I have a pretty nooby question regarding the proper usage of certain operators.
I am writing a script that pulls data out of a CSV. The script asks the user to enter a location # and then is supposed to output the IP of their server.
The script works as expected except on rows where the location number also has other text in it like numbers or special characters.
Here is an example CSV to illustrate my problem:
Loc#,State,Server IP
1,NY,10.0.0.1
2,CA,10.0.0.2
3,WA,10.0.0.3
4 (inp),KY,10.0.0.4
My script looks something like this:
$CSV = import-csv C:\users\Self\MyProject.csv
$location = read-host "enter the location #"
foreach( $row in $CSV){
if($row.loc# -eq $location)
{
write-host $row.'Server IP'
}
Now, this script works as expected unless the user chooses location 4. If the users chooses location 4, then the $location variable is left blank.
Ok, this makes a little bit of sense since I'm using the -eq operator. But even if I use the -contains operator I get the same results.
Here is another way of showing my problem:
$number = "10 ten"
if ($number -contains "10"){ (Write-Host "true")} else{ write-host "false"}
false
Now, why isn't the output showing as "true" since that $number variable does indeed contain "10"?
Any help is much appreciated,
Thanks
As it seems, Location can have a random value and not only digits, normally you could use -match as Mahmoud Moawad pointed out in his comment, however this could also bring you problems since there is no specific pattern you can follow there is also no clear way of how you can filter the specific value. What I would personally do is give the user a list where he can choose the Location by Index:
$csv = Import-Csv C:\users\Self\MyProject.csv
$csv.foreach({
begin
{
'- Choose a location:'
$i = 0
$map = #{}
}
process
{
$map[(++$i)] = $_
"[$i] - {0}" -f $_.'Loc#'
}
})
$question = { Read-Host 'Index' }
while($true)
{
$index = (& $question) -as [int]
if($index -ge 1 -and $index -le $csv.Count)
{
break
}
'Input must be between 1 and {0}!!' -f $csv.Count
}
$map[$index].'Server IP'
As for why -contains is not showing you $true on your condition, the Containment Operators will look for an exact match of an element:
'10 ten' -contains '10' # => False
'10 ten' -contains '10 ten' # => True
'9 nine', '10 ten' -contains '10 ten' # => True
say I have an array
$something = #(
"first",
"second"
)
how can I display this to the user as
1. first
2. second
Selection :
I am able to do this by hash table and manually mapping
#{
1="first"
2="second"
};
and doing the following
$something.Keys | sort |% { Write-Host $_ ")" $something.Item($_) }
[int32]$constuctPayload.Action = Read-Host
but if need to perform this using an array how can I do this. I.e looping over the item and displaying with index for user selection. ?
You could use the IndexOf() method, to find the index in the array.
$something | ForEach-Object {Write-Host "$([Array]::IndexOf($something, $_)). $_ "}
Standard warning about being careful with Write-Host. Also you might want to look into Out-GridView.
Use a for loop to iterate over the elements of the array and prepend each value with the index + 1.
$something = 'first', 'second'
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $something.Count; $i++) {
Write-Host ('{0}. {1}' -f ($i+1), $something[$i])
}
[int32]$constuctPayload.Action = Read-Host -Prompt 'Selection'
I would recommend using the PromptForChoice() method over Read-Host, though:
$something = '&first', '&second'
$title = 'The title.'
$msg = 'Selection?'
$choices = $something | ForEach-Object {
New-Object Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription $_
}
$options = [Management.Automation.Host.ChoiceDescription[]] $choices
$default = 0
$constuctPayload.Action = $Host.UI.PromptForChoice($title, $msg, $options, $default)
I have the following PowerShell script that creates a random string of 15 digits, for use as an Active Directory password.
The trouble is, this works great most of the time, but on some occasions it doesn't use a number or symbol. I just get 15 letters. This is then not usable as an Active Directory password, as it must have at least one number or symbol in it.
$punc = 46..46
$digits = 48..57
$letters = 65..90 + 97..122
$YouShallNotPass = get-random -count 15 `
-input ($punc + $digits + $letters) |
% -begin { $aa = $null } `
-process {$aa += [char]$_} `
-end {$aa}
Write-Host "Password is $YouShallNotPass"
How would I amend the script to always have at least one random number or symbol in it?
Thank you.
You could invoke the Get-Random cmdlet three times, each time with a different input parameter (punc, digit and letters), concat the result strings and shuffle them using another Get-Random invoke:
(Get-Random -Count 15 -InputObject ([char[]]$yourPassword)) -join ''
However, why do you want to reinvent the wheel? Consider using the following GeneratePassword function:
[Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Web")
[System.Web.Security.Membership]::GeneratePassword(15,2)
And to ensure, it contains at least one random number (you already specify the number of symbols):
do {
$pwd = [System.Web.Security.Membership]::GeneratePassword(15,2)
} until ($pwd -match '\d')
As suggested by jisaak, there is no 100% guaranty that the Membership.GeneratePassword Method generates a password that meets the AD complexity requirements.
That's why I reinvented the wheel:
Function Create-String([Int]$Size = 8, [Char[]]$CharSets = "ULNS", [Char[]]$Exclude) {
$Chars = #(); $TokenSet = #()
If (!$TokenSets) {$Global:TokenSets = #{
U = [Char[]]'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ' #Upper case
L = [Char[]]'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz' #Lower case
N = [Char[]]'0123456789' #Numerals
S = [Char[]]'!"#$%&''()*+,-./:;<=>?#[\]^_`{|}~' #Symbols
}}
$CharSets | ForEach {
$Tokens = $TokenSets."$_" | ForEach {If ($Exclude -cNotContains $_) {$_}}
If ($Tokens) {
$TokensSet += $Tokens
If ($_ -cle [Char]"Z") {$Chars += $Tokens | Get-Random} #Character sets defined in upper case are mandatory
}
}
While ($Chars.Count -lt $Size) {$Chars += $TokensSet | Get-Random}
($Chars | Sort-Object {Get-Random}) -Join "" #Mix the (mandatory) characters and output string
}; Set-Alias Create-Password Create-String -Description "Generate a random string (password)"
Usage:
The Size parameter defines the length of the password.
The CharSets parameter defines the complexity where the character U,
L, N and S stands for Uppercase, Lowercase, Numerals and Symbols.
If supplied in lowercase (u, l, n or s) the returned string
might contain any of character in the concerned character set, If
supplied in uppercase (U, L, N or S) the returned string will
contain at least one of the characters in the concerned character
set.
The Exclude parameter lets you exclude specific characters that might e.g.
lead to confusion like an alphanumeric O and a numeric 0 (zero).
Examples:
To create a password with a length of 8 characters that might contain any uppercase characters, lowercase characters and numbers:
Create-Password 8 uln
To create a password with a length of 12 characters that that contains at least one uppercase character, one lowercase character, one number and one symbol and does not contain the characters OLIoli01:
Create-Password 12 ULNS "OLIoli01"
For the latest New-Password version: use:
Install-Script -Name PowerSnippets.New-Password
Command to Generate Random passwords by using existing funciton:
[system.web.security.membership]::GeneratePassword(x,y)
x = Length of the password
y = Complexity
General Error:
Unable to find type [system.web.security.membership]. Make sure that the assembly that contains this type is loaded.
Solution:
Run the below command:
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.web;
Another solution:
function New-Password() {
param(
[int] $Length = 10,
[bool] $Upper = $true,
[bool] $Lower = $true,
[bool] $Numeric = $true,
[string] $Special
)
$upperChars = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
$lowerChars = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
$numericChars = "0123456789"
$all = ""
if ($Upper) { $all = "$all$upperChars" }
if ($Lower) { $all = "$all$lowerChars" }
if ($Numeric) { $all = "$all$numericChars" }
if ($Special -and ($special.Length -gt 0)) { $all = "$all$Special" }
$password = ""
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $Length; $i++) {
Write-Host "password: [$password]"
$password = $password + $all[$(Get-Random -Minimum 0 -Maximum $all.Length)]
}
$valid = $true
if ($Upper -and ($password.IndexOfAny($upperChars.ToCharArray()) -eq -1)) { $valid = $false }
if ($Lower -and ($password.IndexOfAny($lowerChars.ToCharArray()) -eq -1)) { $valid = $false }
if ($Numeric -and ($password.IndexOfAny($numericChars.ToCharArray()) -eq -1)) { $valid = $false }
if ($Special -and $Special.Length -gt 1 -and ($password.IndexOfAny($Special.ToCharArray()) -eq -1)) { $valid = $false }
if (-not $valid) {
$password = New-Password `
-Length $Length `
-Upper $Upper `
-Lower $Lower `
-Numeric $Numeric `
-Special $Special
}
return $password
}
Flexible enough to set length, turn on/of upper, lower, and numeric, and set the list of specials.
My take on generating passwords in PowerShell, based on what I've found here and in the Internets:
#Requires -Version 4.0
[CmdletBinding(PositionalBinding=$false)]
param (
[Parameter(
Mandatory = $false,
HelpMessage = "Minimum password length"
)]
[ValidateRange(1,[int]::MaxValue)]
[int]$MinimumLength = 24,
[Parameter(
Mandatory = $false,
HelpMessage = "Maximum password length"
)]
[ValidateRange(1,[int]::MaxValue)]
[int]$MaximumLength = 42,
[Parameter(
Mandatory = $false,
HelpMessage = "Characters which can be used in the password"
)]
[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
[string]$Characters = '1234567890qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmQWERTYUIOPASDFGHJKLZXCVBNM##%*-_+:,.'
)
(1..(Get-Random -Minimum $MinimumLength -Maximum $MaximumLength) `
| %{ `
$Characters.GetEnumerator() | Get-Random `
}) -join ''
I preferred this over using System.Web, not to introduce dependencies, which could change with .Net / .Net Core versions.
My variation also allows random password length (in specified range), is fairly concise (apart from the parameters section, which is quite verbose, to enforce some validations and provide defaults) and allows character repetitions (as opposite to the code in the question, which never repeats the same character).
I understand, that this does not guarantee a digit in the password. This however can be addressed in different ways. E.g. as was suggested, to repeat the generation until the password matches the requirements (contains a digit). My take would be:
Generate a random password.
If it does not contain a digit (or always):
Use a random function to get 1 random digit.
Add it to the random password.
Randomize the order of the result (so the digit is not necessarily always at the end).
Assuming, that the above script would be named "Get-RandomPassword.ps1", it could look like this:
$pass = .\Get-RandomPassword.ps1
$pass += (0..9 | Get-Random)
$pass = (($pass.GetEnumerator() | Get-Random -Count $pass.Length) -join '')
Write-Output $pass
This can be generalized, to enforce using any character category:
$sets = #('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz', 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', '0123456789', '()-_=+[{]};:''",<.>/?`~')
$pass = .\Get-RandomPassword.ps1 -Characters ($sets -join '')
foreach ($set in $sets) {
$pass += ($set.GetEnumerator() | Get-Random)
}
$pass = (($pass.GetEnumerator() | Get-Random -Count $pass.Length) -join '')
Write-Output $pass
I wrote a secure password generator function in PowerShell, maybe this will be useful to someone.
Similar to the accepted answer, this script also uses Get-Random (twice), and also regular expression matching to ensure the output is secure.
The difference in this script is that the password length can also be randomised.
(To hard set a password length, just set the MinimumPasswordLength and MaximumPasswordLength values to the the same length.)
It also allows an easy to edit character set, and also has a regex to ensure a decent password has been generated with all of the following characteristics:
(?=.*\d) must contain at least one numerical character
(?=.*[a-z]) must contain at least one lowercase character
(?=.*[A-Z]) must contain at least one uppercase character
(?=.*\W) must contain at least one non-word character
The answer to your question about always including a number in your generated output can be solved by checking the output with a regex match (just use the parts of the regex that you need, based on the explanations above), the example here checks for uppercase, lowercase, and numerical:
$Regex = "(?=.*\d)(?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[A-Z])"
do {
$Password = ([string]($AllowedPasswordCharacters |
Get-Random -Count $PasswordLength) -replace ' ')
} until ($Password -cmatch $Regex)
$Password
Here is the full script:
Function GeneratePassword
{
cls
$MinimumPasswordLength = 12
$MaximumPasswordLength = 16
$PasswordLength = Get-Random -InputObject ($MinimumPasswordLength..$MaximumPasswordLength)
$AllowedPasswordCharacters = [char[]]'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789!?##£$%^&'
$Regex = "(?=.*\d)(?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[A-Z])(?=.*\W)"
do {
$Password = ([string]($AllowedPasswordCharacters |
Get-Random -Count $PasswordLength) -replace ' ')
} until ($Password -cmatch $Regex)
$Password
}
GeneratePassword
I had the same issue here is the snippet I used to create my alphanumerical password its simple all I have done is used ASCII regex replace to make it nice.
Function Password-Generator ([int]$Length)
{
# Generate passwords just call password-generator(lenght of password)
$Assembly = Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Web
$RandomComplexPassword = [System.Web.Security.Membership]::GeneratePassword($Length,2)
$AlphaNumericalPassword = $RandomComplexPassword -replace '[^\x30-\x39\x41-\x5A\x61-\x7A]+'
Write-Output $AlphaNumericalPassword
}
I've created this. You can choose how many Pwd to create
$howoften = Read-Host "How many would you like to create: "
$i = 0
do{
(-join(1..42 | ForEach {((65..90)+(97..122)+(".") | % {[char]$_})+(0..9)+(".") | Get-Random}))
$i++
} until ($i -match $howoften)
To change the length of the pwd simply edit the "42" in line 4
(-join(1..**42** | ForEach ...
My end goal is to be able to enter several strings, then reference them in other commands, in this case, mapping a network drive.
I'm having issues with the 'several' part of that. I can work with one at a time, but when I try to do more it fails.
$Servers = #{"Server1" = "10.10.10.10";"Server2" = "10.10.10.11"}
$Sites = Read-Host "enter site codes"
$Sites.Split('.')
ForEach ($Site In Sites){
write-host $Servers[$Sites]
}
This in theory should output 10.10.10.10 and 10.10.10.11 on two lines, but it doesn't. It just outputs the value of $Sites, Server1,Server2
I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
I believe your mistake(s) is using $Sites (instead of $Site) as the key in your foreach loop, and not getting your split array into the foreach collection:
$Servers = #{"Server1" = "10.10.10.10";"Server2" = "10.10.10.11"}
$Sites = Read-Host "enter site codes"
ForEach ($Site In $Sites.Split(',')){
write-host $Servers[$Site]
}
I'm creating a powershell script that I want to read a value (VALUE1) from an excel table (I can convert it to XML if necessary), assign it to a variable($PLACEHOLDER), run the rest of the script, then loop back to the beginning, but instead of reading the original value(VALUE1) I want it to read the value below it(VALUE2) and overwrite $PLACEHOLDER with VALUE2, then re-run the script until it returns a blank value, then I want it to stop. I am insanely new to powershell and it's interaction with excel/xml, so any help would be greatly appreciated. (I'm self-taught, so I don't know TOO much about parameters)
Sample in Terrible Psuedo:
#Initial placeholder value here
$RowNumber = 0
#Start of the loop here, add one to previous value
$RowNumber +1
#Call the value in Column (1), Row ($RowNumber), and assign it to $RowValue
?????? = $RowValue
#Execute the command involving the data value
ECHO "C:/test/temporary/$RowValue"
#Goto the start of the loop.
If you could be so kind, would you please give a quick explanation of the functions that you use (Parameters, what's happening, ect.)
EDIT: If it could detect and skip over blank rows, that would be amazing.
EDIT3: Code for Ansgar
$xl = New-Object -COM 'Excel.Application'
$xl.Visible = $true # set to $false for production
$wb = $xl.Workbooks.Open("C:\Documents and Settings\xe474109\Desktop\EXCEL FILES\testbook2.xlsx")
$ws = $wb.Sheets.Item(1)
$row = $ws.UsedRange.Rows.Count
while ( $ws.Cells.Item($row, 1).Value -ne $null ) {
$PLACEHOLDER = $ws.Cells.Item($row, 1).Value
#
# do stuff with $PLACEHOLDER here
#(I wanted to test this by just printing the $PLACEHOLDER value
$PLACEHOLDER
$row++
}
$wb.Close()
$xl.Quit()
[System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($xl)
Do you have Excel installed? If so, you can process Excel spreadsheets like this:
$xl = New-Object -COM 'Excel.Application'
$xl.Visible = $true # set to $false for production
$wb = $xl.Workbooks.Open('C:\path\to\your.xlsx')
$ws = $wb.Sheets.Item(1)
$row = $ws.UsedRange.Row
while ( $ws.Cells.Item($row, 1).Value -ne $null ) {
$PLACEHOLDER = $ws.Cells.Item($row, 1).Value
#
# do stuff with $PLACEHOLDER here
#
$row++
}
$wb.Close()
$xl.Quit()
[System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($xl)
cls
$csv = Import-csv -Path 'C:\test\csvStuff.csv'
foreach ($rec in $csv) {
if ($rec.nameofyourcolumn -ne '') {
& "c:\test\temporary\$($rec.nameofyourcolumn)"
}
}