Need help with INI file in Powershell

Question

Here is the deal, I am going through an INI file with some code. The idea is to return all of the categories found in the INI file with a regex, and then set at an arraylist = to results.

So here is the code:

    switch -regex -file $Path
    {
        "^\[(.+)\]$" {
            $arraylist.Add($matches[1])
        }
    }

However, the function returns not only the categories but also a count of the categories. For example, if the INI file looks like this:

[Red]
[White]
[Blue]

The output is:

0
1
2
Red
White
Blue

How can I fix this?

Answer 1

ArrayList.Add() returns the index at which the item was added. This is why you see the numbers. Just cast that statement to void eg:

[void]$arraylist.Add($matches[1])

or pipe to Out-Null

$arraylist.Add($matches[1]) | Out-Null

Answer 2

Another option:

$al = new-object System.Collections.ArrayList
$cat = switch -regex -file $env:WINDIR\system.ini { "^\[([^\]]+)\]$" { $_ -replace '\[|\]'}}
$al.AddRange($cat)

Answer 3

I'm trying to reproduce the problem you're seeing but cannot do it. Here is a recreation of the code that I'm using to test with:

("[Red]","[White]","[Blue]") | Out-File Test.ini -Encoding ASCII
$Path = (get-item Test.ini)
$arraylist = new-object System.Collections.ArrayList
$matches = @()
switch -regex -file $Path {
    "^\[(.+)\]$" {
        $arraylist.Add($matches[1]) 
    }
}

$arrayList

When this is executed, I get the following output:

Red   
White    
Blue

Is there something I'm missing that your code does not show?