Windows PowerShell 1.0 Comparison and Containment Operators

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Windows PowerShell Comparison Operators

Windows PowerShell provides a range of comparison operators which can be used to compare one value with another. These operators work both with string and number based values assuming that you are comparing like with like (it is not meaningful, for example, to compare a string with numerical value). In terms of working with strings and characters, both case-sensitive and insensitive operators are supported.

Operator	Description
-eq	Equal to (case insensitive)
-ieq	Equal to (case insensitive)
-ceq	Equal to (case sensitive)
-ne	Not equal to (case insensitive)
-ine	Not equal to (case insensitive)
-cne	Not equal to (case sensitive)
-gt	Greater than (case insensitive)
-igt	Greater than (case insensitive)
-cgt	Greater than (case sensitive)
-ge	Greater than or equal to (case insensitive)
-ige	Greater than or equal to (case insensitive)
-cge	Greater than or equal to (case sensitive)
-lt	Less than (case insensitive)
-ilt	Less than (case insensitive)
-clt	Less than (case sensitive)
-le	Less than or equal to (case insensitive)
-ile	Less than or equal to (case insensitive)
-cle	Less than or equal to (case sensitive)
-contains	Group of values in left hand operand contains value specified in right hand operand (case insensitive)
-icontains	Group of values in left hand operand contains value specified in right hand operand (case insensitive)
-ccontains	Group of values in left hand operand contains value specified in right hand operand (case sensitive)
-notcontains	Group of values in left hand operand does not contain value specified in right hand operand (case insensitive)
-inotcontains	Group of values in left hand operand does not contain value specified in right hand operand (case insensitive)
-cnotcontains	Group of values in left hand operand does not contain value specified in right hand operand (case sensitive)

Performing Windows PowerShell Comparisons

When using the Windows PowerShell comparison operators, it is important to keep in mind that PowerShell will look at the left hand operand of the expression to decide the value type to be used as the basis of the comparison. Having made this decision, if the right hand operand is of a different type PowerShell will attempt to convert it. This concept is probably best described using some examples.

In the following example, both operands are of the same type, so no conversion is performed:

PS C:\Users\Administrator> 10 -eq 20
False

If, however, the operands are of different types a conversion of the right hand operand will be necessary. In the following example, the right hand operand will be converted to a number before the comparison is performed:

PS C:\Users\Administrator> 10 -eq "10"
True

Both case sensitive and case insensitive comparison operators are available when comparing strings and characters. For example, the following commands both perform a case insensitive comparison:

PS C:\Users\Administrator> "hello" -eq "HELLO"
True
PS C:\Users\Administrator> "hello" -ieq "HELLO"
True

Conversely, the folloing command performs a case sensitive comparison of the same two string:

PS C:\Users\Administrator> "hello" -ceq "HELLO"
False

Using Comparison Operators with Arrays and Collections

The Windows PowerShell comparison operators can be used with both arrays and collections. In the case of the basic comparison operators, PowerShell will return all elements which contain the value specified in the right hand operand. For example:

PS C:\Users\Administrator> $myarray = "red, "yellow", "blue", "yellow"
PS C:\Users\Administrator> $myarray -eq "yellow"
yellow
yellow

Using PowerShell Containment Operators

Alternatively, the containment operators may be used to obtain a true or false result depending on whether a collection or array contains a specified value. The following command returns a value of True because an array element does, indeed, contain the value "red":

PS C:\Users\Administrator> $myarray = "red, "yellow", "blue", "yellow"
PS C:\Users\Administrator> $myarray -contains "red"
True