PowerShell Cheat Sheet - Variables - Arrays - Strings - Flow Control - Operators

Q: How do I use flow control and operators in PowerShell?

Use If/Elseif/Else for branching, while/for/foreach for looping, and Switch for pattern-based selection. Operators include comparison (eq/ne/gt/lt), boolean (and/or/not), matching (match/like/contains), and type casting with [ ].

Oct 13, 2026

Upload by Quinn Holloway

PowerShell Cheat Sheet provides a compact reference for core scripting constructs and common commands. It covers variable assignment with types, validation attributes, scopes, and global variables; array creation, indexing, slicing, flattening, and combination; associative arrays (hash tables), ordered dictionaries, and custom objects. It also summarizes string handling, comments and escape/backtick usage, control flow (if/elseif/else, loops, switch), and frequent operators for comparison and boolean logic, plus practical file and content operations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages1

AccessFree to download

Variables

Arrays

Associative Arrays (Hash tables)

Strings

Flow Control

Operators and Commands

PowerShell Cheat Sheet Variables | $var = "string" | Assign variable | | --- | --- | | [Type]$var="typedVar" | Assign strong typed variable | | [ValidateRange(1,9)][int]$x=1 | Assign strong typed attribute controlled variable | | $a,$b,$c = 0 or $a,$b = 'a','b' | Assign multiple variables | | $a,$b = $b,$a | Flip variables | | Scopes | global, local, private or script | | $global:var = "var" | Assign global scoped variable | | "a", "b", "c" | Array of strings | | --- | --- | | @() | Empty array | | 1,(2,3),4 | Array within array | | ,"hi" | Array of one element | | $arr[5] | Sixth element of array | | $arr[2..20] | Return elements 3 thru 21 | | $arr[ 1] | Return last array element | | $arr[ 3.. 1] | Display last three elements of array | | $arr[1,4+6..9] | Elements at index positions 1,4, 6 to 9 | | @(Get Process) | Force result to an array | | $arr[($arr. length 1) ..0] | Reverse array | | $arr[1] += 200 | Add to existing array item value | | $b = $arr[0,1 + 3..6] | New array from elements of $arr array | | $z = $arrA + $arrB | Combine two arrays into single array | Arrays Associative Arrays (Hash tables) | $hash = @{} | Create empty hash table | | --- | --- | | @{foo=1; bar='value2'} | Create, initialize hash table | | [ordered]@{a=1; b=2; c=3} | Create ordered dictionary | | $hash. key1 = 1 | Assign 1 to key key1 | | $hash.key1 | Return value of key1 | | $hash["key1"] | Return value of key1 | | $hash.GetEnumerator | sort Key | Sort hash table by Key | | [pscustomobject]@{x=1;z="z"} | Create custom object | Strings Flow Control Comments, Escape Characters, Backtick Assignment, Logical, Comparison Operators Basics of Text and Files Other Operators | Split | Split a string “abcdefghi” split “de” | | --- | --- | | join | Joins multiple strings “abc”,”def” join “;” | | .. | Range operator 1..10 | foreach {$_ * 5} | | is,-isnot | Boolean is object instance of specified . NET type | | as | Convert input object to specified . NET type | | f | Format strings 1..10 | foreach { "{0:N2}" f $_ } | | [ ] | Cast operator. [datetime]$birthday = "1/10/66" | | $( ) | Subexpression operator | | @( ) | Array subexpression operator | | & | The call/invocation operator. | | "$var expand" | String with expansion " | | --- | --- | | '$var no expand' | String with no expansion ' | | @"
Here String"@ | Here String quotes, expressions, etc. Single quotes for no expressions | | \#Comment | Comment | | --- | --- | | <\# comment \#􀀃 | Multiline comment | | "A `"test`"" | Escape char ` | | `t | Tab | | `n | New line | | ` | Line continuation | | If($x eq 5){} Elseif􀀅$x gt 5􀀆􀀇 􀀈 Else􀀇 􀀈 | If | | --- | --- | | $x = 1; while($x lt 10){$x;$x++} | While | | For($i=0; $i lt 10; $i++){ $i } | For | | Foreach($file in dir C:\){$file. Name} | Foreach | | 1..10 | foreach{$_ } | Foreach | | Switch options (){ PatternX {statement}
Default {Default Statement} 􀀈 | Switch | | Get Location | Get current directory | | --- | --- | | Set Location | Change directory | | Get Content | Get content of file | | Add Content | Append content | | Set Content | Set content of file | | Out File | Formatted text to file | | Out Null | Discard output | | Out String | Convert to strings | | Copy Item | Copy items | | Remove Item | Remove items | | Move Item | Move items | | Rename Item | Rename item | | Set Item | Set contents of file | | Clear item | Clear contents of file | | New Item | New empty file or dir | | =,+=, =,*=,/=,%=,++, | Assign one or more values to variable | | --- | --- | | and, or, xor, not, ! | Connect expressions / statements | | eq, ne | Equal, not equal | | gt, ge | Greater than, greater than or equal | | lt, le | Less than, less than or equal to | | replace | Replacement “Hi” replace “H”,“P” | | match, notmatch | Regular expression match | | like, notlike | Wildcard matching | | contains, notcontains | TRUE if value on right in array on left | | in, notin | Reverse of contains, notcontains | Filter,

FAQs

How do I use flow control and operators in PowerShell?

Use If/Elseif/Else for branching, while/for/foreach for looping, and Switch for pattern-based selection. Operators include comparison (eq/ne/gt/lt), boolean (and/or/not), matching (match/like/contains), and type casting with [ ].

Oct 13, 2026

Upload by Quinn Holloway