Given an array of key-value pairs (for example read in through ConvertFrom-StringData), is there a streamlined way of turning this into a Hashtable or similar to allow quick lookup? I.e. a way not requiring me to loop through the array and manually build up the hashtable myself.
Example data
10.0.0.1=alice.example.com
10.0.0.2=bob.example.com
Example usage
$names = gc .\data.txt | ConvertFrom-StringData
// $names is now Object[]
$map = ?
// $map should now be Hashtable or equivalent
echo $map['10.0.0.2']
// Output should be bob.example.com
Basically what I'm looking for is a, preferably, built-in file-to-hashtable function. Or an array-to-hashtable function.
Note: As @mjolnior explained, I actually got hash tables, but an array of single value ones. So this was fixed by reading the file -raw and hence didn't require any array to hashtable conversion. Updated the question title to match that.
Convertfrom-Stringdata does create a hash table.
You need to give it the key-value pairs as a single multi-line string (not a string array)
$map = Get-Content -raw .\data.txt | ConvertFrom-StringData
$map['10.0.0.2']
bob.example.com
When you use Get-Content without the -Raw switch, you're giving ConvertFrom-StringData an array of single-line strings, and it's giving you back an array of single-element hash tables:
$map = Get-Content .\data.txt | ConvertFrom-StringData
$map.gettype()
$Map[0].GetType()
$map[0]
IsPublic IsSerial Name BaseType
-------- -------- ---- --------
True True Object[] System.Array
True True Hashtable System.Object
Key : 10.0.0.1
Value : alice.example.com
Name : 10.0.0.1