Operators

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Published May 16, 2023Updated Jun 8, 2023
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Operators are used to perform specific mathematical or logical functions on data, often stored in variables. PowerShell offers multiple types of operators to manipulate data including:

  • Arithmetic Operators
  • Assignment Operators
  • Unary Operators
  • Equality Comparison Operators
  • Logical Operators

Arithmetic Operators

PowerShell arithmetic operators are used to calculate numeric values. These include:

Operator Name Description
+ Addition Adds numbers, concatenates strings and arrays.
- Subtraction Subtracts or negates numbers.
* Multiplication Multiplies numbers or copies strings and arrays a specified number of times.
/ Division Divides numbers.
% Modulo Returns the remainder of a division operation.

Arithmetic operators are binary operators, which means they act on two operands. Their syntax in PowerShell is <Operand_1> <Arithmetic Operator> <Operand_2>.

$x = 5 + 5
# x is now 10


$x = $x - 8
# x is now 2


$x = $x * 3
# x is now 6


$x = $x / 2
# x is now 3


$x = $x % 2
# x is now 1

Arithmetic operators, + and *, also work on strings and arrays.

PS > $best_learning_platform = "Code" + "cademy"
PS > $best_learning_platform + "!" * 3
Codecademy!!!


PS > $fibonacci_1 = 0, 1, 1
PS > $fibonacci_2 = 2, 3, 5
PS > $fibonacci_1 + $fibonacci_2
0
1
1
2
3
5


PS > $fibonacci_2 * 2
2
3
5
2
3
5

Assignment Operators

Assignment operators can be used to assign, change, or append values to variables. These operators are a shorter syntax for assigning the result of an arithmetic operator. The general syntax of the assignment operators is: <Variable> <Assignment Operator> <Value>.

Operator Name Description
= Assignment $x = 3 assigns value 3 to variable x.
+= Addition Compound Assignment $x += 3 is short for $x = $x + 3.
-= Subtraction Compound Assignment $x -= 3 is short for $x = $x - 3.
*= Multiplication Compound Assignment $x *= 3 is short for $x = $x * 3.
/= Division Compound Assignment $x /= 3 is short for $x = $x / 3.
%= Modulo Compound Assignment $x %= 3 is short for $x = $x % 3.

Example

PS > $number = 4
PS > $number += 6 # $number is now 10
PS > $number /= 2 # $number is now 5
PS > $number
5

Unary Operators

Unary operators increase or decrease the value of a variable by 1.

Operator Name Description
++ Increment $x++ is short for $x = $x + 1.
-- Decrement $x-- is short for $x = $x - 1.

Equality Comparison Operators

Equality operators in PowerShell are binary operators that compare two integer or string values that return True if the operator condition is met, otherwise False.

Operator Name Description
-eq Equal $x -eq $y is True if x and y are equal.
-ne Not Equal $x -ne $y is True if x and y are not equal.
-gt Greater Than $x -gt $y is True if x is greater than y.
-lt Less Than $x -lt $y is True if x is less than y.
-ge Greater Than or Equal to $x -ge $y is True if x is greater than or equal to y.
-le Less Than or Equal to $x -le $y is True if x is less than or equal to y.

Logical Operators

Logical operators allow us to combine multiple operator expressions and statements into complex conditionals. They operate on boolean values and return boolean values.

Operator Name Description
-and And $x -and $y is True only if $x and $y are both True.
-or Or $x -or $y is True if either $x or $y is True.
-xor Xor $x -xor $y is True if only, but not both, $x or $y is True.
! or -not Not !$x is True when $x is False and False when $x is True.

Operator Precedence

Precedence order is the order in which PowerShell evaluates the operators if multiple operators are used in the same expression. Operator precedence in PowerShell is as follows:

  1. Parentheses: ( )
  2. Unary operators: ++, --
  3. !, not
  4. Arithmetic operators: *, /, %, +, -
  5. Comparison operators: -eq, -ne, -gt, -ge, -lt, -le
  6. -and, -or, -xor
  7. Assignment operators: =, +=, -=, *=, /=, %=

Examples

PS > $num_1 = 4
PS > $num_2 = 3
PS > $num_1 -lt $num_2  # num_1 is not less than num_2
False


PS > $num_2++           # num_2 is now 4
PS > $num_1 -ge $num_2  # num_1 is greater than or equal to num_2
True


PS > $num_1 /= 2        # num_1 is now 2
PS > $num_1 -lt $num_2 -xor $num_1 -ge $num_2 # True because only one expression is True
True

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