Powershell basic data structures

The most basic ways in Powershell (and in all other languages) to organize data is with lists or dictionaries.

List / Array

Declaring a list is done using a special syntax: @(). So a list from 1 to 5 would be declared like this: @(1,2,3,4,5).

There are also a shortcut to declaring sequences. The same can be achieved with 1..5. This also works for letters: "a".."e"

Accessing individual elements of a list can be done like this:

$list = 1..5
$list[2]
# Outputs 3

Dictionary

A dictionary can be declared like this: @{}

Declaring a dictionary with values:

$dict = @{
    Name = "Test"
    Value = 123
}

Accessing dictionary elements are commonly done one of two ways:

$dict["Name"]
# Outputs "Test"
$dict.Name
# Outputs "Test"

Complex objects and other common formats

Declaring a complex object in Powershell

$object = @{
    list = @(1,2,3,4,5)
    objects = @(@{
        name = "Test1"
        value = 1
    }, @{
        name = "Test2"
        value = 2
    })
}

JSON equivalent

{
  "list": [1,2,3,4,5],
  "objects": [{
    "name": "Test1",
    "value": 1
  }, {
    "name": "Test2",
    "value": 2
  }]
}

YAML equivalent

list:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
objects:
- name: Test1
  value: 1
- name: Test2
  value: 2