Combine Variable - PowerShell

Question

Is there a way to combine two string and make it as a current variable and get the data from it? I'm not sure if there's another way to do this. If there's any, please let me know.

Here's my code.

$App1 = "Google Chrome"
$App2 = "Mozilla"
$AppExt1 = ".exe"
$AppExt2 = ".msi"
$Apps = @('1','2')
ForEach ($Applications in $Apps) {
    $AppToBeInstalled = '$App' + $_
    $AppExt = '$AppExt' + $_
    Write-Host "Application $AppToBeInstalled to be installed with extension $AppExt"
}

What I want.

Application Google Chrome to be installed with extension .exe
Application Mozilla to be installed with extension .msi

But I'm only getting empty result.

Application  to be installed with extension 
Application  to be installed with extension

Santiago Squarzon · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-03 22:46:58Z

2

This is doable, though quite unorthodox, you can use Get-Variable to get variables using dynamic names:

$App1 = "Google Chrome"
$App2 = "Mozilla"
$AppExt1 = ".exe"
$AppExt2 = ".msi"
$Apps = @('1','2')

ForEach ($Applications in $Apps) {
    $AppToBeInstalled = (Get-Variable App$Applications).Value
    $AppExt = (Get-Variable AppExt$Applications).Value
    Write-Host "Application $AppToBeInstalled to be installed with extension $AppExt"
}

> Application Google Chrome to be installed with extension .exe
> Application Mozilla to be installed with extension .msi

What might be a more common approach to this would be to use a hashtable:

$map = @{
    "Google Chrome" = ".exe"
    "Mozilla" = ".msi"
}

ForEach ($key in $map.Keys) {
    $AppToBeInstalled = $key
    $AppExt = $map[$key]
    Write-Host "Application $AppToBeInstalled to be installed with extension $AppExt"
}

> Application Google Chrome to be installed with extension .exe
> Application Mozilla to be installed with extension .msi

edited Dec 3, 2021 at 22:46

answered Dec 3, 2021 at 22:41

Santiago Squarzon

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2 Comments

Santiago Squarzon Over a year ago

@Mr.Rak happy to help. Note that, in case you're going to use the Get-Variable method instead of a hashtable, consider using the -ValueOnly switch instead of (Get-Var...).Value as Vojin Purić pointed out in his answer.

sjqwer1 Over a year ago

Understood. Thank you!

Vojin Purić · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-03 22:43:23Z

2

Yes you can you can use

Get-Variable -Name "nameOfVar" -ValueOnly

in your case it would look something like

$App1 = "Google Chrome"
$App2 = "Mozilla"
$AppExt1 = ".exe"
$AppExt2 = ".msi"
$Apps = @('1','2')
ForEach ($Applications in $Apps) {
    $AppToBeInstalled = Get-Variable -Name "App$Applications" -ValueOnly
    $AppExt = Get-Variable -Name "AppExt$Applications" -ValueOnly
    Write-Host "Application $AppToBeInstalled to be installed with extension $AppExt"
}

answered Dec 3, 2021 at 22:43

Vojin Purić

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1 Comment

sjqwer1 Over a year ago

This is also working. Thank you so much!

Josh Gattis · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-04 05:51:14Z

1

As some people mentioned you can create custom variables then call them from within the for loop:

$App1 = [pscustomobject]@{
    Name = "Google Chrome"
    Ext = ".exe"
}
$App2 = [pscustomobject]@{
    Name = "Mozilla"
    Ext = ".msi"
}

$Apps=@($App1,$App2)

ForEach ($App in $Apps) {
    $AppName = $App.Name
    $AppExt = $App.Ext
    Write-Host "Application $AppName to be installed with extension $AppExt"
}

Output will be:

Application Google Chrome to be installed with extension .exe
Application Mozilla to be installed with extension .msi

Might make it easier if you have to keep adding more apps to the script in the future.

answered Dec 4, 2021 at 5:51

Josh Gattis

916 bronze badges

2 Comments

sjqwer1 Over a year ago

This is nice and more easy to follow. Thank you so much!

Josh Gattis Over a year ago

No problem, glad to help.

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