Powershell sorting array into multi-dimensional array with the “-like” comparison operator

Question

I'am trying to collect my array into a multidimensional array by using the -like comparison operator for further processing.

I wrote the following array loop but i cannot replace "*kw1*" with "*$keyword[$j]*". It will break the operator validation.

$keywords = @("kw1", "kw2")
$list = @("name_kw1_000", "name_kw1_001", "name_kw1_002", "name_kw2_000", "name_kw2_001", "name_kw2_002")


$mdarr= New-Object object[][] $keywords.Length
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $list.Length; ++$i) {
    for ($j = 0; $j -lt $keywords.Length; ++$j) {
        if ( $list[$i] -like "*kw1*" ) {
            $mdarr[$j] += $list[$i];
        }
    }
}

My expected output is:

$mdarr[0]
name_kw1_000
name_kw1_001
name_kw1_002
$mdarr[1]
name_kw2_000
name_kw2_001
name_kw2_002

Is this possible with the above array loop or would i have to do this completely different since the -like operator does not seem to be array friendly.

Can you explain your question and desired output a little bit more? If I run your code sample it actually outputs what you are asking. If I output $mdarr[0] I only get the "kw1" results on screen, same for $mdarr[1]. — bluuf
– bluuf, Commented Jan 15, 2019 at 14:13
You're expecting elements with kw2 in the resulting array but never check for it. — montonero
– montonero, Commented Jan 15, 2019 at 14:25
bluuf, the expected output is in my post. montonero, yes, that is my question. the "*$keyword[$j]*" cannot be used like expected because of the wildcard. — secondplace
– secondplace, Commented Jan 15, 2019 at 17:36

Theo · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-16 08:44:04Z

I think you mean to get output for a variable length array, using more keywords.
As montonero comments, you never test if the keyword is actually part of the item in the list of words.

Maybe this will help:

# there is no need to enclose the items with '@()'
$keywords = "kw1", "kw2"
$list = "name_kw1_000", "name_kw1_001", "name_kw1_002", "name_kw2_000", "name_kw2_001", "name_kw2_002"

# in case your keywords contain characters that have special meaning
# for regex '-match', we should escape these characters.
$keywords = $keywords | ForEach-Object { [RegEx]::Escape($_) }

# fill the object array
$mdarr= New-Object object[][] $keywords.Count
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $keywords.Count; $i++) {
    foreach ($item in $list) {
        if ($item -match $keywords[$i]) {
            $mdarr[$i] += $item
        }

    }
}

# write result
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $mdarr.Count; $i++) {
    Write-Host ("`$mdarr[$i]") -ForegroundColor Yellow
    $mdarr[$i]
}

This will output

$mdarr[0]
name_kw1_000
name_kw1_001
name_kw1_002
$mdarr[1]
name_kw2_000
name_kw2_001
name_kw2_002

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