powershell: an array of alphabets

i wish i could remember where i found this particular gem. as you know, it's crazy easy to create an array of values if they're integers such as:

[1] {C:\temp} > $a = 1..10

[2] {C:\temp} > $a12345678910

but what about when you want an array of alphabetical characters like a through z? it's not as simple as defining the range as a..z. instead, you have to call the char type as shown below:

[7] {C:\temp} > $alphabet = [char[]]([char]'a'..[char]'z')

[8] {C:\temp} > $alphabet

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

q

r

s

t

u

v

w

x

y

z