PowerShell:
Concatenating strings

How to:

Let’s get straight to it:

# Using the '+' operator
$greeting = 'Hello, ' + 'World!'
$greeting # Outputs: Hello, World!

# Via string interpolation
$name = 'Jane'
$welcomeMessage = "Hi, $name, nice to meet you!"
$welcomeMessage # Outputs: Hi, Jane, nice to meet you!

# With the -f operator (format operator)
$city = 'New York'
$visitMessage = 'Welcome to {0}!' -f $city
$visitMessage # Outputs: Welcome to New York!

# StringBuilder for complex scenarios (a bit overkill for simple stuff)
$textBuilder = New-Object System.Text.StringBuilder
[void]$textBuilder.Append('PowerShell ')
[void]$textBuilder.Append('is ')
[void]$textBuilder.Append('awesome.')
$textBuilder.ToString() # Outputs: PowerShell is awesome.

Deep Dive

Historically, concatenating strings was a bit rough around the edges in earlier programming languages - think of it like using tape to stick sentences together. In PowerShell, it’s a walk in the park.

There are different ways to get the job done. The ‘+’ operator is straightforward but can be slow with lots of strings. String interpolation with “$variable” is cleaner, and great for inserting variables into strings. The format operator ‘-f’ shines in templating scenarios.

About performance - if you’re combining an essay’s worth of strings, you’ll want something more heavy-duty. Enter StringBuilder. It doesn’t concatenate immediately; instead, it weaves your strings together when summoned, saving time and memory for big concatenation tasks.

See Also

• About Join
• About Automatic Variables (see $OFS)
• For more on string formatting, check out Composite Formatting.
• And, if you’ve got the stomach for it, here’s the nitty-gritty on StringBuilder.