PowerShell – Split String into Variables

Using Split() Method

Use the Split() method to split the given string into two variables.

The Split() method is used to split the specified string into two/multiple variables and an array of substrings. In the above example code, the Split() method took two arguments, whitespace as a separator (you can use -, ., ,, :, or anything else) and 2 as the maximum number of substrings after the split.

This method splits the $string where it finds the first occurrence of the specified separator (whitespace in this case) and stores the first substring in $var1_string and the second substring in $var2_string variables. Similarly, we can use this method to split $string into multiple variables.

Use the Split() method to split the given string into multiple variables.

For this example, the Split() method took whitespace as a separator and 3 as the maximum number of substrings after splitting. Here, the $string will be split at the first and second occurrence of the specified separator and save the first, second, and third substrings in the $var1_string, $var2_string, and $var3_string variables. Note that all these three variables are of the String data type. You can chain the GetType() method as $var2_string.GetType() to retrieve the data type of the specified variable.

Use the Split() method to split the given string into an array of substrings.

In this code block, the Split() method accepted only one argument: a separator and split the $string wherever it found the match. In this case, the Split() method returned an array of substrings. Note that we can use $string.Split() instead of $string.Split(" "), both are equivalent because the default separator is the whitespace (tab/newline/space).

Remember, the Split() method is case-sensitive, meaning the letters S and s will differ. See the following examples to understand.

As we can see, the Split() method only splits the $string where it finds the uppercase S letter and ignores the lowercase s. Therefore, if we are required to ignore lower/upper case letters, we must use the -Split operator, demonstrated with code examples in the following section.

The Split() method always returns an array of substrings. It depends on us how we deal with them. For instance, if we are splitting the string and saving substrings into two or more variables, then each variable will contain a string type value. On the other hand, if we save the resulting substrings into one variable, it would be treated as an array of string values.

Using -Split Operator

Use the -Split operator to split the given string into two variables.

Here, we used the -Split operator with two arguments, a separator and the maximum number of substrings, to split the specified string into two variables. It works like the Split() method that we have learned in the previous section but allows us to do a few additional things; for instance, we can use script block, specify conditions using options such as IgnoreCase, etc. that we will learn in a while in this article.

Use the -Split operator to split the given string into multiple variables.

This code is similar to the previous example, but we split the $string into three variables where each variable ($var1_string, $var2_string, and $var3_string) is of String data type.

Use the -Split operator to split the given string into an array of substrings.

For the above code, we used the -Split operator to split the whole $string based on the specified separator (delimiter). We can also substitute -cSplit or -iSplit for the -Split operator in any binary split statement (a split statement which includes a script block or a delimiter).

Here, the -Split and -iSplit are case-insensitive while -cSplit is case-sensitive, which means the case would be considered while applying the delimiter rules (separator rules). See the following example.

See, we got the same results for using -Split and -iSplit because both are case-insensitive operators, while -cSplit takes care of lower/upper case while applying separator rules. See the following example.

Here, we used -cSplit twice. First, it split when it found s; second, it split when it found S. Suppose a situation where you are bound to use the -cSplit operator but have to ignore the case. In that situation, Options come into the picture. See the following example to ignore the upper/lower case while using the -cSplit operator.

Here, the -cSplit does not care about the upper/lower case when used with the IgnoreCase option, which is part of SimpleMatch. Now, do we have other options as well? Yes, we do. The SimpleMatch options include IgnoreCase and SimpleMatch.

While the RegexMatch options include IgnoreCase, RegexMatch, ExplicitCapture, CultureInvariant, IgnorePatternWhitespace, Multiline, and Singleline, you can find a detailed description for each of them here.

Use the -Split operator with the script block to split the given string into an array of substrings.

Here, we used a script block represented with {}, which specified two conditions, and checked the current character whether is equal to s or p. We used the -eq operator to check equality while the -or operator performed the OR operation. The OR operation results in true if at least one condition is true. Note that the -Split operator only splits the $string if the script block returns true.

Using ForEach Loop

Use the ForEach loop to split the given string into an array of substrings.

Here, we used the ForEach loop (also referred to as ForEach statement) to iterate over the String type object, which is $string. Each iteration splits the string where the specified delimiter was found and returns an array of substrings.

That’s all about how to split String into Variables in PowerShell.