Powershell

How Can I Test that a Variable is More than Eight Characters in PowerShell?

PowerShell consists of several data types, including integers, variables, or strings. More specifically, a variable is a PowerShell data type that stores values, such as strings, integers, boolean, or floating points. The length of the stored values in a variable can be checked using a specific method in PowerShell, including the characters.

This post will illustrate a comprehensive guide to check the length of variables.

How Can I Test that a Variable is More than Eight Characters in PowerShell?

These methods can be utilized to check out the characters in the variables:

Method 1: Use the “$String.Length” Method to Test Whether a PowerShell Variable Contains More Than Eight Characters

$String.Length” is the easiest method to examine string’s length of the string. All we need to do is to concatenate the string-assigned variable with the “Length” property. For instance, overview the given example.

Example

In this example code, we will demonstrate to test a variable whether it has eight or more variables or not:

$str = "Hello world"

if ($str.Length -gt 8){

Write-Output "The string has more than eight characters"

}else{

write-output "The string has less than eight characters"

}

In the stated code:

  • First of all, create a string value and assign it to a variable “$str”.
  • After that, use the “if-else” and add a condition within the “if” statement parentheses.
  • The condition is if the “$str.Length” is greater than the specified value, which is “8”, then print the first statement, else print the second one.
  • The “Length” property is used to count the length of the created string:

It can be seen that the outputs confirm the string has more than eight characters.

Method 2: Use the “Ternary Operator” Method to Test Whether a Variable is More than Eight Characters in PowerShell

Another method that we will use to check the variable length is the “Ternary operator ?” method. It is quite similar to the “if-else” statement. “Ternary operator ?” only works on a PowerShell version 7. So, if you don’t have PowerShell version 7 installed, follow our other dedicated post.

Example

This example will demonstrate how to check the variable length using the “Ternary operator ?” method:

> $str = "Hello World"

> ($str.Length -gt 8) ? "Greater" : "Not Greater"

According to the above code:

  • First, add a string value and assign it to the variable “$str”.
  • After that, use the “Ternary operator ?” method.
  • Then, specify the required condition within parentheses:

That was all about testing that a PowerShell variable contains more than eight characters.

Conclusion

To test a variable, whether it has eight or more characters or not, two methods can be used. These methods include the “if-else” statement and the “Ternary ?” operator with the combination of the “Length” property. This post has elaborated a comprehensive guide to test whether a variable has more than eight characters or not in PowerShell.

About the author

Muhammad Farhan

I am a Computer Science graduate and now a technical writer who loves to provide the easiest solutions to the most difficult problems related to Windows, Linux, and Web designing. My love for Computer Science emerges every day because of its ease in our everyday life.