I'm trying to create a list of Id's in specific format as shown below:
RequiredFormat:
{id1},{id2}
My code:
[System.Collections.Generic.List[System.String]]$IDList = @()
foreach ($key in $keys) {
$id = $sampleHashTable[$key]
$IDList.Add($id)
}
echo $IDList
My output:
id1
id2
How to convert my output into required format?
To complement Mathias' helpful answer with a PowerShell (Core) 7+ alternative, using the Join-String cmdlet:
# Sample input values
[System.Collections.Generic.List[System.String]] $IDList = 'id1', 'id2'
# -> '{id1},{id2}'
$IDList | Join-String -FormatString '{{{0}}}' -Separator ','
-FormatString accepts a format string as accepted by the .NET String.Format method, as also used by PowerShell's -foperator, with placeholder {0} representing each input string; literal { characters must be escaped by doubling, which is why the enclosing { and } are represented as {{ and }}.Alternatives that work in Windows PowerShell too:
Santiago Squarzon proposes this:
'{{{0}}}' -f ($IDList -join '},{')
Another - perhaps somewhat obscure - option is to use the regex-based -replace operator:
$IDList -replace '^', '{' -replace '$', '}' -join ','
You can surround each list item in {} and then join them all together like this:
$IDList.ForEach({"{${_}}"}) -join ','
If you want to avoid empty strings in the list, remember to test whether the key actually exists in the hashtable before adding to the list:
foreach ($key in $keys) {
if ($sampleHashTable.ContainsKey[$key]){
$id = $sampleHashTable[$key]
$IDList.Add($id)
}
}
{id1},{id2}is as aString. Will no longer be a List or Array. Are you aware / ok with that?