Automatic variables ($_, $PSVersionTable) in PowerShell - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Explore PowerShell Automatic Variables $_ and $PSVersionTable

📖 Scenario: You are working with PowerShell to process a list of files and want to learn how to use automatic variables to make your scripts simpler and more powerful.

🎯 Goal: Learn to use the automatic variable $_ inside a loop to access the current item, and explore the $PSVersionTable automatic variable to check your PowerShell version.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create an array of file names

Use the automatic variable $_ inside a loop to print each file name

Access the $PSVersionTable automatic variable to display PowerShell version info

Print the results clearly

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

PowerShell scripts often process lists of files or data items. Using automatic variables like $_ makes it easy to write concise and readable scripts that handle each item automatically.

💼 Career

Understanding automatic variables is essential for system administrators and automation engineers who write PowerShell scripts to manage systems, automate tasks, and gather system information efficiently.

1

Create an array of file names

Create a variable called $files and assign it an array with these exact file names: 'report.docx', 'data.csv', 'image.png', 'notes.txt'.

PowerShell

# Create the $files array with the given file names
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use @( ... ) to create an array in PowerShell.

2

Set up a loop to process each file

Add a foreach loop that goes through each item in $files using the automatic variable $_ inside the loop body.

PowerShell

$files = @('report.docx', 'data.csv', 'image.png', 'notes.txt')

# Add a foreach loop to process each file using $_
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use ForEach-Object { ... } and inside the braces, $_ is the current item.

3

Print each file name using $_

Inside the ForEach-Object loop, add a Write-Output command to print the current file name stored in $_.

PowerShell

$files = @('report.docx', 'data.csv', 'image.png', 'notes.txt')

$files | ForEach-Object {
    # Print the current file name using $_
    # Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use Write-Output $_ to print the current item.

4

Display PowerShell version using $PSVersionTable

Add a line to print the PowerShell version information stored in the automatic variable $PSVersionTable.

PowerShell

$files = @('report.docx', 'data.csv', 'image.png', 'notes.txt')

$files | ForEach-Object {
    Write-Output $_
}

# Print the PowerShell version info using $PSVersionTable
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use Write-Output $PSVersionTable to show version details.