According to the powershell docs on [Regular Expressions > Groups, Captures, and Substitutions][1]:

When using the `-match` operator, powershell will create an [*automatic variable*][2] named **`$Matches`**

```cs
PS> "The last logged on user was CONTOSO\jsmith" -match "(.+was )(.+)"
```

The value returned from this expression is just `true`|`false`, but PS will add the `$Matches` *hashtable*

So if you output `$Matches`, you'll get all capture groups:

```none
PS> $Matches

Name     Value
----     -----
2        CONTOSO\jsmith
1        The last logged on user was
0        The last logged on user was CONTOSO\jsmith
```

And you can access each capture group individually with dot notation like this:

```
PS> "The last logged on user was CONTOSO\jsmith" -match "(.+was )(.+)"
PS> $Matches.2
CONTOSO\jsmith
```

**Additional Resources**:

* To Get Multiple Matches, see [How to capture multiple regex matches][3]
* To Pass Options/Flags, see [Pass regex options to PowerShell `[regex]` type][4]


[1]: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_regular_expressions?view=powershell-7#groups-captures-and-substitutions
[2]: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_automatic_variables?view=powershell-7#matches
[3]: https://stackoverflow.com/a/24190283/1366033
[4]: https://stackoverflow.com/a/52336328/1366033

I'm trying to extract text from a set of files on Windows using the Powershell (version 4):

    PS > Select-String -AllMatches -Pattern <mypattern-with(capture)> -Path file.jsp | Format-Table

So far, so good. That gives a nice set of `MatchInfo` objects:

	IgnoreCase                    LineNumber Line                          Filename                      Pattern                       Matches
	----------                    ---------- ----                          --------                      -------                       -------
		True                            30   ...                           file.jsp                      ...                           {...}

Next, I see that the captures are in the matches member, so I take them out:

    PS > Select-String -AllMatches -Pattern <mypattern-with(capture)> -Path file.jsp | ForEach-Object -MemberName Matches | Format-Table

Which gives:

	Groups        Success Captures                 Index     Length Value
	------        ------- --------                 -----     ------ -----
	{...}         True    {...}                    49        47     ...

or as list with `| Format-List`:

	Groups   : {matched text, captured group}
	Success  : True
	Captures : {matched text}
	Index    : 39
	Length   : 33
	Value    : matched text

Here's where I stop, I have no idea how to go further and obtain a list of *captured group* elements.

I've tried adding another `| ForEach-Object -MemberName Groups`, but it seems to return the same as the above.

The closest I get is with `| Select-Object -Property Groups`, which indeed gives me what I'd expect (a list of sets):

	Groups
	------
	{matched text, captured group}
	{matched text, captured group}
	...

But then I'm unable to extract the *captured group* from each of them, I tried with `| Select-Object -Index 1` I get only one of those sets.

---

Update: a possible solution
---------------------------

It seems that by adding `| ForEach-Object { $_.Groups.Groups[1].Value }` I got what I was looking for, but I don't understand why - so I can't be sure I would be able to get the right result when extending this method to whole sets of files.

Why is it working?

As a side note, this `| ForEach-Object { $_.Groups[1].Value }` (i.e. without the second `.Groups`) gives the same result.

I'd like to add that, upon further attempts, it seems the command can be shortened by removing the piped `| Select-Object -Property Groups`.