How to initialize an array of custom objects

Question

First, as this leads to my question, I\'ll start by noting that I\'ve worked with XML a fair bit in PowerShell, and like how I can read data from XML files, quickly, into ar

Answer 1

Given the data above, this is how I would do it:

# initialize the array
[PsObject[]]$people = @()

# populate the array with each object
$people += [PsObject]@{ Name = "Joe"; Age = 32; Info = "something about him" }
$people += [PsObject]@{ Name = "Sue"; Age = 29; Info = "something about her" }
$people += [PsObject]@{ Name = "Cat"; Age = 12; Info = "something else" }

The below code will work even if you only have 1 item after a Where-Object:

# display all people
Write-Host "People:"
foreach($person in $people) {
    Write-Host "  - Name: '$($person.Name)', Age: $($person.Age), Info: '$($person.Info)'"
}

# display with just 1 person (length will be empty if using 'PSCustomObject', so you have to wrap any results in a '@()' as described by Andrew Savinykh in his updated answer)
$youngerPeople = $people | Where-Object { $_.Age -lt 20 }
Write-Host "People younger than 20: $($youngerPeople.Length)"
foreach($youngerPerson in $youngerPeople) {
    Write-Host "  - Name: '$($youngerPerson.Name)'"
}

Result:

People:
  - Name: 'Joe', Age: 32, Info: 'something about him'
  - Name: 'Sue', Age: 29, Info: 'something about her'
  - Name: 'Cat', Age: 12, Info: 'something else'
People younger than 20: 1
  - Name: 'Cat'