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Strings enclosed by double-quotes will resolve variables so it is common practice to use code like this:
$name = $host.Name "Your host is called $name."
However, this technique has limitations. If you wanted to display object properties and not just variables, it fails:
PS> "Your host is called $host.Name." Your host is called System.Management.Automation.Internal.Host.InternalHost.Name.
This is because PowerShell only resolves the variable (in this case $host), not the rest of your code.
And you cannot control number formats, either. This line works, but the result simply has too many digits to look good:
# get available space in bytes for C: drive $freeSpace = ([WMI]'Win32_LogicalDisk.DeviceID="C:"').FreeSpace # convert to MB $freeSpaceMB = $freeSpace / 1MB # output "Your C: drive has $freeSpaceMB MB space available."
The –f operator can solve both problems. It takes a static text template to the left, and the values to insert to the right:
# insert any data into the text template 'Your host is called {0}.' -f $host.Name # calculate free space on C: in MB $freeSpace = ([WMI]'Win32_LogicalDisk.DeviceID="C:"').FreeSpace $freeSpaceMB = $freeSpace /1MB # output with just ONE digit after the comma 'Your C: drive has {0:n1} MB space available.' -f $freeSpaceMB
As you see, using -f gives you two advantages: the placeholders (braces) tell PowerShell where insertion should start and end, and the placeholders accept formatting hints, too. "n1" stands for numeric data with 1 digit. Simply change the number to suit your needs.
