What is the idiomatic way to slice an array relative to both of its ends?

If you want to get n elements from the end of an array simply fetch the elements from -n to -1:

PS C:\> $a = 0,1,2,3PS C:\> $n = 2PS C:\> $a[-$n..-1]23

Edit: PowerShell doesn't support indexing relative to both beginning and end of the array, because of the way $a[$i..$j] works. In a Python expression a[i:j] you specify i and j as the first and last index respectively. However, in a PowerShell .. is the range operator, which generates a sequence of numbers. In an expression $a[$i..$j] the interpreter first evaluates $i..$j to a list of integers, and then the list is used to retrieve the array elements on these indexes:

PS C:\> $a = 0,1,2,3PS C:\> $i = 1; $j = -1PS C:\> $index = $i..$jPS C:\> $index10-1PS C:\> $a[$index]103

If you need to emulate Python's behavior, you must use a subexpression:

PS C:\> $a = 0,1,2,3PS C:\> $i = 1; $j = -1PS C:\> $a[$i..($a.Length+$j-1)]12

Although not as neat as you might want but is cleaner in the way PowerShell works ...

(@(1,2,3,4)) | Select-Object -Skip 1

returns ...

234

Combine Select-Object -Skip and Select-Object -SkipLast like:

$a = 0,1,2,3$a | Select-Object -Skip 1 | Select-Object -SkipLast 1

Returns:

12

Not as elegant as Python, but at least you don't have to use Count or Length, meaning this also works if the array isn't stored in a variable.