Powershell - can I use a string as an object in a conditional?

Question

Consider this situation. I have multiple domains and am writing a script that covers all domains to add users to groups. I'd like to do soemthing like this:

# UserID selected earlier in the script
$SelectedUID = "testuser"
# These could contain any number of groups, or none at all
$CommonGroupsDomain1 = "Group1", "Group2"
$CommonGroupsDomain2 = "GroupX", "GroupY"
$CommonGroupsDomain3 = $null

# The current domain (selected earlier in the script)
$CurrentDomain = "Domain1"

If (($"CommonGroups$CurrentDomain")) {
    ($"CommonGroups$CurrentDomain") | ForEach-Object {
        Add-ADGroupMember -Identity $_ -Members $SelectedUser -Server $CurrentDomainController 
    }
}
Else {
    "No common groups for this domain"
}

So, for $CommonGroups$CurrentDomain is it possible to tell PS to treat that string addition as the object name?

Here's an alternative way of doing things, but seems a bit clunky:

$CommonGroups = $null
Switch ($CurrentDomain) {
    'Domain1' {
        $CommonGroups = $CommonGroupsDomain1
    }
    'Domain2' {
        $CommonGroups = $CommonGroupsDomain2
    }
    'Domain3' {
        $CommonGroups = $CommonGroupsDomain3   
    }
}

If ($CommonGroups) {
         Add-ADGroupMember -Identity $_ -Members $SelectedUser -Server $CurrentDomainController
     }
}

In your example, what's one possible evaluation of ```$CommonGroups$CurrentDomain``` ? — derekbaker783, Apr 28 '20 at 11:38
It the above example, the value would be $CommonGroupsDomain1, so the expression would effectively be If ($CommonGroupsDomain1) { ..... — Scepticalist, Apr 28 '20 at 11:41

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 28 '20 at 12:07

1

This code allows you to do what you want. The third line below would be in your if statment.

$CommonGroupsDomain1 = "Group1", "Group2"

$CurrentDomain = "Domain1"

Get-Variable -Name "CommonGroups$CurrentDomain" -ValueOnly

answered Apr 28 '20 at 12:07

derekbaker783

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Powershell - can I use a string as an object in a conditional?

1 Answers1