any ideas?! Cheers. TG ---
**Author:** ![simon-wahlin](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/simon-wahlin/32/407_2.png) [@simon-wahlin](https://forums.powershell.org/u/simon-wahlin)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 11:10pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/incrementing-computer-names-by-1/4253/2 "2015-05-21T23:10:10Z")
Here is an example: ``` # repalace this with your method to get the last name, don't forget to use -ExpandProperty $Lastname = 'ThickGit_PC5' # Check if name ends with one or more digits if($LastName -match '\d+$') { # Extract the digits in the end of the name and add 1 $NextNumber = [int]$Matches[0] + 1 } else { # Name did not end with number, use number 1 $NextNumber = 1 } # Create a new name $NewName = "ThickGit_PC$NextNumber" ``` ---
**Author:** ![rob-simmers](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/rob-simmers/32/1010_2.png) [@rob-simmers](https://forums.powershell.org/u/rob-simmers)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 12:39am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/incrementing-computer-names-by-1/4253/3 "2015-05-22T00:39:40Z")
I think something like this would work: ``` 1..10 | foreach{ $vmName = "ThickGit_PC{0}" -f $_ $vm = Get-VM -ComputerName $vmName if ($vm) { "{0} exists" -f $vmName } else { New-VM -Name $vmName } } ``` ---
**Author:** ![rob-simmers](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/rob-simmers/32/1010_2.png) [@rob-simmers](https://forums.powershell.org/u/rob-simmers)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/incrementing-computer-names-by-1/4253/4 "2015-05-22T01:02:42Z")
As a side note, you are going to run into issues sorting names if that is your naming convention. If you create some mock names: ``` PS C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0> $vm = 1..10 | foreach{New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property @{Name = ("ThickGit_PC{0}" -f $_)}} PS C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0> $vm Name ---- ThickGit_PC1 ThickGit_PC2 ThickGit_PC3 ThickGit_PC4 ThickGit_PC5 ThickGit_PC6 ThickGit_PC7 ThickGit_PC8 ThickGit_PC9 ThickGit_PC10 ``` When you sort these, look what happens: ``` PS C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0> $vm | Sort-Object Name -Descending Name ---- ThickGit_PC9 ThickGit_PC8 ThickGit_PC7 ThickGit_PC6 ThickGit_PC5 ThickGit_PC4 ThickGit_PC3 ThickGit_PC2 ThickGit_PC10 ThickGit_PC1 ``` We sorted descending and expect 10 to be at the top, but the sort is just seeing it as 1 and zero, not 10. You should consider pre-pending your names with zeros. If your company is going to have 9999 machines max, you would prepend with 3 zeros lke so: ``` PS C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0> $vm = 1..10 | foreach{$num = $_.ToString("0000");New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property @{Name = ("ThickGit_PC{0}" -f $num)}} PS C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0> $vm Name ---- ThickGit_PC0001 ThickGit_PC0002 ThickGit_PC0003 ThickGit_PC0004 ThickGit_PC0005 ThickGit_PC0006 ThickGit_PC0007 ThickGit_PC0008 ThickGit_PC0009 ThickGit_PC0010 ``` Now when we sort, it performs as expected. ``` PS C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0> $vm | Sort-Object Name -Descending Name ---- ThickGit_PC0010 ThickGit_PC0009 ThickGit_PC0008 ThickGit_PC0007 ThickGit_PC0006 ThickGit_PC0005 ThickGit_PC0004 ThickGit_PC0003 ThickGit_PC0002 ThickGit_PC0001 ``` ---
**Author:** ![dotnVo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@dotnVo](https://forums.powershell.org/u/dotnVo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 8:45pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/incrementing-computer-names-by-1/4253/5 "2024-05-16T20:45:17Z")