Be sure to check first part of this short powershell tutorial here

Variables

In this part I will show you the most common types of variables.

Variables are labels we use to store data that can vary (hence the name “variable”). In PowerShell variables are referenced and dereferenced by appending the variable name with $ symbol.

In PowerShell variables can be of many types:

• numbers (positive or negative, e.g. 1, 5 ,-17, 0)
• strings (sequences of characters that make, for example, words or sentences)
• arrays (sequences of variables referenced by an integer index, for example strings can be treated as arrays)
• hash tables (sometimes called dictionary, these are key value pairs)
• objects (an object is may contain a complex set of variable types and associations) – some examples include:
  • processes
  • services
  • event logs
  • computers
  • XML
  • anything you can think might need a variable!

Integers

Variables can handle numbers and perform arithmetic operations. There are several types of variable that can contain numbers. The simplest variable type is the [int] type for integers.

PS H:\> $a=3
PS H:\> $b=6
PS H:\> $c=$a+$b
PS H:\> $c
9 

Doubles

Variables of type [double] are similar to integers in that they hold numbers however the number can contain fractional parts as decimals

PS H:\> $b=3.3
PS H:\> write-host $b
3,3 
PS H:\> $b.GetType()
IsPublic IsSerial Name                                     BaseType 
-------- -------- ----                                     --------   
True     True     Double                                   System.ValueType 

Strings

PS H:\> $text="Test Text"
PS H:\> $text
Test Text

Integers and strings

if we add the two variables, the output type will depend on the type of the first variable listed.

test

PS H:\> $a="3"
PS H:\> $b=6
PS H:\> $c=$a+$b
PS H:\> $c
36 

$a – string
$b – integer
$c – string

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