Update-List

Syntax

Update-List
      [-Add <Object[]>]
      [-Remove <Object[]>]
      [-InputObject <PSObject>]
      [[-Property] <String>]
      [<CommonParameters>]

Update-List
      -Replace <Object[]>
      [-InputObject <PSObject>]
      [[-Property] <String>]
      [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The Update-List cmdlet adds, removes, or replaces items in a property value of an object and returns the updated object. This cmdlet is designed for properties that contain collections of objects.

The Add and Remove parameters add individual items to and remove them from the collection. The Replace parameter replaces the entire collection.

If you don't specify a property in the command, Update-List returns a hashtable that describes the update instead of updating the object. Later, you can use this change set to update a list object.

This cmdlet works only when the property that's being updated supports the IList interface that Update-List uses. Also, any Set cmdlets that accept an update must support the IList interface.

This cmdlet was reintroduced in PowerShell 7.

Examples

Example 1: Add items to a property value

In this example we create a class that represents a deck of cards where the cards are stored as a List collection object. The NewDeck() method uses Update-Listto add a complete deck of card values to the cards collection.

class Cards {

    [System.Collections.Generic.List[string]]$cards
    [string]$name

    Cards([string]$_name) {
        $this.name = $_name
        $this.cards = [System.Collections.Generic.List[string]]::new()
    }

    NewDeck() {
        $_suits = "`u{2663}","`u{2666}","`u{2665}","`u{2660}"
        $_values = 'A',2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,'J','Q','K'
        $_deck = foreach ($s in $_suits){ foreach ($v in $_values){ "$v$s"} }
        $this | Update-List -Property cards -Add $_deck | Out-Null
    }

    Show() {
        Write-Host
        Write-Host $this.name ": " $this.cards[0..12]
        if ($this.cards.count -gt 13) {
            Write-Host (' ' * ($this.name.length+3)) $this.cards[13..25]
        }
        if ($this.cards.count -gt 26) {
            Write-Host (' ' * ($this.name.length+3)) $this.cards[26..38]
        }
        if ($this.cards.count -gt 39) {
            Write-Host (' ' * ($this.name.length+3)) $this.cards[39..51]
        }
    }

    Shuffle() { $this.cards = Get-Random -InputObject $this.cards -Count 52 }

    Sort() { $this.cards.Sort() }
}

Example 2: Add and remove items of a collection property

Continuing with the code in Example 1, we will create instances of the Cards class to represent a deck of cards and the cards held by two players. We use the Update-List cmdlet to add cards to the players' hands and to remove cards from the deck.

$player1 = [Cards]::new('Player 1')
$player2 = [Cards]::new('Player 2')

$deck = [Cards]::new('Deck')
$deck.NewDeck()
$deck.Shuffle()
$deck.Show()

# Deal two hands
$player1 | Update-List -Property cards -Add $deck.cards[0,2,4,6,8] | Out-Null
$player2 | Update-List -Property cards -Add $deck.cards[1,3,5,7,9] | Out-Null
$deck | Update-List -Property cards -Remove $player1.cards | Out-Null
$deck | Update-List -Property cards -Remove $player2.cards | Out-Null

$player1.Show()
$player2.Show()
$deck.Show()

Deck :  4♦ 7♥ J♦ 5♣ A♣ 8♦ J♣ Q♥ 6♦ 3♦ 9♦ 6♣ 2♣
        K♥ 4♠ 10♥ 8♠ 10♦ 9♠ 6♠ K♦ 7♣ 3♣ Q♣ A♥ Q♠
        3♥ 5♥ 2♦ 5♠ J♥ J♠ 10♣ 4♥ Q♦ 10♠ 4♣ 2♠ 2♥
        6♥ 7♦ A♠ 5♦ 8♣ 9♥ K♠ 7♠ 3♠ 9♣ A♦ K♣ 8♥

Player 1 :  4♦ J♦ A♣ J♣ 6♦

Player 2 :  7♥ 5♣ 8♦ Q♥ 3♦

Deck :  9♦ 6♣ 2♣ K♥ 4♠ 10♥ 8♠ 10♦ 9♠ 6♠ K♦ 7♣ 3♣
        Q♣ A♥ Q♠ 3♥ 5♥ 2♦ 5♠ J♥ J♠ 10♣ 4♥ Q♦ 10♠
        4♣ 2♠ 2♥ 6♥ 7♦ A♠ 5♦ 8♣ 9♥ K♠ 7♠ 3♠ 9♣
        A♦ K♣ 8♥

The output shows the state of the deck before the cards were dealt to the players. You can see that each player received five cards from the deck. The final output shows the state of the deck after dealing the cards to the players. Update-List was used to select the cards from the deck and add them to the players' collection. Then the players' cards were removed from the deck using Update-List.

Example 3: Add and remove items in a single command

Update-List allows you to use the Add and Remove parameters in a single command. In this example, Player 1 wants to discard the 4♦ and 6♦ and get two new cards.

# Player 1 wants two new cards - remove 2 cards & add 2 cards
$player1 | Update-List -Property cards -Remove $player1.cards[0,4] -Add $deck.cards[0..1] | Out-Null
$player1.Show()

# remove dealt cards from deck
$deck | Update-List -Property cards -Remove $deck.cards[0..1] | Out-Null
$deck.Show()

Player 1 :  J♦ A♣ J♣ 9♦ 6♣

Deck :  2♣ K♥ 4♠ 10♥ 8♠ 10♦ 9♠ 6♠ K♦ 7♣ 3♣ Q♣ A♥
        Q♠ 3♥ 5♥ 2♦ 5♠ J♥ J♠ 10♣ 4♥ Q♦ 10♠ 4♣ 2♠
        2♥ 6♥ 7♦ A♠ 5♦ 8♣ 9♥ K♠ 7♠ 3♠ 9♣ A♦ K♣
        8♥

Example 4: Apply a change set to a list object

If you don't specify a property, Update-List returns a hashtable that describes the update instead of updating the object. You can cast the hashtable to a System.PSListModifier object and use the ApplyTo() method to apply the change set to a list.

$list = [System.Collections.ArrayList] (1, 43, 2)
$changeInstructions = Update-List -Remove 43 -Add 42
$changeInstructions

Name                           Value
----                           -----
Add                            {42}
Remove                         {43}

([PSListModifier]($changeInstructions)).ApplyTo($list)
$list

1
2
42

Parameters

-Add

-InputObject

-Property

-Remove

-Replace

Inputs

PSObject

You can pipe the object to be updated to this cmdlet.

Outputs

Hashtable

By default, this cmdlet returns a hashtable that describes the update.

Object

When you specify the Property parameter, this cmdlet returns the updated object.

Related Links

• Select-Object