Powershell dot notation vs select-object

Question

Can somebody explain to me what is the difference between dot notation and select-object in Powershell? How these two methods of accessing properties differ internally?

I've noticed that running (ls).name gives basically the same results as ls | select-object name however running ls | select-object name | export-csv foo.csv gives me proper csv file while trying (ls).name | export-csv foo.csv gives me the file with length. In both cases gettype() returns Object[]

Peter Schneider · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-10 08:36:29Z

6

The select-object cmdlet wraps the result in a new object. To see the differences (look at the Type) use the get-member cmdlet.

(ls).Name | get-member

and

ls | select-object Name | get-member

answered May 10, 2015 at 8:36

Peter Schneider

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2 Comments

Łukasz Over a year ago

Thank you. I understand the difference now. It seems that (ls).name is equal to the ls | select-object -expandproperty name. Is it possible to use dot notation without expanding property?

Frode F. Over a year ago

No. Dot notation is reading the value of the property you specify, just like ls | % { $_.name } would, so it you want it as a property in a New Object, you have to use Select-Object or New-Object (in a foreach-loop).

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