Modify value when getting value of key from a hashtable in PowerShell

Question

In PowerShell, I have a structure (HashTable type) created like so:

$Structure = @{
    "KeyOne" = "Value"
    "KeyTwo" = "{Change.This.That}"
    "KeyThree" = "{Change.This.Thing} With Stuff"
    "Change" = @{
        "This" = @{
            "That" = "Another Value"
            "Thing" = "Yogurt"
        }
    }
}

The string with the curly brackets are placeholders/tokens for what the actual value should really be, stored in a string format as a reference to the dot notation of some other value within the same object.

I wrote a function to take that tokenized value and retrieve what the actual value is supposed to be that works perfectly fine. Only problem is I have to execute the function every time there is a tokenized value. Is there anyway I can simplify this, specifically instead of running:

#I pass structure because I'd rather avoid assuming 
#the hashtable will always be called $Structure
Convert-Token -String $Structure.KeyTwo -Obj $Structure #Another Value

is there anyway I can automatically do this by just pulling the bracket notation?

#Like this?
$Value = $Structure["KeyThree"]
$Value #Yogurt With Stuff

Possible? Not possible?

David Brabant · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-27 07:07:07Z

1

You can probably do something like this:

$Selector = $Structure

$Structure = @{
    "KeyOne" = "Value"
    "KeyTwo" = "$($Selector.Change.This.That)"
    "KeyThree" = "$($Selector.Change.This.Thing) with Stuff"
    "Change" = @{
        "This" = @{
            "That" = "Another Value"
            "Thing" = "Yogurt"
        }
    }
}


$Structure["KeyThree"]

answered Apr 27, 2015 at 7:07

David Brabant

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1 Comment

SomeShinyObject Over a year ago

Well...that was just too easy

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