Powershell Array to comma separated string with Quotes

Question

I have an array that I need to output to a comma separated string but I also need quotes "". Here is what I have.

$myArray = "file1.csv","file2.csv"
$a = ($myArray -join ",")
$a

The output for $a ends up

file1.csv,file2.csv

My desired output is

"file1.csv","file2.csv"

How can I accomplish this?

Solution 1

Here you go:

[array]$myArray = '"file1.csv"','"file2.csv"'
[string]$a = $null

$a = $myArray -join ","

$a

Output:

"file1.csv","file2.csv"

You just have to get a way to escape the ". So, you can do it by putting around it '.

Solution 2

I know this thread is old but here are other solutions

$myArray = "file1.csv","file2.csv"

# Solution with single quote
$a = "'$($myArray -join "','")'"
$a
# Result = 'file1.csv','file2.csv'

# Solution with double quotes
$b = '"{0}"' -f ($myArray -join '","')
$b
# Result = "file1.csv","file2.csv"

Solution 3

If using PowerShell Core (currently 7.1), you can use Join-String
This is not available in PowerShell 5.1

$myArray | Join-String -DoubleQuote -Separator ','

Output:

"file1.csv","file2.csv"

Comments

[geek_01]

Super clean and works with outputted array, this is the best answer.

[Bluz]

This is absolutely brilliant. Would you mind breaking down what is happening in the expression $b = '"{0}"' -f ($myArray -join '","') please ? Thank you very much.

[abillon]

$myArray -join '","' result is file1.csv","file2.csv. Then the -f operator puts this result between double-quotes

[dank8]

I do not recommend this method. Take a look at Powershell 7 - Array to CSV or Earler versions of Powershell - Array to CSV