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An array is a collection of data elements stored together under a single variable name. Unlike other programming languages, the array in PowerShell contains the values of the same or different data types. It is defined using square brackets [ ] with each element separated by a comma.
The array’s index starts with zero, meaning the array_name[1] represents the second element. One interesting fact is that if you want to retrieve the elements of the array from the last, you can use the minus sign with the index, e.g. the -1 index can be used to retrieve the last element, -2 retrieves the second last element so on and so forth.
Let’s take examples to understand the working of all the methods. For all the methods, the following steps will be followed:
- Create an array (that is named as
$arrayand contains the values@(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)) - Get the last element from the array
- Display the last element as output
Using $array[-1] Index Operator
Use the $array[-1] index operator to get last element of array in PowerShell.
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$array = @(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) $last = $array[-1] Write-Host "Using the index operator: $last" |
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Using the index operator: 5 |
As discussed earlier, this method used the -1 index operator to get the last item in the array. This worked because in PowerShell, the index -1 represents the last item in the array.
Using $array[-1] Index Operator with Parentheses
Use the $array[-1] index operator with parentheses to get last element of array in PowerShell.
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$array = @(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) $last = ($array)[-1] Write-Host "Using the index operator with parentheses: $last" |
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Using the index operator with parentheses: 5 |
This method used the $array[-1] index operator to get the last item in the array, but it also enclosed the array in parentheses to ensure that the index operator is applied to the array itself rather than any other expression that may be used.
Using Select-Object Cmdlet with -Last Parameter
Use the Select-Object cmdlet with the -Last parameter set to 1 to get last element of array in PowerShell.
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$array = @(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) $last = $array | Select-Object -Last 1 Write-Host "Using Select-Object: $last" |
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Using Select-Object: 5 |
In this method, the Select-Object cmdlet is used with the -Last parameter set to 1 to get the last item in the array. This cmdlet can select any number of items from an array, including the last.
Using $array.count Property & Index Operator
Use the $array.count property and index operator to get last element of array in PowerShell.
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$array = @(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) $last = $array[$array.count - 1] Write-Host "Using the count property: $last" |
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Using the count property: 5 |
This method uses the .count property of the $array to get the total number of items, then subtracts 1 to get the index of the last item. It then used the index operator to get the last item in the array.
Using Array Class
Use the array class to get last element of array in PowerShell.
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$array = @(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) $last = $array[$array.Length - 1] $array = $array[0..($array.Length - 2)] Write-Host "Using an array class: $last" |
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Using an array class: 5 |
This method used the array class to access the Length property and subtracted 1 from it to get the index of the last element in the $array, which we stored in the $last variable. Next, we used the 0..($array.Length - 2) expression to create a range of indices from 0 to the second-to-last item in the $array.
The resulting range was used to select all the items of the original array, excluding the last one, which means we removed the last element from the $array using this expression. Finally, we used the Write-Host cmdlet to print the value of the $last variable.
Further reading:
Using Get_Item() Method
Use the Get_Item() method to get last element of array in PowerShell.
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$array = @(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) $last = $array.Get_Item($array.Length - 1) Write-Host "Using the Get_Item() method: $last" |
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Using the Get_Item() method: 5 |
The Get_Item() method gets the item at a specified index from the array. The index, in this case, is calculated by subtracting 1 from the Length property of the $array, which gives the index of the last item.
That’s all about how to get last element of array in PowerShell.
