How to attach files to email using Get-ChildItem in Powershell - powershell

Question

I am trying to write a Powershell script that does the following:
Check all files in a directory for a valid string
Take every file that contains that valid string and then send them as an email attachment
I do not care if one email is sent with all of the valid files or if an email is sent for each valid file.
The following code is what I have but it errors out when trying to attach the files saying Send-MailMessage : Cannot find drive. A drive with the name '
$ValidFiles = Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Results -Recurse |
Select-String -Pattern "Test" |
Select-Object -Unique Path
foreach ($ValidFile in $ValidFiles)
{
$From = 'test <test#test.com>'
$To = 'me <me#test.com>'
$Subject = "Valid File Found"
$Username = "Test-Domain\test"
$Password = ConvertTo-SecureString "notrealpassword" -AsPlainText -Force
$Creds = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential($username, $password)
$Body = "Please review the attached files"
$Attachment = $ValidFile | Out-String
$SMTPServer = "test-com.mail.protection.outlook.com"
Send-MailMessage -From $From -To $To -Subject $Subject -Credential ($Creds) -Attachments $Attachment -UseSsl -Body $Body -DeliveryNotificationOption OnSuccess, OnFailure -SmtpServer $SMTPServer
}
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

First, make sure that $ValidFiles contains only strings (file paths):
$ValidFiles = Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Results -Recurse |
Select-String -List -Pattern "Test" |
ForEach-Object Path
Adding -List to Select-String makes the search stop at the first match found in a given file, which obviates the need for Select-Object -Unique.
Select-Object outputs [pscustomobject] instances with the specified property/properties, even if only one property Path is specified; while you could use -ExpandProperty Path instead to get just the .Path property value, it is simpler to use ForEach-Object with the property name instead.
Then, use $ValidFile - which is now a path string - directly as the -Attachments argument (which is [string[]]-typed, but also accepts a scalar [string] instance (single string)).
Generally, do not use Out-String, unless you want a formatted for display representation of the input object(s).

Answer 2

Out-string stops $Attachment from getting populated.
$Attachment = $ValidFile | Out-String
Try
$Attachment = $ValidFile