How can the square bracket be found in a string?

[Brillig]

Dear Chums,

Because the string "[abc]" contains "[", I would like the following to
return "True":

PS> if ( "[abc]" -contains "[") {Write-Host True} else {Write-Host False}

I realsie that there is probably some protection meatacharacter, but
backtick and backslash don't seem to work.

[Sung M Kim]

Dear Chums,

Because the string "[abc]" contains "[", I would like the following to
return "True":

PS> if ( "[abc]" -contains "[") {Write-Host True} else {Write-Host False}

I am not so clear on this but to be able to use a "-contains" operator,
left-hand side of the operator should be a collection type

So, you would need to convert "[abc]" into a collection of strings or
characters
that you want to check for a containment.

Preprending "ToCharArray()" to "[abc]" should work just fine in yoru case.

[^_^]PS[115]>if ("[abc]".ToCharArray() -contains "[") {Write-Host True} else
{Write-Host False}
True
[^_^]PS[116]>if ("[abc]".ToCharArray() -contains "x") {Write-Host True} else
{Write-Host False}
False

[/\/\o\/\/ [MVP]]

two other ways are :

PS H:\> if ( "[abc]" -match "\[") {Write-Host True} else {Write-Host False}
True

PS H:\> if ( "[abc]" -like '*`[*') {Write-Host True} else {Write-Host False}
True
PS H:\> if ( "[abc]" -like "*``[*") {Write-Host True} else {Write-Host False}
True

Note the different escaping in the -match (regex) and -like (wildcard)
also note the difference in escaping with "" and ''

Greetings /\/\o\/\/

Post by Brillig
Dear Chums,
Because the string "[abc]" contains "[", I would like the following to
PS> if ( "[abc]" -contains "[") {Write-Host True} else {Write-Host False}
I am not so clear on this but to be able to use a "-contains" operator,
left-hand side of the operator should be a collection type
So, you would need to convert "[abc]" into a collection of strings or
characters
that you want to check for a containment.
Preprending "ToCharArray()" to "[abc]" should work just fine in yoru case.
[^_^]PS[115]>if ("[abc]".ToCharArray() -contains "[") {Write-Host True} else
{Write-Host False}
True
[^_^]PS[116]>if ("[abc]".ToCharArray() -contains "x") {Write-Host True} else
{Write-Host False}
False

[Bruce Payette [MSFT]]

You can also use the .contains() method on strings :-)

PS (1) > $s = "[abc]"; $s.Contains('[')
True

- bruce
--
Bruce Payette [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell Technical Lead
Microsoft Corporation
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Post by /\/\o\/\/ [MVP]
PS H:\> if ( "[abc]" -match "\[") {Write-Host True} else {Write-Host False}
True
PS H:\> if ( "[abc]" -like '*`[*') {Write-Host True} else {Write-Host False}
True
PS H:\> if ( "[abc]" -like "*``[*") {Write-Host True} else {Write-Host False}
True
Note the different escaping in the -match (regex) and -like (wildcard)
also note the difference in escaping with "" and ''
Greetings /\/\o\/\/

Post by Brillig
Dear Chums,
Because the string "[abc]" contains "[", I would like the following to
PS> if ( "[abc]" -contains "[") {Write-Host True} else {Write-Host False}
I am not so clear on this but to be able to use a "-contains" operator,
left-hand side of the operator should be a collection type
So, you would need to convert "[abc]" into a collection of strings or
characters
that you want to check for a containment.
Preprending "ToCharArray()" to "[abc]" should work just fine in yoru case.
[^_^]PS[115]>if ("[abc]".ToCharArray() -contains "[") {Write-Host True} else
{Write-Host False}
True
[^_^]PS[116]>if ("[abc]".ToCharArray() -contains "x") {Write-Host True} else
{Write-Host False}
False