PowerShell By Example: Splatting

Extensive lines of code and inverted characters can rapidly render your script unreadable. Fortunately, there is a more refined and structured method: variable splitting.

Splitting variables involves passing several parameters into a function through a split variable, essentially a collection of values organized as a hash table. Let’s illustrate this with an example:

Suppose the task is to obtain a list of all “*.txt” files in the directory located at $env:TEMP, going two levels deep, including subdirectories. The traditional approach would be as follows:

Get-ChildItem -Path $env:TEMP -Include "*.txt" -Depth 2 -Recurse

However, as script complexity increases, this can become cumbersome. Let’s introduce variable splitting:

$params = @{ Path = $env:TEMP Include = "*.txt" Depth = 2 Recurse = $true } Get-ChildItem @params

Note that the latter approach is more readable and straightforward, especially when dealing with functions or commands with numerous parameters.

In Conclusion

Partitioning variables is a valuable technique for maintaining the clarity and succinctness of PowerShell scripts, making the code more accessible and convenient for maintenance. In the following topic, we will explore PowerShell classes for even more organized scripting.