Comparison operators (-eq, -ne, -gt, -lt) in PowerShell - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What is the output of this PowerShell comparison?

Consider the following PowerShell code snippet. What will it output?

PowerShell

$a = 5
$b = 10
if ($a -lt $b) { "Less" } else { "Not Less" }

A Not Less

B Less

C True

D False

💡 Hint

Remember that -lt means 'less than'.

Since 5 is less than 10, the condition $a -lt $b is true, so the output is 'Less'.

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What does this script print?

What will this PowerShell script print to the console?

PowerShell

$x = 7
$y = 7
if ($x -ne $y) { "Different" } else { "Same" }

A Same

B Different

C True

D False

💡 Hint

The -ne operator means 'not equal'.

Since $x and $y are both 7, $x -ne $y is false, so the else block runs and prints 'Same'.

💻 Command Output

advanced

What is the output of this comparison chain?

What will this PowerShell code output?

PowerShell

$num = 15
if ($num -gt 10 -and $num -lt 20) { "In range" } else { "Out of range" }

A In range

B True

C Out of range

D False

💡 Hint

Check if 15 is greater than 10 and less than 20.

15 is greater than 10 and less than 20, so the condition is true and 'In range' is printed.

💻 Command Output

advanced

What error or output does this script produce?

What happens when you run this PowerShell code?

PowerShell

$val = '5'
if ($val -gt 3) { "Greater" } else { "Not Greater" }

A False

B Not Greater

C Cannot compare values of different types

D Greater

💡 Hint

PowerShell tries to convert strings to numbers when comparing.

PowerShell converts the string '5' to number 5, which is greater than 3, so it prints 'Greater'.

💻 Command Output

expert

What is the output of this script with mixed comparisons?

Analyze this PowerShell script and select the output it produces.

PowerShell

$a = 8
$b = 8
$c = 10
if ($a -eq $b -and $c -lt 5) { "Match and less" } elseif ($a -eq $b -and $c -gt 5) { "Match and greater" } else { "No match" }

A Error: ambiguous condition

B Match and less

C Match and greater

D No match

💡 Hint

Check both conditions carefully in order.

The first if condition fails because $c -lt 5 is false. The elseif condition is true because $a equals $b and $c is greater than 5, so it prints 'Match and greater'.