Hash tables and dictionaries are perfect lookup tables: whenever your original data contains cryptic numbers or a command returns just numeric return values, a hash table can translate these numbers to friendly text.
Since you are free to add any key you want to a hash table, the numbers you’d like to translated do not have to be a consecutive numeric range either.
Here is an example that queries OS information from WMI and then translates your Windows SKU from a number to a descriptive text:
# get any info, i.e. some WMI information about your OS $info = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_OperatingSystem # it may include information that is cryptically encoded as some number: $rawData = $info.OperatingSystemSKU # by using a hash table, you can easily translate the numbers to text: $translation = @{ 0 = 'UNDEFINED' 1 = 'ULTIMATE' 2 = 'HOME_BASIC' 3 = 'HOME_PREMIUM' 4 = 'ENTERPRISE' 5 = 'HOME_BASIC_N' 6 = 'BUSINESS' 7 = 'STANDARD_SERVER' 8 = 'DATACENTER_SERVER' 9 = 'SMALLBUSINESS_SERVER' 10 = 'ENTERPRISE_SERVER' 11 = 'STARTER' 12 = 'DATACENTER_SERVER_CORE' 13 = 'STANDARD_SERVER_CORE' 14 = 'ENTERPRISE_SERVER_CORE' 15 = 'ENTERPRISE_SERVER_IA64' 16 = 'BUSINESS_N' 17 = 'WEB_SERVER' 18 = 'CLUSTER_SERVER' 19 = 'HOME_SERVER' 20 = 'STORAGE_EXPRESS_SERVER' 21 = 'STORAGE_STANDARD_SERVER' 22 = 'STORAGE_WORKGROUP_SERVER' 23 = 'STORAGE_ENTERPRISE_SERVER' 24 = 'SERVER_FOR_SMALLBUSINESS' 25 = 'SMALLBUSINESS_SERVER_PREMIUM' 26 = 'HOME_PREMIUM_N' 27 = 'ENTERPRISE_N' 28 = 'ULTIMATE_N' 29 = 'WEB_SERVER_CORE' 30 = 'MEDIUMBUSINESS_SERVER_MANAGEMENT' 31 = 'MEDIUMBUSINESS_SERVER_SECURITY' 32 = 'MEDIUMBUSINESS_SERVER_MESSAGING' 33 = 'SERVER_FOUNDATION' 34 = 'HOME_PREMIUM_SERVER' 35 = 'SERVER_FOR_SMALLBUSINESS_V' 36 = 'STANDARD_SERVER_V' 37 = 'DATACENTER_SERVER_V' 38 = 'ENTERPRISE_SERVER_V' 39 = 'DATACENTER_SERVER_CORE_V' 40 = 'STANDARD_SERVER_CORE_V' 41 = 'ENTERPRISE_SERVER_CORE_V' 42 = 'HYPERV' 43 = 'STORAGE_EXPRESS_SERVER_CORE' 44 = 'STORAGE_STANDARD_SERVER_CORE' 45 = 'STORAGE_WORKGROUP_SERVER_CORE' 46 = 'STORAGE_ENTERPRISE_SERVER_CORE' 47 = 'STARTER_N' 48 = 'PROFESSIONAL' 49 = 'PROFESSIONAL_N' 50 = 'SB_SOLUTION_SERVER' 51 = 'SERVER_FOR_SB_SOLUTIONS' 52 = 'STANDARD_SERVER_SOLUTIONS' 53 = 'STANDARD_SERVER_SOLUTIONS_CORE' 54 = 'SB_SOLUTION_SERVER_EM' 55 = 'SERVER_FOR_SB_SOLUTIONS_EM' 56 = 'SOLUTION_EMBEDDEDSERVER' 57 = 'SOLUTION_EMBEDDEDSERVER_CORE' 58 = 'PROFESSIONAL_EMBEDDED' 59 = 'ESSENTIALBUSINESS_SERVER_MGMT' 60 = 'ESSENTIALBUSINESS_SERVER_ADDL' 61 = 'ESSENTIALBUSINESS_SERVER_MGMTSVC' 62 = 'ESSENTIALBUSINESS_SERVER_ADDLSVC' 63 = 'SMALLBUSINESS_SERVER_PREMIUM_CORE' 64 = 'CLUSTER_SERVER_V' 65 = 'EMBEDDED' 66 = 'STARTER_E' 67 = 'HOME_BASIC_E' 68 = 'HOME_PREMIUM_E' 69 = 'PROFESSIONAL_E' 70 = 'ENTERPRISE_E' 71 = 'ULTIMATE_E' 72 = 'ENTERPRISE_EVALUATION' 76 = 'MULTIPOINT_STANDARD_SERVER' 77 = 'MULTIPOINT_PREMIUM_SERVER' 79 = 'STANDARD_EVALUATION_SERVER' 80 = 'DATACENTER_EVALUATION_SERVER' 84 = 'ENTERPRISE_N_EVALUATION' 85 = 'EMBEDDED_AUTOMOTIVE' 86 = 'EMBEDDED_INDUSTRY_A' 87 = 'THINPC' 88 = 'EMBEDDED_A' 89 = 'EMBEDDED_INDUSTRY' 90 = 'EMBEDDED_E' 91 = 'EMBEDDED_INDUSTRY_E' 92 = 'EMBEDDED_INDUSTRY_A_E' 95 = 'STORAGE_WORKGROUP_EVALUATION_SERVE' 96 = 'STORAGE_STANDARD_EVALUATION_SERVER' 97 = 'CORE_ARM' 98 = 'CORE_N' 99 = 'CORE_COUNTRYSPECIFIC' 100 = 'CORE_SINGLELANGUAGE' 101 = 'CORE' 103 = 'PROFESSIONAL_WMC' 105 = 'EMBEDDED_INDUSTRY_EVAL' 106 = 'EMBEDDED_INDUSTRY_E_EVAL' 107 = 'EMBEDDED_EVAL' 108 = 'EMBEDDED_E_EVAL' 109 = 'NANO_SERVER' 110 = 'CLOUD_STORAGE_SERVER' 111 = 'CORE_CONNECTED' 112 = 'PROFESSIONAL_STUDENT' 113 = 'CORE_CONNECTED_N' 114 = 'PROFESSIONAL_STUDENT_N' 115 = 'CORE_CONNECTED_SINGLELANGUAGE' 116 = 'CORE_CONNECTED_COUNTRYSPECIFIC' 117 = 'CONNECTED_CAR' 118 = 'INDUSTRY_HANDHELD' 119 = 'PPI_PRO' 120 = 'ARM64_SERVER' 121 = 'EDUCATION' 122 = 'EDUCATION_N' 123 = 'IOTUAP' 124 = 'CLOUD_HOST_INFRASTRUCTURE_SERVER' 125 = 'ENTERPRISE_S' 126 = 'ENTERPRISE_S_N' 127 = 'PROFESSIONAL_S' 128 = 'PROFESSIONAL_S_N' 129 = 'ENTERPRISE_S_EVALUATION' 130 = 'ENTERPRISE_S_N_EVALUATION' 135 = 'HOLOGRAPHIC' 138 = 'PRO_SINGLE_LANGUAGE' 139 = 'PRO_CHINA' 140 = 'ENTERPRISE_SUBSCRIPTION' 141 = 'ENTERPRISE_SUBSCRIPTION_N' 143 = 'DATACENTER_NANO_SERVER' 144 = 'STANDARD_NANO_SERVER' 145 = 'DATACENTER_A_SERVER_CORE' 146 = 'STANDARD_A_SERVER_CORE' 147 = 'DATACENTER_WS_SERVER_CORE' 148 = 'STANDARD_WS_SERVER_CORE' 149 = 'UTILITY_VM' 159 = 'DATACENTER_EVALUATION_SERVER_CORE' 160 = 'STANDARD_EVALUATION_SERVER_CORE' 161 = 'PRO_WORKSTATION' 162 = 'PRO_WORKSTATION_N' 164 = 'PRO_FOR_EDUCATION' 165 = 'PRO_FOR_EDUCATION_N' 168 = 'AZURE_SERVER_CORE' 169 = 'AZURE_NANO_SERVER' 171 = 'ENTERPRISEG' 172 = 'ENTERPRISEGN' 175 = 'SERVERRDSH' 178 = 'CLOUD' 179 = 'CLOUDN' 180 = 'HUBOS' 182 = 'ONECOREUPDATEOS' 183 = 'CLOUDE' 184 = 'ANDROMEDA' 185 = 'IOTOS' 186 = 'CLOUDEN' } # use the raw data as key to the hash table # AND MAKE SURE you convert numeric data to [int]! # (WMI returns unusual data types like [byte] and [UInt16], # and hash table keys are type-aware) $translation[$rawData -as [int]]
The fundamental concept works for all kinds of translations. Here is an example that translates the return value delivered by ping.exe:
$translation = @{ 0 = 'SUCCESS' 1 = 'FAILURE' 2 = 'ERROR' } 1..255 | ForEach-Object { # create the IP address to ping # make sure you adjust this to your segment! $ip = "192.168.2.$_" # execute ping.exe and disregard the text output ping -n 1 -w 500 $ip > $null # instead return the translated return value found in $LASTEXITCODE [PSCustomObject]@{ IpAddress = $ip Status = $translation[$LASTEXITCODE] } }
Here is the result:
IpAddress Status --------- ------ 192.168.2.1 SUCCESS 192.168.2.2 FAILURE 192.168.2.3 FAILURE 192.168.2.4 FAILURE 192.168.2.5 FAILURE 192.168.2.6 FAILURE ...
