#PowershellBasics: The GetType() and GetTypeCode() methods

I’m a DBA. Data types are kind of important to me. I mean I know they are important to developers as well but spend some time as a DBA and they get really important. That makes these two methods of particular interest to me.

GetType()

GetTypeCode()

I’m not 100% certain what all of the types available are but it looks like they are the .NET types with the option to create more.

Examples:

#Create/set variables
$IntVar = 1
$IntArrayVar = 1,2,3
$StringVar = "Test"
$StringArrayVar = "Test","MoreTest"
#GetType() Demo
$IntVar.GetType()
$IntArrayVar[0].GetType()
$IntArrayVar.GetType()
$StringVar.GetType()
$StringArrayVar[0].GetType()
$StringArrayVar.GetType()

You’ll notice that arrays are just listed as array and that I had to pull just a single element to get the actual type. This kind of makes sense since these variables aren’t specifically typed. If you do specifically type them you get better information:

#Create/set variables
[int]$IntVarTyped = 1
[int[]]$IntArrayVarTyped = 1,2,3
[string]$StringVarTyped = "Test"
[string[]]$StringArrayVarTyped = "Test","MoreTest"
#GetType() Demo with typed variables
$IntVarTyped.GetType()
$IntArrayVarTyped.GetType()
$StringVarTyped.GetType()
$StringArrayVarTyped.GetType()

You’ll notice that now we get a basetype of System.Array and a name of Int32[] or String[] depending (The []s tell you its an array.)

GetTypeCode() gives you less information (just the name) but is pretty similar.

#GetTypeCode() Demo
$IntVar.GetTypeCode()
$IntArrayVar.GetTypeCode()
$StringVar.GetTypeCode()
$StringArrayVar.GetTypeCode()

Now wait a minute. I only have 4 variables. How did I get back 7 responses? Well GetTypeCode() seems to return a separate line for each element in the array. So an untyped array with two INTs and a STRING would give back explicit information about what’s in the array. INT, INT, STRING for example. So what happens if we type the variables?

#GetTypeCode() Demo with typed variables
$IntVarTyped.GetTypeCode()
$IntArrayVarTyped.GetTypeCode()
$StringVarTyped.GetTypeCode()
$StringArrayVarTyped.GetTypeCode()

Exactly the same. Well that was good to know, if a bit boring.

Note: It appears that while GetTypeCode() is simpler returns a bit more specific information it isn’t always available. I tried this:

$Procs = Get-Process

And GetType() worked while GetTypeCode wasn’t available. From what I can tell GetType() is part of the system object and GetTypeCode is part of the type object.