Variables and types

A variable in PowerShell must begin with the dollarsign ($). The name of the variable stops at the first word breaking character (such as space, comma or period). If special characters are needed in a variable, name curly braces can be used to surround the variable name:

$myvar = "normal variable name"
$myvar
${ugh!b££!!¤&(} = "special variable name"
${ugh!b££!!¤&(}

In order to determine the type of a variable, the GetType method can be used:

$a = 1234
$a.GetType() ## Displays the type of $a

$b = "1234"
$b.GetType()

[int]$c = $b ## casts $c as an integer (int32)
$c.GetType()

To get information of properties and methods of a given object - in this case a variable - use Get-Member -InputObject.
Notice the difference between the string variable $b and the integer cariable $c

Get-Member -InputObject $b
Get-Member -InputObject $c

Examples - using various methods on a variable:

$d = "Hello world! I'm back again!"
$d.Split()
$d.ToLower()
$d.ToUpper()