Split array column and result into extra Colums - powershell

Question

I have a table (CSV) which shows all the users that have ever logged on to a bunch of computers. Users can have 2 accounts, one username starts with "a" the other with "b", like a100 and b100 (the user behind is the same person).
Now I need to get the computers that have more then 2 accounts logged on which do not belong the same users. So A64 and B64 are not reported as separate users.
Here is the base list I have:
PC1,A64,B52,B64,A41
PC2,A51,B42,B51,A23
PC3,A42,B51
PC4,A5,B5
PC5,A1,B1,A14,A6
My plan was to split the "User"-column into more columns, so the table would look like this:
Computername,user1,user2,user3,user4,UserX
After this was done, I could iterate through the table and remove the leading letter in the Username, then I would try to get rid of doubles.
Do you think that makes sense?
Now I got stuck in the first task already. I know how to iterate though the second Column but how do I managed to get the result into another array so the output would be like:
Computername,user1,user2,user3,user4,UserX
Can you help me split?
$UserComputers = import-csv -Delimiter ";" "input.csv" -Header
'Computername','user1','user2','user3','user4'
$UserComputers | Select-Object *,
#{n='User1';e={$_.User1.Split(',')[0]}},
#{n='User2';e={$_.User1.Split(',')[1]}}
I get the error: Select-Object : The property cannot be processed because the property "User1" already exists.

Answer 1

It is useful to make "user" an array.
Get-Content "input.csv" | foreach {
$name, $users = $_.Split(",")
[pscustomobject]#{ Name = $name; Users = $users }
} | Where-Object { ($_.Users.Substring(1) | Select-Object -Unique).Count -gt 2 }
The output is below.
Name Users
---- -----
PC1 {A64, B52, B64, A41}
PC2 {A51, B42, B51, A23}
PC3 {A42, B51}
PC5 {A1, B1, A14, A6}

Answer 2

Input File (input.csv)
PC1,A64,B52,B64,A41
PC2,A51,B42,B51,A23
PC3,A42,B51
PC4,A5,B5
PC5,A1,B1,A14,A6
Powershell Script
Get-Content -Path .\input.csv |
Select-Object #{ Name = "Computer"; Expression = { $_.Split(',')[0] } },
#{ Name="Users"; Expression = { $_.Split(',')[1..($_.Split(',').Length-1)] |
Foreach-Object { $_.Substring(1) } | Select-Object -Unique } } |
Where-Object { $_.Users.Count -gt 2 }
Result:
Computer Users
------------- -----
PC1 {64, 52, 41}
PC2 {51, 42, 23}
PC5 {1, 14, 6}
P.S. Bonus: If you want to see more than 4 elements of the array on the screen change the variable
$FormatEnumerationLimit = 20
Explanation of the variable meaning

Answer 3

If your file is like your base list, you can do the following to build a new file with all the columns you need:
$maxColCount = 0
$data = get-content input.csv
foreach ($line in $data) {
$MaxColCount = [math]::Max($maxcolcount,($line -split ",").count)
}
$headers = #("ComputerName")
$MaxUserCount = $MaxColCount - 1
Foreach ($c in (1..$MaxUserCount)) {
$Headers += "User$c"
}
$Headers = $Headers -join ","
$Headers,$data | Set-Content "output.csv"
The code above assumes input.csv has the following format and each column after the first is a user:
PC1,A64,B52,B64,A41
PC2,A51,B42,B51,A23
PC3,A42,B51
PC4,A5,B5
PC5,A1,B1,A14,A6