Compare objects based on subset of properties - powershell

Question

Say I have 2 powershell hashtables one big and one small and, for a specific purpose I want to say they are equal if for the keys in the small one, the keys on the big hastable are the same.
Also I don't know the names of the keys in advance. I can use the following function that uses Invoke-Expression but I am looking for nicer solutions, that don't rely on this.
Function Compare-Subset {
Param(
[hashtable] $big,
[hashtable] $small
)
$keys = $small.keys
Foreach($k in $keys) {
$expression = '$val = $big.' + "$k" + ' -eq ' + '$small.' + "$k"
Invoke-Expression $expression
If(-not $val) {return $False}
}
return $True
}
$big = #{name='Jon'; car='Honda'; age='30'}
$small = #{name = 'Jon'; car='Honda'}
Compare-Subset $big $small

Answer 1

A simple $true/$false can easily be gotten. This will return $true if there are no differences:
[string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($($small|Select -Expand Keys|Where{$Small[$_] -ne $big[$_]}))
It checks for all keys in $small to see if the value of that key in $small is the same of the value for that key in $big. It will only output any values that are different. It's wrapped in a IsNullOrWhitespace() method from the [String] type, so if any differences are found it returns false. If you want to list differences just remove that method.

Answer 2

This could be the start of something. Not sure what output you are looking for but this will output the differences between the two groups. Using the same sample data that you provided:
$results = Compare-Object ($big.GetEnumerator() | % { $_.Name }) ($small.GetEnumerator() | % { $_.Name })
$results | ForEach-Object{
$key = $_.InputObject
Switch($_.SideIndicator){
"<="{"Only reference object has the key: '$key'"}
"=>"{"Only difference object has the key: '$key'"}
}
}
In primetime you would want something different but just to show you the above would yield the following output:
Only reference object has the key: 'age'