I'm new to scripting and I am trying to write the information returned about a VM to a text file. My script looks like this:
Connect-VIServer -Server 192.168.255.255 -Protocol https -User xxxx -Password XXXXXX
Get-VM -Name xxxxxx
Get-VM xxxxx | Get-HardDisk | Select Parent, Name, Filename, DiskType, Persistence | FT -AutoSize
Out-File -FilePath C:Filepath
I am able to connect to the VM, retrieve the HDD info and see it in the console. The file is created where I want it and is correctly named. No data is ever put into the file. I have tried Tee-Object with the same results. I've also tried the -append switch. I did see a post about the data being returned as an array and Powershell is not able to move the data from an array to a string. Do I need to create a variable to hold the returned data and write to file from there?
Thanks
Guenther Schmitz' answer is effective, but it's worth explaining why:
Your Out-File -FilePath C:Filepath is a stand-alone command that receives no input.
An Out-File call with no input simply creates an empty file (0 bytes).
In order for cmdlets such as Out-File to receive input from (an)other command(s) (represented as ... below), you must use the pipeline, which means that you must place a | after the input command(s) and follow it with your Out-File call:Note that I'm using the shorter -Path parameter alias for the less commonly used -FilePath[1]
... | Out-File -Path C:Filepath
In the simplest case, as above, the entire command (pipeline) is placed on the same line; if you want to spread it across multiple lines for readability, you have have two choices:
Put a line break immediately after |, which tells PowerShell that the command continues on the next line:
... |
Out-File -Path C:Filepath
End a line with an explicit line continuation, which means placing ` at the very end of a line:
... `
| Out-File -Path C:Filepath
Alternatively, since you're using Out-File with its default behavior, you could use >, an output redirection, instead:
... > C:Filepath
A couple of asides:
Using Out-File with something other than strings, and using Format-* cmdlets in general, means that the output is only suitable for display (human consumption), not for further programmatic processing.
If you want to send output to both the console and a file, use the Tee-Object cmdlet, as TobyU suggests:
... | Tee-Object -Path C:Filepath
[1] Strictly speaking, -LiteralPath is the best choice in this case, because -Path interprets its arguments as wildcard expressions. However, omitting -Path, i.e. specifying the file path as a positional argument, as is common, implicitly binds to -Path.
try this:
Get-VM xxxxx |
Get-HardDisk |
Select Parent, Name, Filename, DiskType, Persistence |
Out-File -FilePath C:\Filepath
Related
I have a script to import the names of the virtual machines from hyper-v to a txt file.
The problem is that sometimes the names have blank spaces on the back, and when I try to turn them off or on with the script it does not find those machines because of the blank spaces.
Any way to remove the blank spaces from the file?
$vm = Get-VM | select name | Out-File -FilePath $ListVM
(Get-Content $ListVM | Select-Object -Skip 3) | ? {$_.trim() -ne ""} | Set-Content $ListVM
Withstanding Santiago's relevant alternate comment/approach. the cause of your issue may be:
Generally the Out-* cmdlets will force objects through PowerShell's for-display formatting system. You can use Set-Content from the start to avoid this, however you cannot simply select the name property doing so will create objects with the single property named "name". When Set-Content sees that it will write hash/object syntax to the file trying to represent the object, like:
#{Name=MachineName}
To avoid this simply expand the property you want to store in the file:
Get-VM |
Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name |
Set-Content -FilePath $ListVM
Or:
(Get-VM).Name | Set-Content -FilePath $ListVM
Note: you are assigning $VM to the output, however that will result in $VM being null. I'm not sure what the intent is, but if you want the resulting list stored in the variable add the -PassThru parameter like:
$vm = (Get-VM).Name | Set-Content -FilePath $ListVM -PassThru
I'm new to scripting and I am trying to write the information returned about a VM to a text file. My script looks like this:
Connect-VIServer -Server 192.168.255.255 -Protocol https -User xxxx -Password XXXXXX
Get-VM -Name xxxxxx
Get-VM xxxxx | Get-HardDisk | Select Parent, Name, Filename, DiskType, Persistence | FT -AutoSize
Out-File -FilePath C:Filepath
I am able to connect to the VM, retrieve the HDD info and see it in the console. The file is created where I want it and is correctly named. No data is ever put into the file. I have tried Tee-Object with the same results. I've also tried the -append switch. I did see a post about the data being returned as an array and Powershell is not able to move the data from an array to a string. Do I need to create a variable to hold the returned data and write to file from there?
Thanks
Guenther Schmitz' answer is effective, but it's worth explaining why:
Your Out-File -FilePath C:Filepath is a stand-alone command that receives no input.
An Out-File call with no input simply creates an empty file (0 bytes).
In order for cmdlets such as Out-File to receive input from (an)other command(s) (represented as ... below), you must use the pipeline, which means that you must place a | after the input command(s) and follow it with your Out-File call:Note that I'm using the shorter -Path parameter alias for the less commonly used -FilePath[1]
... | Out-File -Path C:Filepath
In the simplest case, as above, the entire command (pipeline) is placed on the same line; if you want to spread it across multiple lines for readability, you have have two choices:
Put a line break immediately after |, which tells PowerShell that the command continues on the next line:
... |
Out-File -Path C:Filepath
End a line with an explicit line continuation, which means placing ` at the very end of a line:
... `
| Out-File -Path C:Filepath
Alternatively, since you're using Out-File with its default behavior, you could use >, an output redirection, instead:
... > C:Filepath
A couple of asides:
Using Out-File with something other than strings, and using Format-* cmdlets in general, means that the output is only suitable for display (human consumption), not for further programmatic processing.
If you want to send output to both the console and a file, use the Tee-Object cmdlet, as TobyU suggests:
... | Tee-Object -Path C:Filepath
[1] Strictly speaking, -LiteralPath is the best choice in this case, because -Path interprets its arguments as wildcard expressions. However, omitting -Path, i.e. specifying the file path as a positional argument, as is common, implicitly binds to -Path.
try this:
Get-VM xxxxx |
Get-HardDisk |
Select Parent, Name, Filename, DiskType, Persistence |
Out-File -FilePath C:\Filepath
I have a fairly simple PS script that was working perfectly, and now has suddenly started giving errors. I have narrowed the problem portion to a couple of Get-Content statements. Here's what the affected part of the script looks like:
$pathSource = "D:\FileDirectory"
Set-Location -Path $pathSource
Get-Content -Encoding UTF8 -Path FilesA*.txt | Out-File -Encoding ASCII FilesA_Digest.txt
Get-Content -Encoding UTF8 -Path FilesB*.txt | Out-File -Encoding ASCII FilesB_Digest.txt
This part of the script gathers up a collection of like-named files and concatenates them into a single text file for uploading to an FTP site. The Get-Content/Out-File was needed as the original files are encoded incorrectly for the FTP site. The script was working perfectly, running once each night for several weeks. Now, it gets the following error when the Get-Content statements are reached:
Get-Content : A parameter cannot be found that matches parameter name 'Encoding'.
At D:\FileDirectory\Script.ps1
Environment is Windows Server 2016. I've tried different variations on the Get-Content parameters, but nothing has worked. I know there is a bug that affects network-mapped drives, but that's not the case here -- all files are local.
Any ideas/suggestions?
The only plausible explanation I can think of is that a custom Get-Content command that lacks an -Encoding parameter is shadowing (overriding) the standard Get-Content cmdlet in the PowerShell session that's executing your script.
To demonstrate:
# Define a custom Get-Content command (function) that accepts only
# a (positional) -Path parameter, not also -Encoding.
function Get-Content { [CmdletBinding()] param([string] $Path) }
# Now try to use Get-Content -Encoding
Get-Content -Encoding Utf8 FilesA*.txt
You'll see the same error message as in your question.
Use Get-Command Get-Content -All to see all commands named Get-Content, with the effective command listed first.
Then examine where any custom commands may come from; e.g., your $PROFILE script may contain one.
To rule out $PROFILE as the culprit, start PowerShell without loading the profile script and examine Get-Content then:
powershell -noprofile # Windows PowerShell
pwsh -noprofile # PowerShell Core
A simple way to rule out custom overrides ad hoc is to call a command by its module-qualified name:
Microsoft.Powershell.Management\Get-Content ...
You can determine a built-in cmdlet's module name of origin as follows:
PS> (Get-Command Get-Content -All)[-1].ModuleName
Microsoft.PowerShell.Management
In a pinch you can also infer the originating module name from the URL of the help topic:
Googling Get-Content will take you to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.management/get-content - note how the cmdlet's module name, microsoft.powershell.management (case doesn't matter), is the penultimate (next to last) URI component.
It seems an issue with the out command. Can you please try below code :
$pathSource = "D:\FileDirectory"
Set-Location -Path $pathSource
Get-Content -Encoding UTF8 -Path FilesA*.txt | Set-Content -Encoding ASCII -path FilesA_Digest.txt
Get-Content -Encoding UTF8 -Path FilesB*.txt | Set-Content -Encoding ASCII -path FilesB_Digest.txt
Well, I don't know why it failed, but I can say that I have completely re-written the script and now it works. I have to note that, given the errors that were occurring, I also don't know why it is now working.
I am using the exact same calls to the Get-Content commandlet, with the -Encoding parameter and the pipe to Out-File with its own -Encoding parameter. I am doing the exact same actions as the previous version of the script. The only part that is significantly different is the portion that performs the FTP transfer of the processed files. I'm now using only PowerShell to perform the transfer rather than CuteFTP and it all seems to be working correctly.
Thanks to everyone who contributed.
Cheers
Norm
Not sure if it helps, but I was running into the same with:
$n = ni '[hi]' -value 'some text'
gc $n -Encoding Byte
$f = ls *hi*
$f.where{$_.name -eq '[hi]'}.Delete()
also looks like there's already a chain of SOs about this known bug see this answer
I found a ping script which is useful, but I'd prefer to write the output to a txt or csv rather than using Write-Host to output to the PS console.
What is the best way of doing this?
You will need to change the Write-Host to Out-File, or, better still, Out-Default. Using Out-Default will allow you to pipe the output to other cmdlets, and therefore allow you to handle the output differently on different occasions, depending on your particular need at the moment.
Write-Host bypasses the PowerShell pipeline, and effectively removes any objects it uses from the pipeline, making them unavailable for assignment or use by other cmdlets.
References:
Get-Help Write-Host
Get-Help Out-File
Get-Help Out-Default
Try adding the stdOut to an Array. Then write results at the end.
#Define the array
$myOutput = #()
#Do something here"
$myOutput += $myStdOut
#Done with something
$myOutput | out-file -FilePath c:\myOutput.txt -Encoding utf8 -NoClobber
$cat c:\myOutput.txt
I'm 'teaching myself to powershell' and have come a cropper already, and google/this site hasn't enabled me to find a solution. I'm compiling a text file with filelists from different directories, but i'm having trouble appemnding new data to the file.
get-childitem $dir -recurse | % {write-output $_.fullname} >$file
creates my file, but then i want to APPEND new records from the below
get-childitem $dir2 -recurse | % {write-output $_.fullname} >$file
I've tried both add-content and -append, but I cant figure out what I'm not doing to get it right.
Try:
get-childitem $dir -recurse | % {write-output $_.fullname} >> $file
(Tested and works)
The double >> makes it append always, a single > overwrites each time.
Or change your syntax to use Out-File
get-childitem $dir -recurse | % {write-output $_.fullname} | out-file -filepath $file -Append
(untested)
In this case the variable $file must hold the full path. Like: C:\directory\filename.txt
You can use Out-File to write to a file, adding the append parameter will append to the file.
Get-ChildItem $dir -recurse | Select-object -ExpandProperty Fullname | Out-File -FilePath $file
Get-ChildItem $dir2 -recurse | Select-object -ExpandProperty Fullname | Out-File -FilePath $file -Append
Short Answer
The pipeline used here can be eliminated, and usage of Out-File would make life easy:
Out-File (Get-ChildItem $dir -Recurse).FullName -FilePath $File
To append would be to simply use the -Append flag:
Out-File (Get-ChildItem $dir2 -Recurse).FullName -FilePath $File -Append
Note: This only works in PowerShell v3 and up, as PowerShell v2 relied on the pipeline to expand properties of objects within an array. In that case, the best route is to use something more like #david-martin proposed on this same thread.
Long Answer, and Best Practices
In a different thread, Script to Append The File, they were having similar difficulties with appending files. Though, they were also using the pipeline in a way that was unnecessary (more so than you have used in your example).
Their pipeline usage looked like this:
$PathArray | % {$_} | Out-File "C:\SearchString\Output.txt"
Now, again, Out-File has an -Append parameter. Simply modifying their code to have it tagged on at the end took care of things.
Though, their ForEach-Object statement (the % symbol) is pretty useless in the pipeline and isn't needed (very close in similarity to how yours is used). This is because you are only using the ForEach-Object loop to output the object without any modification. This is exactly what the pipeline does by default, which is pass each object along to the next command.
For more information on the pipeline: About Pipelines
If Update-Help has been run locally, one can use Get-Help to locally run Get-Help about_pipelines to see information too.
Instead of this:
$PathArray | % {$_} | Out-File "C:\SearchString\Output.txt" -Append
We could do this:
$PathArray | Out-File "C:\SearchString\Output.txt" -Append
[Recommended] That example can also eliminate the need for the pipeline all together, as using a pipeline is less efficient if it can be done without it. Doing everything one can possibly do without the pipeline, or to the left of each pipe in the pipeline, is to "filter left" (see the following article for more about why one should filter left, format right: Filtering Command Output in PowerShell):
Out-File -InputObject $PathArray -FilePath "C:\SearchString\Output.txt" -Append
Note: In the case above, -Append is only needed if the file already exists and is being extended.
Remember: Get-Help, and Read The Friendly Manual (RTFM)
The easiest way to troubleshoot is to checkout help documentation. Use Get-Help to checkup whatever you need: parameter sets, available parameters, examples, etc. Make sure to run Update-Help in order to have detailed documentation available locally. To checkout everything:
Update-Help
Get-Help Out-File -Full
For more detailed information that is good to know about data stream/output redirection:
PowerShell redirection operators, such as > and >> (but also redirection of data streams with n> and n>&1), and the available streams per PowerShell version: About Redirection in PowerShell (or: Get-Help about_redirection in PowerShell)
Tee-Object cmdlet), a cmdlet that acts as a more robust version of Out-File (or: Get-Help tee-object in powerShell)