Mastering Windows PowerShell Scripting - Third Edition

Replace

The -replace operator performs replacement based on a regular expression. For example, it can be used to replace several instances of the same thing:

PS> 'abababab' -replace 'a', 'c'cbcbcbcb

In the example, a is the regular expression that dictates what must be replaced. 'c' is the value any matching values should be replaced with.

This syntax can be generalised, as follows:

<Value> -replace <Match>, <Replace-With> 

If the Replace-With value is omitted, the matches will be replaced with nothing (that is, they are removed):

PS> 'abababab' -replace 'a'bbbb 

Regular expressions use parentheses to capture groups. The replace operator can use those groups. Each group may be used in the Replace-With argument. For example, a set of values ...