How to Compare Strings in PowerShell

To compare strings in PowerShell, use -eq for equal and -ne for not equal. Both ignore case, so add a c for a case-sensitive comparison, like -ceq:

$city = 'Austin'

"-eq 'AUSTIN':   $($city -eq 'AUSTIN')"
"-ceq 'AUSTIN':  $($city -ceq 'AUSTIN')"
"-ne 'Denver':   $($city -ne 'Denver')"

Output:

-eq 'AUSTIN':   True
-ceq 'AUSTIN':  False
-ne 'Denver':   True

I ran every example in PowerShell 7.6 and Windows PowerShell 5.1. Everything matched except one .NET method overload, which I point out below.

Case-sensitive and case-insensitive comparison

PowerShell operators ignore case, but .NET string methods don’t. That catches people who switch between the two:

$a = 'Austin'
$b = 'AUSTIN'

".Equals():                        $($a.Equals($b))"
"[string]::Equals, ignore case:    $([string]::Equals($a, $b, [System.StringComparison]::OrdinalIgnoreCase))"
"[string]::Compare, ignore case:   $([string]::Compare($a, $b, $true))"

Output:

.Equals():                        False
[string]::Equals, ignore case:    True
[string]::Compare, ignore case:   0

To compare	Ignoring case	Matching case
Equal	-eq	-ceq or .Equals()
Wildcard	-like	-clike
Regex	-match	-cmatch
Contains text	-like '*text*'	.Contains()

[string]::Compare() returns 0 when the strings are equal, a negative number when the first sorts earlier, and a positive number when it sorts later.

Check if a string contains text: -contains is the wrong tool

-contains checks whether a list has an item. On a single string, it only returns True for an exact match:

$product = 'PowerShell'

"-contains 'Shell':     $($product -contains 'Shell')"
"-like '*shell*':       $($product -like '*shell*')"
".Contains('Shell'):    $($product.Contains('Shell'))"
".Contains('shell'):    $($product.Contains('shell'))"

Output:

-contains 'Shell':     False
-like '*shell*':       True
.Contains('Shell'):    True
.Contains('shell'):    False

Use -like '*text*' to ignore case, or .Contains() when case matters. PowerShell 7 can also make .Contains() ignore case:

'PowerShell'.Contains('shell', [System.StringComparison]::OrdinalIgnoreCase)

Output in PowerShell 7:

True

That version of .Contains() doesn’t exist in Windows PowerShell 5.1, which stops with a method error, so stick to -like there.

Match patterns with -like and -match

-like uses wildcards like * and ?. -match uses regular expressions:

$file = 'q3-sales-2026.xlsx'

"-like 'q3-*':        $($file -like 'q3-*')"
"-like '*.csv':       $($file -like '*.csv')"
"-match '\d{4}':      $($file -match '\d{4}')"
"-notmatch 'draft':   $($file -notmatch 'draft')"

Output:

-like 'q3-*':        True
-like '*.csv':       False
-match '\d{4}':      True
-notmatch 'draft':   True

For more pattern examples, see Where-Object with -like, -match and -in.

Alphabetical order, numbers and extra spaces

"'apple' -lt 'Banana':  $('apple' -lt 'Banana')"
"'10.0' -eq 10:         $('10.0' -eq 10)"
"10 -eq '10.0':         $(10 -eq '10.0')"
"'Yes ' -eq 'Yes':      $('Yes ' -eq 'Yes')"
"Trimmed first:         $('Yes '.Trim() -eq 'Yes')"

Output:

'apple' -lt 'Banana':  True
'10.0' -eq 10:         False
10 -eq '10.0':         True
'Yes ' -eq 'Yes':      False
Trimmed first:         True

-lt and -gt compare alphabetically and ignore case. When one side is a number, the value on the left decides whether PowerShell compares numbers or text, which is why the two 10.0 lines differ.

A trailing space makes two strings different, and it’s common in data from files and forms. Trim input before comparing. Microsoft explains the conversion rules in about_Comparison_Operators.

Compare strings in if/else

Combine -eq with -in to check one value against several choices in one condition:

foreach ($status in 'Shipped', 'pending', 'Canceled', 'Lost') {
    if ($status -eq 'Shipped') {
        "$status -> send a tracking email"
    }
    elseif ($status -in 'Pending', 'Processing') {
        "$status -> check again tomorrow"
    }
    else {
        "$status -> call the customer"
    }
}

Output:

Shipped -> send a tracking email
pending -> check again tomorrow
Canceled -> call the customer
Lost -> call the customer

Or use switch for many values

switch is easier to read when there are several possible values. It ignores case too, so ca matches ‘CA’:

foreach ($state in 'TX', 'ca', 'NY', 'WA') {
    switch ($state) {
        'TX'    { "$state -> Central time" }
        'CA'    { "$state -> Pacific time" }
        'NY'    { "$state -> Eastern time" }
        default { "$state -> check the list" }
    }
}

Output:

TX -> Central time
ca -> Pacific time
NY -> Eastern time
WA -> check the list

Compare two lists of strings

Compare-Object shows which items are in only one of two lists:

$lastWeek = 'WEB01', 'WEB02', 'SQL01'
$thisWeek = 'WEB01', 'SQL01', 'FILE01'

Compare-Object -ReferenceObject $lastWeek -DifferenceObject $thisWeek | ForEach-Object {
    if ($_.SideIndicator -eq '=>') { "Added:   $($_.InputObject)" } else { "Removed: $($_.InputObject)" }
}

Output:

Added:   FILE01
Removed: WEB02

The => indicator means the item is only in the second list, and <= means it’s only in the first. PowerShell Compare-Object covers it in more detail.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you work with strings a lot, these help too:

• Check if a string is null or empty
• Replace text in strings
• Change the case of a string
• PowerShell switch statement