TOPIC about_Type_Operators SHORT DESCRIPTION Describes the operators that work with Microsoft .NET Framework types.

LONG DESCRIPTION The Boolean type operators (-is and -isnot) tell whether an object is an instance of a specified .NET Framework type. The -is operator returns a value of TRUE if the type matches and a value of FALSE otherwise. The -isnot operator returns a value of FALSE if the type matches and a value of TRUE otherwise. The -as operator tries to convert the input object to the specified .NET Framework type. If it succeeds, it returns the converted object. It if fails, it returns nothing. It does not return an error. The following table lists the type operators in Windows PowerShell. Operator Description -------- ------------------------is Returns TRUE when the input is an instance of the specified .NET Framework type. -isnot Returns TRUE when the input is not an instance of the specified .NETFramework type. Converts the input to the specified .NET Framework type. Example ------------------------------------C:\PS> (get-date) -is [datetime] True

C:\PS> (get-date) -isnot [datetime] False

-as

C:\PS> 12/31/07 -as [datetime] Monday, December 31, 2007 12:00:00 AM

The syntax of the type operators is as follows: <input> <operator> [.NET type] You can also use the following syntax: <input> <operator> ".NET type" To specify the .NET Framework type, enclose the type name in brackets ([ ]), or enter the type as a string, such as [DateTime] or "datetime" for System.DateTime. If the type is not at the root of the system namespace, specify the full name of the object type. You can omit "System.". For example, to specify System.Diagnostics.Process, enter [System.Diagnostics.Process], [Diagnostics.Process], or "diagnostics.process". The type operators always return a Boolean value, even if the input is a collection of objects. However, when the input is a collection, the type operators match the .NET Framework type of the collection. They do not match the type of each object, even when all of the objects are of the

same type. To find the Or, use the property of type of the .NET Framework type of an object, use the Get-Member cmdlet. GetType method of all the objects together with the FullName this method. For example, the following statement gets the return value of a Get-Culture command:

C:\PS> (get-culture).gettype().fullname System.Globalization.CultureInfo EXAMPLES The following examples show some uses of the Type operators: C:\PS> 32 -is [Float] False C:\PS> 32 -is "int" True C:\PS> (get-date) -is [DateTime] True C:\PS> "12/31/2007" -is [DateTime] False C:\PS> "12/31/2007" -is [String] True C:\PS> (get-process powershell)[0] -is [System.Diagnostics.Process] True C:\PS> (get-command get-member) -is [System.Management.Automation.Cmdlet Info] True The following example shows that when the input is a collection of objects, the matching type is the .NET Framework type of the collection, not the type of the individual objects in the collection. In this example, although both the Get-Culture and Get-UICulture cmdlets return System.Globalization.CultureInfo objects, a collection of these objects is a System.Object array. C:\PS> (get-culture) -is [System.Globalization.CultureInfo] True C:\PS> (get-uiculture) -is [System.Globalization.CultureInfo] True C:\PS> (get-culture), (get-uiculture) -is [System.Globalization.CultureI nfo] False C:\PS> (get-culture), (get-uiculture) -is [Array] True C:\PS> (get-culture), (get-uiculture) | foreach {$_ -is [System.Globaliz ation.CultureInfo])

True True C:\PS> (get-culture), (get-uiculture) -is [Object] True The following examples show how to use the -as operator. C:\PS> "12/31/07" -is [datetime] False C:\PS> "12/31/07" -as [datetime] Monday, December 31, 2007 12:00:00 AM C:\PS> $date = "12/31/07" -as [datetime] C:\PS>$a -is [datetime] True C:\PS> 1031 -as [System.Globalization.CultureInfo] LCID ---1031 Name ---de-DE DisplayName ----------German (Germany)

The following example shows that when the -as operator cannot convert the input object to the .NET Framework type, it returns nothing. C:\PS> 1031 -as [System.Diagnostic.Process] C:\PS> SEE ALSO about_Operators