All PowerShell versions
PowerShell uses short names for the most common .NET types. To see if there is a short name for a .NET type you are using, try this:
PS> [System.Management.Automation.LanguagePrimitives]::ConvertTypeNameToPSTypeName("System.String")
[string]
PS> [System.Management.Automation.LanguagePrimitives]::ConvertTypeNameToPSTypeName("System.Int32")
[int]
PS> [System.Management.Automation.LanguagePrimitives]::ConvertTypeNameToPSTypeName("System.Management.ManagementObject")
[wmi]
PS> [System.Management.Automation.LanguagePrimitives]::ConvertTypeNameToPSTypeName("System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry")
[adsi]
PS>
To find the real .NET name and go the other way, try this:
PS> [string].FullName System.String PS> [int].FullName System.Int32 PS> [wmi].FullName System.Management.ManagementObject PS> [adsi].FullName System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry PS>
With these tricks, you can also better understand how PowerShell converts certain data types:
PS> [System.Management.Automation.LanguagePrimitives]::ConvertTypeNameToPSTypeName("UInt8")
[Byte]
PS>
As it turns out, whenever PowerShell hits an unsigned 8-bit integer value, it auto-converts it to a Byte. This entire magic is handled by ConvertTypeNameToPSTypeName(). Internally, PowerShell uses a lookup table to convert certain data types:
$field = [System.Management.Automation.LanguagePrimitives].GetField('nameMap', 'NonPublic,Static') $field.GetValue([System.Management.Automation.LanguagePrimitives])
The map looks like this:
Key Value --- ----- SInt8 SByte UInt8 Byte SInt16 Int16 UInt16 UInt16 SInt32 Int32 UInt32 UInt32 SInt64 Int64 UInt64 UInt64 Real32 Single Real64 double Boolean bool String string DateTime DateTime Reference CimInstance Char16 char Instance CimInstance BooleanArray bool[] UInt8Array byte[] SInt8Array Sbyte[] UInt16Array uint16[] SInt16Array int64[] UInt32Array UInt32[] SInt32Array Int32[] UInt64Array UInt64[] SInt64Array Int64[] Real32Array Single[] Real64Array double[] Char16Array char[] DateTimeArray DateTime[] StringArray string[] ReferenceArray CimInstance[] InstanceArray CimInstance[] Unknown UnknownType
