I'm working on a Wake-On-Lan script and I have this code that is working I am just trying to understand it better.
Here is an excerpt that I am having trouble with:
$mac = "78ab78ab78ab" #some user input mac address reformatted to something like this one
$packet = [byte[]](,0xFF * 102)
6..101 |% { $packet[$_] = $mac[($_%6)] }
[byte[]](,0xFF * 102)
This is saying to make an array of byte values 0xFF 102 times correct? So packet[0] should equal 0xFF through packet[101] = 0xFF
6..101 |% { $packet[$_] = $mac[($_%6)] }
This is a loop that operates on an element of the $packets array we declared earlier based on the iterator ($_) that grows by one as it progresses through the loop. I'm not sure what the $_%6 does in particular the %6 operator. I have ran through the loop and output the value (which does change) but since I'm not familiar with the operator I'm not sure what the output really means.
I think your main question is around $_%6. You should read it as $_ % 6, where $_ and 6 are your operands, and % in Powershell is a binary Mod operator from VB.NET world. It returns a remainder of integer division. So, for example 5 Mod 2 = 1.
Related
Thought I have read enough examples here and elsewhere. Still I fail creating arrays in Power Shell.
With that code I hoped to create slices of pair values from an array.
$values = #('hello','world','bonjour','moon','ola','mars')
function slice_array {
param (
[String[]]$Items
)
[int16] $size = 2
$pair = [string[]]::new($size) # size is 2
$returns = [System.Collections.ArrayList]#()
[int16] $_i = 0
foreach($item in $Items){
$pair[$_i] = $Item
$_i++;
if($_i -gt $size - 1){
$_i = 0
[void]$returns.Add($pair)
}
}
return $returns
}
slice_array($values)
the output is
ola
mars
ola
mars
ola
mars
I would hope for
'hello','world'
'bonjour','moon'
'ola','mars'
Is possible to slice that array to an array of arrays with length 2 ?
Any explenation why it doesn't work as expected ?
How should the code be changed ?
Thanks for any hint to properly understand Arrays in PowerShell !
Here's a PowerShell-idiomatic solution (the fix required for your code is in the bottom section):
The function is named Get-Slices to adhere to PowerShell's verb-noun naming convention (see the docs for more information).
Note: Often, the singular form of the noun is used, e.g. Get-Item rather than Get-Items, given that you situationally may get one or multiple output values; however, since the express purpose here is to slice a single object into multiple parts, I've chosen the plural.
The slice size (count of elements per slice) is passed as a parameter.
The function uses .., the range operator, to extract a single slice from an array.
It uses PowerShell's implicit output behavior (no need for return, no need to build up a list of return values explicitly; see this answer for more information).
It shows how to output an array as a whole from a function, which requires wrapping it in an auxiliary single-element array using the unary form of ,, the array constructor operator. Without this auxiliary array, the array's elements would be output individually to the pipeline (which is also used for function / script output; see this answer for more information.
# Note: For brevity, argument validation, pipeline support, error handling, ...
# have been omitted.
function Get-Slices {
param (
[String[]] $Items
,
[int] $Size # The slice size (element count)
)
$sliceCount = [Math]::Ceiling($Items.Count / $Size)
if ($sliceCount -le 1) {
# array is empty or as large as or smaller than a slice? ->
# wrap it *twice* to ensure that the output is *always* an
# *array of arrays*, in this case containing just *one* element
# containing the original array.
,, $Items
}
else {
foreach ($offset in 0..($sliceCount-1)) {
, $Items[($offset * $Size)..(($offset+1) * $Size - 1)] # output this slice
}
}
}
To slice an array into pairs and collect the output in an array of arrays (jagged array):
$arrayOfPairs =
Get-Slices -Items 'hello','world','bonjour','moon','ola','mars' -Size 2
Note:
Shell-like syntax is required when you call functions (commands in general) in PowerShell: arguments are whitespace-separated and not enclosed in (...) (see this answer for more information)
Since a function's declared parameters are positional by default, naming the arguments as I've done above (-Item ..., -Size ...) isn't strictly necessary, but helps readability.
Two sample calls:
"`n-- Get pairs (slice count 2):"
Get-Slices -Items 'hello','world','bonjour','moon','ola','mars' -Size 2 |
ForEach-Object { $_ -join ', ' }
"`n-- Get slices of 3:"
Get-Slices -Items 'hello','world','bonjour','moon','ola','mars' -Size 3 |
ForEach-Object { $_ -join ', ' }
The above yields:
-- Get pairs (slice count 2):
hello, world
bonjour, moon
ola, mars
-- Get slices of 3:
hello, world, bonjour
moon, ola, mars
As for what you tried:
The only problem with your code was that you kept reusing the very same auxiliary array for collecting a pair of elements, so that subsequent iterations replaced the elements of the previous ones, so that, in the end, your array list contained multiple references to the same pair array, reflecting the last pair only.
This behavior occurs, because arrays are instance of reference types rather than value types - see this answer for background information.
The simplest solution is to add a (shallow) clone of your $pair array to your list, which ensures that each list entry is a distinct array:
[void]$returns.Add($pair.Clone())
Why you got 3 equal pairs instead of different pairs:
.Net (powershell based on it) is object-oriented language and it has consept of reference types and value types. Almost all types are reference types.
What happens in your code:
You create $pair = [string[]] object. $pair variable actually stores memory address of (reference to) [string[]] object, because arrays are reference types
You fill $pair array with values
You add (!) $pair to $returns. Remember that $pair is reference to memory block. And when you add it to $returns, it adds memory address of [string[]] you wrote values to.
You repeat step2: You fill $pair array with different values, but address of this array in memory keeps the same. Doing this you actually replace values from step2 with new values in the same $pair object.
= // = step3
= // = step4
= // = step3
As a result: in $returns there are three same memory addresses: [[reference to $pair], [reference to $pair], [reference to $pair]]. And $pair values were overwritten by code with last pair values.
On output it works like this:
Powershell looks at $results which is array.
Powershell looks to $results[0] which reference to $pair
Powershell outputs reference to $pair[0]
Powershell outputs reference to $pair[1]
Powershell looks to $results[1] which reference to $pair
Powershell outputs reference to $pair[0]
Powershell outputs reference to $pair[1]
Powershell looks to $results[1] which reference to $pair
Powershell outputs reference to $pair[0]
Powershell outputs reference to $pair[1]
So you see, you triple output the object from the same memory address. You overwritten it 3 times in slice_array and now it stores only last pair values.
To fix it in your code, you should create a new $pair in memory: add $pair = [string[]]::new($size) just after $returns.Add($pair)
PowerShell scripts sometimes pipe to %{0}:
[byte[]]$bytes = 0..65535 | %{0};
I know % is an alias for ForEach-Object and $_ represents the current pipeline object.
Is this solely to avoid output? Isn’t there a smarter way of doing it?
The pipeline on the right-hand side simply outputs the integer 0 65536 times - which when cast to byte[] produces a byte array of length 65536 with all values initialized to 0.
You could also have done:
[byte[]]$bytes = ,0 * 65536
As PetSerAl hints at, this is unnecessary since arrays of numerical value types initialize all items to 0 anyways, meaning that simply creating a new array, like so:
# using the new constructor keyword, PowerShell version > 5,
[byte[]]$bytes = [byte[]]::new(65536)
# using New-Object, PowerShell version > 2
[byte[]]$bytes = New-Object 'byte[]' 65536
would also have given you the exact same result
I have a "structured" file (logical fixed-length records) from a legacy program on a legacy (non-MS) operating system. I know how the records were structured in the original program, but the original O/S handled structured data as a sequence of bytes for file I/O, so a hex dump won't show you anything more than what the record length is (there are marker bytes and other record overhead imposed by the access method API used to generate the file originally).
Once I have the sequence of bytes in a Powershell variable, with the overhead bytes "cut away", how can I convert this into a structured object? Some of the "fields" are 16-bit integers, some are strings of the form [s]data (where [s] is a byte giving the length of the "real" data in that field), some are BCD coded fixed-point numbers, some are IEEE floats.
(I haven't been specific about the structure, either on the Powershell side or on the legacy side, because I am seeking a more-or-less 'generic' solution/technique, as I actually have several different files with different record structures to process.)
Initially, I tried to do it by creating a type that could take the buffer and overwrite a struct so that all the fields were nicely filled in. However, certain issues arose (regarding struct layout, fixed buffers and mixing fixed and managed members) and I also realised that there was no guarantee that the data in the buffer would be properly (or even legally) aligned. Decided to try a more programmatic path.
"Manual" parsing is out, so how about automatic parsing? You're going to need to define the members of your PSobject at some point, why not do it in a way that can help programmatically parse the data. This method does not require the data in the buffer to be correctly aligned or even contiguous. You can also have fields overlap to separate raw unions into the individual members (though, typically, only one will contain a "correct" value).
First step, build a hash table to identify the members, the offset in the buffer, their data types and, if an array, the number of elements :
$struct = #{
field1 = 0,[int],0; # 0 means not an array
field2 = 4,[byte],16; # a C string maybe
field3 = 24,[char],32; # wchar_t[32] ? note: skipped over bytes 20-23
field4 = 56,[double],0
}
# the names field1/2/3/4 are arbitrary, any valid member name may be used (but not
# necessarily any valid hash key if you want a PSObject as the end result).
# also, the values could be hash tables instead of arrays. that would allow
# descriptive names for the values but doesn't affect the end result.
Next, use [BitConverter] to extract the required data. The problem here is that we need to call the correct method for all the varying types. Just use a (big) switch statement. The basic principle is the same for most values, get the type indicator and initial offset from the $struct definition then call the correct [BitConverter] method and supply the buffer and initial offset, update the offset to where the next element of an array would be and then repeat for as many array elements as are required. The only trap here is that the data in the buffer must have the same format as expected by [BitConverter], so for the [double] example, the bytes in the buffer must conform to IEEE-754 floating point format (assuming that [BitConverter]::ToDouble() is used). Thus, for example, raw data from a Paradox database will need some tweeking because it flips the high bit to simplify sorting.
$struct.keys | foreach {
# key order is undefined but that won't affect the final object's members
$hashobject = #{}
} {
$fieldoffs = $struct[$_][0]
$fieldtype = $struct[$_][1]
if (($arraysize = $struct[$_][2]) -ne 0) { # yes, I'm a C programmer from way back
$array = #()
} else {
$array = $null
}
:w while ($arraysize-- -ge 0) {
switch($fieldtype) {
([int]) {
$value = [bitconverter]::toint32($buffer, $fieldoffs)
$fieldoffs += 4
}
([byte]) {
$value = $buffer[$fieldoffs++]
}
([char]) {
$value = [bitconverter]::tochar($buffer, $fieldoffs)
$fieldoffs += 2
}
([string]) { # ANSI string, 1 byte per character
$array = new-object string (,[char[]]$buffer[$fieldoffs..($fieldoffs+$arraysize)])
# $arraysize has already been decremented so don't need to subtract 1
break w # "array size" was actually string length so don't loop
#
# description:
# first, get a slice of the buffer as a byte[] (assume single byte characters)
# next, convert each byte to a char in a char[]
# then, invoke the constructor String(Char[])
# finally, put the String into $array ready for insertion into $hashobject
#
# Note the convoluted syntax - New-Object expects the second argument to be
# an array of the constructor parameters but String(Char[]) requires only
# one argument that is itself an array. By itself,
# [char[]]$buffer[$fieldoffs..($fieldoffs+$arraysize)]
# is treated by PowerShell as an argument list of individual chars, corrupting the
# constructor call. The normal trick is to prepend a single comma to create an array
# of one element which is itself an array
# ,[char[]]$buffer[$fieldoffs..($fieldoffs+$arraysize)]
# but this won't work because of the way PowerShell parses the command line. The
# space before the comma is ignored so that instead of getting 2 arguments (a string
# "String" and the array of an array of char), there is only one argument, an array
# of 2 elements ("String" and array of array of char) thereby totally confusing
# New-Object. To make it work you need to ALSO isolate the single element array into
# its own expression. Hence the parentheses
# (,[char[]]$buffer[$fieldoffs..($fieldoffs+$arraysize)])
#
}
}
if ($null -ne $array) {
# must be in this order* to stop the -ne from enumerating $array to compare against
# $null. this would result in the condition being considered false if $array were
# empty ( (#() -ne $null) -> $null -> $false ) or contained only one element with
# the value 0 ( (#(0) -ne $null) -> (scalar) 0 -> $false ).
$array += $value
# $array is not $null so must be an array to which $value is appended
} else {
# $array is $null only if $arraysize -eq 0 before the loop (and is now -1)
$array = $value
# so the loop won't repeat thus leaving this one scalar in $array
}
}
$hashobject[$_] = $array
}
#*could have reversed it as
# if ($array -eq $null) { scalar } else { collect array }
# since the condition will only be true if $array is actually $null or contains at
# least 2 $null elements (but no valid conversion will produce $null)
At this point there is a hash table, $hashobject, with keys equal to the field names and values containing the bytes from the buffer arranged into single (or arrays of) numeric (inc. char/boolean) values or (ANSI) strings. To create a (proper) object, just invoke New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property $hashobject or use [PSCustomObject]$hashobject.
Of course, if the buffer actually contained structured data then the process would be more complicated but the basic procedure would be the same. Note also that the "types" used in the $struct hash table have no direct effect on the resultant types of the object members, they are only convenient selectors for the switch statement. It would work just as well with strings or numbers. In fact, the parentheses around the case labels are because switch parses them the same as command arguments. Without the parentheses, the labels would be treated as literal strings. With them, the labels are evaluated as a type object. Both the label and the switch value are then converted to strings (that's what switch does for values other than script blocks or $null) but each type has a distinct string representation so the case labels will still match up correctly. (Not really on point but still interesting, I think.)
Several optimisations are possible but increase the complexity slightly. E.g.
([byte]) { # already have a byte[] so why collect bytes one at a time
if ($arraysize -ge 0) { # was originally -gt 0 so want a byte[]
$array = [byte[]]$buffer[$fieldoffs..($fieldoffs+$arraysize)]
# slicing the byte array produces an object array (of bytes) so cast it back
} else { # $arraysize was 0 so just a single byte
$array = $buffer[$fieldoffs]
}
break w # $array ready for insertion into $hashobject, don't need to loop
}
But what if my strings are actually Unicode?, you say. Easy, just use existing methods from the [Text.Encoding] class,
[string] { # Unicode string, 2 (LE) bytes per character
$array = [text.encoding]::unicode.getstring([byte[]]$buffer[$fieldoffs..($fieldoffs+$arraysize*2+1)])
# $arraysize should be the string length so, initially, $arraysize*2 is the byte
# count and $arraysize*2-1 is the end index (relative to $fieldoffs) but $arraysize
# was decremented so the end index is now $arraysize*2+1, i.e. length*2-1 = (length-1)*2+1
break w # got $array, no loop
}
You could also have both ANSI and Unicode by utilising a different type indicator for the ANSI string, maybe [char[]]. Remember, the type indicators do not affect the result, they just have to be distinct (and hopefully meaningful) identifiers.
I realise that this is not quite the "just dump the bytes into a union or variant record" solution mentioned in the OPs comment but PowerShell is based in .NET and uses managed objects where this sort of thing is largely prohibited (or difficult to get working, as I found). For example, assuming you could just dump raw chars (not bytes) into a String, how would the Length property get updated? This method also allows some useful preprocessing such as splitting up unions as noted above or converting raw byte or char arrays into the Strings they represent.
I have am reading some data into 16 bit data words, and extracting VALUES from parts of the 16 bit words. Some of the values I need straddles the word boundaries.
I need to take the bits from the first word and some from the second word and join them to form a value.
I am thinking of the best way to do this. I could bit shift stuff all over the place and compose the data that way, but I am thinking there must be perhaps an easier/better way because I have many cases like this and the values are in some case different sizes (which I know since I have a data map).
For instance:
[TTTTTDDDDPPPPYYY] - 16 bit field
[YYYYYWWWWWQQQQQQ] - 16 bit field
TTTTT = 5 bit value, easily extracted
DDDD = 4 bit value, easily extracted
WWWWW = 5 bit value, easily extracted
QQQQQQ = 6 bit value, easily extracted
YYYYYYYY = 8 bit value, which straddles the word boundaries. What is the best way to extract this? In my case I have a LOT of data like this, so elegance/simplicity in a solution is what I seek.
Aside - In Perl what are the limits of left shifting? I am on a 32 bit computer, am I right to guess that my (duck) types are 32 bit variables and that I can shift that far, even though I unpacked the data as 16 bits (unpack with type n) into a variable? This situation came up in the case of trying to extract a 31 bit variable that lies between two 16 bit fields.
Lastly (someone may ask), reading/unpacking the data into 32 bit words does not help me as I still face the same issue - Data is not aligned on word boundaries but crosses it.
The size of your integers are given (in bytes) by perl -V:ivsize or programatically using use Config qw( %Config ); $Config{ivsize}. They'll have 32 bit in a 32-bit build (since they are guaranteed to be large enough to hold a pointer). That means you can use
my $i = ($hi << 16 | $lo); # TTTTTDDDDPPPPYYYYYYYYWWWWWQQQQQQ
my $q = ($i >> 0) & (2**6-1);
my $w = ($i >> 6) & (2**5-1);
my $y = ($i >> 11) & (2**8-1);
my $p = ($i >> 19) & (2**4-1);
my $d = ($i >> 23) & (2**4-1);
my $t = ($i >> 27) & (2**5-1);
If you wanted to stick to 16 bits, you could use the following:
my $y = ($hi & 0x7) << 5 | ($lo >> 11);
00000[00000000YYY ]
[ YYYYY]WWWWWQQQQQQ
------------------
[00000000YYYYYYYY]
What's the best way to round down to nearest whole number in PowerShell?
I am trying [math]::truncate but its not giving me predictable results.
Example:
$bla = 17.2/0.1
[math]::truncate($bla)
outputs 171 instead of the expected 172!
$bla = 172
[math]::truncate($bla)
outputs 172
I just need something that works.... and must always round down (i.e round($myNum + 0.5) won't work due to baker's rounding which may round up if the number has a 0.5 component).
Ah, I see. Looks like the datatype needs to be decimal:
[decimal] $de = 17.2/.1
[double] $db = 17.2/.1
[math]::floor($de)
172
[math]::floor($db)
171
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.math.floor(v=vs.85).aspx
The Math::Floor function combined with [decimal] declaration should give you the results you want.
[Math]::Floor([decimal](17.27975/0.1))
returns = 172
The issue you are encountering with the original 17.2/0.1 division example is due to inaccuracy in the floating-point representation of the given decimal values (as mentioned in Joey's comment on another answer). You can see this in PowerShell by examining the round-trip representation of the final value:
PS> $bla = 17.2/0.1
PS> $bla.GetType().FullName
System.Double
PS> $bla.ToString()
172
PS> $bla.ToString('r')
171.99999999999997
A simple way to get around this is to declare the result as int, as PowerShell will automatically round to the the result to the nearest integer value:
PS> [int]$bli = 17.2/0.1
PS> $bli.GetType().FullName
System.Int32
PS> $bli.ToString()
172
Note that this uses the default .NET method of MidpointRounding.ToEven (also known as banker's rounding). This has nice statistical properties when tabulating large numbers of numeric values, but can also be changed to the simpler away-from-zero method:
function round( $value, [MidpointRounding]$mode = 'AwayFromZero' ) {
[Math]::Round( $value, $mode )
}
PS> [int]3.5
4
PS> [int]4.5
4
PS> round 3.5
4
PS> round 4.5
5
Another option is to use a more accurate representation for the original values, which will avoid the issue entirely:
PS> $bld = [decimal]17.2/0.1
PS> $bld.GetType().FullName
System.Decimal
PS> $bld.ToString()
172
[Math]::floor($x) is the built-in way to do it.
Just be aware of how it will behave with negative numbers. [Math]::floor(5.5) returns 5, but [Math]::floor(-5.5) returns -6.
If you need the function to return the value closest to zero, you'll need:
If ($x -ge 0) {
[Math]::Floor($x)
} Else {
[Math]::Ceiling($x)
}