Often you may want to convert an array to a comma separated string in PowerShell.
Here are two common ways to do so:
Method 1: Convert Array to Comma Separated String
$my_string = $my_array -join ","
This particular example converts the array named $my_array to a comma separated string named $my_string.
Method 2: Convert Array to Comma Separated String with Quotes
$my_string = "'$($my_array -join "','")'"
This particular example converts the array named $my_array to a comma separated string named $my_string with quotes around each word in the string.
The following examples show how to use each method in practice.
Example 1: Convert Array to Comma Separated String in PowerShell
Suppose we have an array named $my_array that contains 4 items.
We can use the following syntax to create this array, then convert it into a comma separated string:
$my_array = 'one', 'two', 'three', 'four' $my_string = $my_array -join ","
The following screenshot shows how to use this syntax in practice:
We can see that the array has been converted to a comma-separated string.
We can verify that $my_array is an array and that $my_string is a string by using GetType() for each variable:
$my_array.GetType() $my_string.GetType()
The following screenshot shows how to use this syntax in practice:
We can see that $my_array has a BaseType of an array while $my_string has a BaseType of object with a data type of String.
Example 2: Convert Array to Comma Separated String with Quotes in PowerShell
Once again suppose we have an array named $my_array that contains 4 items.
We can use the following syntax to create this array, then convert it into a comma separated string with quote around each individual word in the string:
$my_array = 'one', 'two', 'three', 'four' $my_string = "'$($my_array -join "','")'"
The following screenshot shows how to use this syntax in practice:
We can see that the array has been converted to a comma-separated string with quotes around each individual word in the string.
Related Tutorials
The following tutorials explain how to perform other common tasks in PowerShell:
PowerShell: How to Convert String to Double
PowerShell: How to Convert String to Datetime
PowerShell: How to Split String into Separate Variables
