PSMDTAG:FAQ: What is $OFS
In my blog entry regarding Cascading Type Casts ( http://blogs.msdn.com/powershell/archive/2006/07/15/Cascading_Type_Casts.aspx ) there was an example:
PS> [string][char[]][int[]][char[]]"PowerShell"
P o w e r S h e l l
And in a comment was a question asking why there were spaces between the letters. The answer is $OFS
PSMDTAG:FAQ: What is $OFS
$OFS is a special variable that contains the string to be used as the Ouptut Field Sperator. This string is used when an array is converted to a string. By default, this is " " but you can change it.
Here are some examples to clarify:
PS> $a="1","2","3","4"
PS> $a
1
2
3
4
PS> [string]$a
1 2 3 4
PS> $OFS="";[string]$a
1234
PS> $OFS=",";[string]$a
1,2,3,4
PS> $OFS="--PowerShellRocks--";[string]$a
1--PowerShellRocks--2--PowerShellRocks--3--PowerShellRocks--4
PS> $OFS="`n`n";[string]$a
1
2
3
4
PS>
Experiment and Enjoy!
Jeffrey Snover [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell/Aspen Architect
Visit the Windows PowerShell Team blog at: http://blogs.msdn.com/PowerShell
Visit the Windows PowerShell ScriptCenter at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/hubs/msh.mspx
