Why is '^\S' not working for first character or NULL value?

Question

I have a variable that is holding two values from a table (using -expandproperty)

$variable = "value1,value2"

I have a check to make sure $variable doesnt have any NULL/empty value returned

if(($variable.Split(",") | Where { $_ -match '^\S'}).count -lt 1)
{write "no value!"}
else
{write $variable}

but for some reason, even though '^\S' is supposed to ONLY check the first character/index for a whitespace, it outputs "

no value

" condition result...it should be outputting

value1,value2

instead...

not only that, but if the table column value is NULL, it doesnt recognize it and instead tried to output the second condition write $variable

why is that??

I just copy/pasted your code including the first line, and it outputs value1,value2 — trebleCode
– trebleCode, Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 20:15
@trebleCode can you try setting $variable to NULL and try that? — Cataster
– Cataster, Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 20:16
When setting $variable to $Null, get a You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression error message. if setting the Where statement to use a lowercase s, it returns 'no value' but returns values with capital S — trebleCode
– trebleCode, Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 20:19
Possible duplicate of Check if a string is not NULL or EMPTY — user6811411
– user6811411, Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 20:26

Lee_Dailey · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-12 20:30:07Z

1

another way to check for "null or empty" is to use the [string]IsNulOrEmpty() static method. something like this ...

$Var1 = "value1,value2"
$Var2 = ''
$Var3 = $Null

$Var1, $Var2, $Var3 |
    ForEach-Object {
        $_
        [string]::IsNullOrEmpty($_)
        }

output ...

value1,value2
False

True
True

note that the final $Null did not produce a new line, while the 2nd item [an empty string] did.

answered Feb 12, 2019 at 20:30

Lee_Dailey

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2 Comments

Cataster Over a year ago

THANK YOU! this is an even better solution!

Lee_Dailey Over a year ago

you are most welcome! glad to help a tad ... [grin]

George Rappel · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-13 00:29:47Z

0

\S is nonwhite space.

\s is whitespace.

edited Feb 13, 2019 at 0:29

George Rappel

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answered Feb 12, 2019 at 20:16

AdminOfThings

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