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powershell

How to explicitly declare type of a variable when creating that variable with New-Variable function?

How can I cast myChar in New-Variable -Name myChar -Value "=" -Option ReadOnly to type [char], or (more generally) how can I specify type of a variable created with New-Variable?

Thanks

EDIT (credit goes to @veefu):

[char]$sampleVariable="A"
$sampleAttributes=(Get-Variable -Name sampleVariable).Attributes[0]
New-Variable -Name myVariable
(Get-Variable -Name myVariable).Attributes.Add($sampleAttributes)
$myVariable="ab" # GENERATES CONVERSION ERROR (WHICH HELPS A LOT)
$myVariable="a"  # DOES NOT GENERATE CONVERSION ERROR (EVERYTHING'S FINE)

EDIT (credit goes to @postanote):

[char]$anyCharacter="A"
# FOLLOWING LINE GENERATES CONVERSION ERROR (GOOD THING)
Set-Variable -Name anyCharacter -Value "ab" -Option ReadOnly
# FOLLOWING LINE DOES NOT GENERATE CONVERSION ERROR (GREAT)
Set-Variable -Name anyCharacter -Value "a" -Option ReadOnly
Solution

  • This is pretty much impossible to do now in PowerShell so I've opened an issue You should be able to set the type conversion attribute on a variable with New-Variable to address this.