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7.10 Remove Elements from an Array

Problem

You want to remove all elements from an array that match a given item or term—either exactly, by pattern, or by regular expression.

Solution

To remove all elements from an array that match a pattern, use the -ne, -notlike, and -notmatch comparison operators, as shown in Example 7-2.

Example 7-2. Removing elements from an array using the -ne, -notlike, and -notmatch operators
PS > $array = "Item 1","Item 2","Item 3","Item 1","Item 12"
PS > $array -ne "Item 1"
Item 2
Item 3
Item 12
PS > $array -notlike "*1*"
Item 2
Item 3
PS > $array -notmatch "Item .."
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
Item 1

To actually remove the items from the array, store the results back in the array:

PS > $array = "Item 1","Item 2","Item 3","Item 1","Item 12"
PS > $array = $array -ne "Item 1"
PS > $array
Item 2
Item 3
Item 12

Discussion

The -eq, -like, and -match operators are useful ways to find elements in a collection that match your given term. Their opposites, the -ne, -notlike, and -notmatch operators, return all elements that do not match that given term.

To remove all elements from an array that match a given pattern, you can then save all elements that do not match that pattern.

For more information about the -ne, -notlike, and -notmatch operators, see “Comparison Operators”.

See Also

“Comparison Operators”