How do I write out a string whose length is dependent upon a user's entry's length?

Question

I'm writing a script that has a lot of output, and can take multiple computer names. The output announces the computer name, then a lot of info about that particular computer. I want to have a series of #s above and below where it announces the computer name before each section of info, but would like to see if I can have the amount of #s be the same as the length of the provided computer name(s). For example:

########
COMPNAME
########

or

##############
LONGERCOMPNAME
##############

I'd rather not have to have an if else for every possible case, such as

if ($compname.length -eq "8") {
  Write-Host "########"
  Write-Host "$compname"
  Write-Host "########"
} elseif ($compname -eq "9") {
  Write-Host "#########"
  Write-Host "$compname"
  Write-Host "#########"

and so on. If I have to, I will, it'd just be ten of those or so. Or I could just use some amount of #s that will always definitely cover at least the max length a computer name might be.

Answer 1

You're gonna love this feature of PowerShell. You can "multiply" a string.

Try this:

$sep = '@'

Write-Output ($sep*5)

$names = "Hello World", "me too", "goodbye"

$names | % {
Write-Output ($sep*($_.Length))
Write-Output $_
Write-Output ($sep*($_.Length))
}

OUTPUT

@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@
Hello World
@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@
me too
@@@@@@
@@@@@@@
goodbye
@@@@@@@