String methods (.Split, .Replace, .Trim) in PowerShell

Introduction

String methods help you change or break text easily. They make working with words simple and fast.

You want to break a sentence into words.

You need to change some words in a text.

You want to remove extra spaces from the start or end of a text.

You want to clean up user input before using it.

You want to split a list of items separated by commas.

Syntax

PowerShell

$string.Split('separator')
$string.Replace('old', 'new')
$string.Trim()

.Split() breaks a string into parts using a separator.

.Replace() changes old text to new text.

.Trim() removes spaces from start and end.

Examples

Splits the string into an array: apple, banana, orange.

PowerShell

'apple,banana,orange'.Split(',')

Changes 'world' to 'PowerShell' in the string.

PowerShell

'hello world'.Replace('world', 'PowerShell')

Removes spaces before and after 'hello'.

PowerShell

'  hello  '.Trim()

Sample Program

This script cleans spaces, splits the fruit list, replaces 'banana' with 'grape', and prints each fruit on its own line.

PowerShell

$text = '  apple, banana, orange  '

# Remove spaces at start and end
$cleanText = $text.Trim()

# Split the string into fruits
$fruits = $cleanText.Split(', ')

# Replace 'banana' with 'grape'
$fruits = $fruits | ForEach-Object { $_.Replace('banana', 'grape') }

# Show each fruit
foreach ($fruit in $fruits) {
    Write-Output $fruit
}

Important Notes

Use .Split() with the exact separator you expect, like ', ' for comma and space.

.Replace() does not change the original string; it returns a new one.

.Trim() only removes spaces at the start and end, not inside the text.

Summary

.Split() breaks text into parts using a separator.

.Replace() swaps old text with new text.

.Trim() cleans spaces from the start and end of text.