Converting file text to Hashtable and reading value using keys?

Question

So I have a file that looks like :

A=www.google.com
B=www.yahoo.com

Now, I want to convert this text file to a HashTable and read values using keys ie A or B

This is what I have come up with:

$hash = Get-Content .\test.txt
$hash[1].Split('=')[1]

The above script works fine except that I want to use key instead of number

Something like :

$hash['B'].Split('=')[1]

Answer 1

You will need to convert the file data into a hashtable object first. There are several techniques to add data to a hashtable object. The following will convert all lines to a hash table value provided they have the format key=value.

$hash = [ordered]@{}
Get-Content test.txt | Foreach-Object {
    $key,$value = ($_ -split '=',2).Trim()
    $hash[$key] = $value
}

# Value Retrieval syntax
$hash.A
$hash['A']

If you want to target a specific line in the file, you can do the following:

$hash = [ordered]@{}
$data = Get-Content test.txt
$temp = $data[1] -split '=' 
$hash[$temp[0]] = $temp[1]

# Value Retrieval Syntax
$hash.B
$hash['B']

---

You could technically convert the file data with two commands, but the order may vary. I'm not sure if ConvertFrom-StringData is favorable anymore.

$hash = Get-Content test.txt -Raw | ConvertFrom-StringData

# Value Retrieval Syntax
$hash.B
$hash['B']

---

Output From First Code Snippet:

Get-Content test.txt
A=www.google.com
B=www.yahoo.com

$hash = [ordered]@{}
Get-Content test.txt | Foreach-Object {
    $temp = ($_ -split '=').Trim()
    $hash[$temp[0]] = $temp[1]
}
$hash

Name                           Value
----                           -----
A                              www.google.com
B                              www.yahoo.com

$hash['B']
www.yahoo.com