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powershellvariableskeyhashtable

Powershell Hashtable values using variable key

I am trying to let a user make a selection and then return a value from a hashtable based on that selection.

My hashtable looks like this:

$choices = @{ 0 = "SelectionA"; 
              1 = "SelectionB"; 
              99 = "SelectionC"}

My selection looks like this:

$selection = Read-Host -Prompt "
Please make a selection
0 - Selection A
1 - Selection B
99 - Selection C "

Then I'm trying to bring back the value based on the selection like this:

$choices.$selection

or

$choices.{$selection}

This isn't working. Is it possible to call a hashtable value using a variable as the key?

Thanks for any help you can offer!

Solution

  • The comments above are both correct answers. I'm adding them as answers to close the question.

    By PetSerAl:

    $choices.[int]$selection

    Or by beatcracker:

    $choices = @{ '0' = 'SelectionA'}

    This is one of the PowerShell's automatic type conversion blindspots. Keys in your hashtable are integers, but Read-Host returns strings.