how to create bunch of arrays inside a loop in powershell - arrays

Question

I'm writing a script to fetch values for a set of components and storing the fetched values in an array. As there are many components I created a loop and tried to create an array name along with its iteration value (fi1, fi2, fi3, etc.) like this.
Here is the code:
function fiswitchinfo {
Param ($sheet, [string]$text, $iter)
$($fi+($iter)) = #()
$max = $sheet.UsedRange.Rows.Count
for ($i=1; $i -lt 900 ; $i++) {
$rows = $sheet.Cells.Item($i, 2).EntireRow
$cell_info = $sheet.Cells.Item($i, 2)
$cell = $cell_info.Address($false, $false)
if ($rows.hidden -eq $false) {
$cell_info = $sheet.Cells.Item($i, 2).Text
if ($cell_info -ne "" -and $cell_info.Contains($text) -eq "True") {
$cell = $cell -split "(?<=[A-Z])(?=\d)"
[int]$curline = $cell[1]
$component = $sheet.Cells.Item($curline, 2).Text
$compip = $sheet.Cells.Item($curline, 3).Text
$row = $sheet.Cells.Item($curline, 2).EntireRow
$cellinfo = $sheet.Cells.Item($curline, 2).text
if ($row.Hidden -ne "True" -and $cellinfo -ne $null) {
Write-Host $component $compip
$script:fi+$iter += $compip
}
}
}
}
}
fiswitchinfo $worksheet_3 "Fabric Interconnect 01 Cluster IP" 1
fiswitchinfo $worksheet_3 "Fabric Interconnect 01 A" 1
fiswitchinfo $worksheet_3 "Fabric Interconnect 01 B" 1

Answer 1

I'm not quite sure what you expect $($fi+($iter)) or $script:fi+$iter to do, but I'm pretty certain they won't do whatever it is you expect.
To have a function create an array of arrays in a loop and then return it you'd do something like this:
function fiswitchinfo {
...
$arr = #()
for ($i=1; $i -lt 900 ; $i++) {
...
$arr += ,$compip
}
return ,$arr
}
$fi1 = fiswitchinfo ...
$fi2 = fiswitchinfo ...
...
The leading comma in the statements $arr += ,$compip and return ,$arr is the unary array construction operator, which prevents PowerShell from unrolling the arrays. $arr += ,$compip appends $compip to $arr as a nested array (thus making $arr a jagged array) instead of appending the elements of $compip to $arr. return ,$arr ensures that $arr is returned to the caller as-is (thus preserving the array even if it's empty).