Powershell search for string in array with special characters

Question

Powershell question: I have an array $myArray that contains the following values:

$myArray[0]:smith,server1,1/1/2015 10:00:00
$myArray[1]:smithpeter,server1,1/1/2015 10:00:00

I'd like to find out if $myArray already contains the value "smith" anywhere, but I do not want to include "smith*" (e.g. smithpeter) in the results.

If I try

[regex]$regex="smith"
$myArray -match $regex

it returns both records (smith and smithpeter) --> correct, but not what I want.

If I try

[regex]$regex="smith,"
$myArray -match $regex

I am getting no results.

I can't find any proper answers online. I believe the fact that I have a comma (",") in the string seems to be causing some issues with the query.

Thanks for any input.

Try `[regex]$regex="\bsmith\b"`. – Wiktor Stribiżew Oct 09 '15 at 16:13 — Wiktor Stribiżew, Oct 09 '15 at 16:13

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:22

3

All you need is to add a word boundary \b round smith to match it as a whole word.

[regex]$regex="\bsmith\b"

edited May 23 '17 at 12:22

Community

answered Oct 09 '15 at 16:26

Wiktor Stribiżew

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 05 '18 at 18:17

0

In addition to word-boundary, you can use the caret "^" to indicate the start position of the expression and the dollar sign "$" to indicate the end.

[regex]$regex="^smith$"

answered Jul 05 '18 at 18:17

A. Eakins

2 Answers2