String comparison (-like, -match) in PowerShell - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What is the output of this PowerShell command?

Consider the following command:

$result = 'HelloWorld' -like 'Hello*'

What is the value of $result?

PowerShell

$result = 'HelloWorld' -like 'Hello*'
Write-Output $result

A True

B False

C HelloWorld

D Error

💡 Hint

The -like operator uses wildcard matching with * as any characters.

The string 'HelloWorld' matches the pattern 'Hello*' because it starts with 'Hello' followed by any characters, so the result is True.

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What does this PowerShell command output?

Given the command:

$result = 'PowerShell123' -match '\d{3}'

What is the value of $result?

PowerShell

$result = 'PowerShell123' -match '\d{3}'
Write-Output $result

A False

B 123

C True

D Error

💡 Hint

The -match operator returns True if the regex pattern matches anywhere in the string.

The pattern '\d{3}' looks for three digits in a row. 'PowerShell123' ends with '123', so the match is found and the result is True.

📝 Syntax

advanced

Which option correctly uses -like to check if a string ends with '.txt'?

You want to check if the variable $fileName ends with '.txt' using the -like operator. Which of these is correct?

A $fileName -like 'txt*.'

B $fileName -like '.txt*'

C $fileName -like '*txt.'

D $fileName -like '*.txt'

💡 Hint

The * wildcard matches any characters before '.txt' at the end.

To check if a string ends with '.txt', the pattern should be '*.txt' where * matches any characters before '.txt'.

💻 Command Output

advanced

What is the output of this PowerShell snippet?

Analyze the code:

$text = 'Data123'
if ($text -match '^Data\d+$') { 'Match' } else { 'No Match' }

What will it output?

PowerShell

$text = 'Data123'
if ($text -match '^Data\d+$') { 'Match' } else { 'No Match' }

A No Match

B Match

C Error

D Data123

💡 Hint

The regex ^Data\d+$ means string starts with 'Data' followed by one or more digits till end.

The string 'Data123' matches the pattern because it starts with 'Data' and ends with digits only, so output is 'Match'.

🧠 Conceptual

expert

Which statement about -like and -match is TRUE in PowerShell?

Choose the correct statement about the difference between -like and -match operators.

A -like uses wildcard patterns and is case-insensitive by default; -match uses regular expressions and is case-insensitive by default.

B -like uses regular expressions and is case-sensitive; -match uses wildcard patterns and is case-insensitive.

C -like and -match both use regular expressions but differ in case sensitivity.

D -like uses wildcard patterns and is case-sensitive; -match uses regular expressions and is case-sensitive.

💡 Hint

Think about pattern types and default case sensitivity.

-like uses simple wildcard patterns (*, ?) and is case-insensitive by default. -match uses full regular expressions and is also case-insensitive by default.