Search through multiple arrays for a name in powershell

Question

So I have a few arrays with names that I want to search though, I would like to keep the arrays separate as they are each specific to a certain group of names. I'm trying to figure out how to search though more then one at the same time. The code I have below is how to search though one array but I'm not sure the best way to search multiple. I tried to add -and $array2 into the foreach but that did not work.

I know I could just add the same block for each array but I'm wondering if there is a cleaner and more efficient way to do that.

$array1 = "name1", "name2", "name3"
$array2 = "name4", "name5", "name6"
$searchname = Read-Host "Enter the name to search for"
foreach($name in $array1){
   if($searchname -eq $name){
       Write-Host "$searchname found"
   }
}

Your question is a bit unclear. Do you want to be able to attribute membership to the specific array? Or do you just want to find out if a name exists in any array? — Mathias R. Jessen
– Mathias R. Jessen, Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 19:46
Just find if the name exists. For example I would search for "name64" and it's not found, cool. I would search for "name3" and it returned "Name3 found". I can get it for one array, just not sure if there is a better way to search more then one array without doing the same foreach\if statements over and over again for each different array — Serijag
– Serijag, Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 19:52

Ansgar Wiechers · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-19 20:06:43Z

4

If you just need to verify whether the name is present in any of the arrays you could simply concatenate them and check if the result contains the name you're looking for:

if (($array1 + $array2) -contains $name) {
    Write-Host "$name found"
}

If you want to identify the array in which it was found you could do something like this:

'array1', 'array2' | ForEach-Object {
    if ((Get-Variable $_).Value -contains $name) {
        Write-Host "$name found in `$$_"
        break
    }
}

or like this, if the arrays were stored in a hashtable rather than individual variables:

$hash = @{
    array1 = "name1", "name2", "name3"
    array2 = "name4", "name5", "name6"
}

$hash.GetEnumerator() | ForEach-Object {
    if ($_.Value -contains $name) {
        Write-Host ('{0} found in ${1}' -f $name, $_.Name)
        break
    }
}

edited Sep 19, 2016 at 20:06

answered Sep 19, 2016 at 19:54

Ansgar Wiechers

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1 Comment

Serijag Over a year ago

Thanks, that's perfect!!

Mathias R. Jessen · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-19 19:51:34Z

2

If you want to search across items in multiple arrays, you can concatenate the arrays in the foreach statement like so:

foreach($name in @($array1;$array2)){
   if($searchname -eq $name){
       Write-Host "$searchname found"
   }
}

A more PowerShell-idiomatic approach would entail using the pipeline with the Where-Object filter cmdlet:

@($array1;$array2) |Where-Object {$_ -eq $searchname}

answered Sep 19, 2016 at 19:51

Mathias R. Jessen

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3 Comments

Matt Over a year ago

It is still unclear what the OP is looking for in terms of results. Are you assuming he does not want to know which array it came from?... nvm he responded

Serijag Over a year ago

Perfect, thanks! That's what I was looking for! Just curious but by doing it this way how would you be able to narrow it down to the array which the name was found in?

Mathias R. Jessen Over a year ago

@Matt Yes, still unclear, I just assumed he was after a boolean answer

woxxom · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-19 21:26:06Z

Use the PS3+ -in operator: $value -in $array
or the PS2+ -contains operator: $array -contains $value
In case of big arrays don't concatenate them as it's slow.

Organize the arrays in an array so you can enumerate them easier.

$arrays = @(
    @("name1", "name2", "name3")
    @("name4", "name5", "name6")
)

$searchname = Read-Host "Enter the name to search for"
1..$arrays.count | ForEach {
   if ($searchname -in $arrays[$_-1]) {
       Write-Host "$searchname found in array #$_"
   }
}

Or use a hashtable:

$arrays = @{
    foo = "name1", "name2", "name3"
    bar = "name4", "name5", "name6"
}

$searchname = Read-Host "Enter the name to search for"
ForEach ($entry in $arrays.GetEnumerator()) {
   if ($searchname -in $entry.value) {
       Write-Host "$searchname found in array $($entry.key)"
   }
}

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