How can I "zip" two arrays in PowerShell?
# Multiple arrays
$Sizes = @("small", "large", "tiny")
$Colors = @("red", "green", "blue")
$Shapes = @("circle", "square", "oval")
# The first line "zips"
$Sizes | ForEach-Object { $i = 0 }{ @{size=$_; color=$Colors[$i]; shape=$Shapes[$i]}; $i++ } `
| ForEach-Object { $_.size + " " + $_.color + " " + $_.shape }
Outputs:
small red circle
large green square
tiny blue oval
There's nothing built-in and it's probably not recommended to "roll your own" function. So, we'll take the LINQ Zip method and wrap it up.
[System.Linq.Enumerable]::Zip((1, 2, 3), ('A', 'B', 'C'), [Func[Object, Object, Object[]]]{ ,$args })
That works, but it's not pleasant to work with over time. We can wrap the function (and include that in our profile?).
function Select-Zip {
[CmdletBinding()]
Param(
$First,
$Second,
$ResultSelector = { ,$args }
)
[System.Linq.Enumerable]::Zip($First, $Second, [Func[Object, Object, Object[]]]$ResultSelector)
}
And you can call it simply:
PS> Select-Zip -First 1, 2, 3 -Second 'A', 'B', 'C'
1
A
2
B
3
C
With a non-default result selector:
PS> Select-Zip -First 1, 2, 3 -Second 'A', 'B', 'C' -ResultSelector { param($a, $b) "$a::$b" }
1::A
2::B
3::C
I leave the pipeline version as an exercise to the astute reader :)
PS> 1, 2, 3 | Select-Zip -Second 'A', 'B', 'C'