What is a hashtables of objects in Windows PowerShell scripts?

A hashtables in Windows PowerShell is a data structure where pieces of data are stored in the structure as key-value members. The value of a member represents the data, and the key of a member provides a name for the data.

Hashtable keys must be unique strings. While hashtable values can be any types of data.

You can create a hashtable by listing objects using the @{...}syntax as shown below:

@{key1=value1;key2=value2;key3=value3;...}

For example, the following script creates a hashtable of 3 members and assign it to variable $p:

$p = @{"FirstName"="John";"LastName"="Smith";"Age"=40}
"My profile:"
$p

New key-value pairs can also be added to a hashtable using the Add() method:

$p = @{"FirstName"="John";"LastName"="Smith";"Age"=40}
$p.Add("Email","john@smith.com")
"My profile:"
$p

You can access a member value of a hashtable with its key using the "." operation as shown below:

$p = @{FirstName="John";LastName="Smith";Age=40}
"My profile:"
"   First Name: "+$p.FirstName
"   Last Name: "+$p.LastName
"   Age: "+$p.Age

You can also access a member value of a hashtable with its key using the "Item()" method:

$p = @{FirstName="John";LastName="Smith";Age=40}
"My profile:"
"   First Name: "+$p.Item("FirstName")
"   Last Name: "+$p.Item("LastName")
"   Age: "+$p.Item("Age")

⇒ Loop Hashtable Members in Windows PowerShell Scripts

⇐ Loop Array Elements in Windows PowerShell Scripts

⇑ Introduction of Windows PowerShell Script

⇑⇑ Windows PowerShell Tutorials