Where-Object leaving blank rows - powershell

Question

I'm again stuck on something that should be so simple. I have a CSV file in which I need to do a few string modifications and export it back out. The data looks like this:
FullName
--------
\\server\project\AOI
\\server\project\AOI\Folder1
\\server\project\AOI\Folder2
\\server\project\AOI\Folder3\User
I need to do the following:
Remove the "\\server\project" from each line but leave the rest of the line
Delete all rows which do not have a Folder (e.g., in the example above, the first row would be deleted but the other three would remain)
Delete any row with the word "User" in the path
Add a column called T/F with a value of "FALSE" for each record
Here is my initial attempt at this:
Get-Content C:\Folders.csv |
% {$_.replace('\\server\project\','')} |
Where-Object {$_ -match '\\'} |
#Removes User Folders rows from CSV
Where-Object {$_ -notmatch 'User'} |
Out-File C:\Folders-mod.csv
This works to a certain extent, except it deletes my header row and I have not found a way to add a column using Get-Content. For that, I have to use Import-Csv, which is fine, but it seems inefficient to be constantly reloading the same file. So I tried rewriting the above using Import-Csv instead of Get-Content:
$Folders = Import-Csv C:\Folders.csv
foreach ($Folder in $Folders) {
$Folder.FullName = $Folder.FullName.Replace('\\server\AOI\', '') |
Where-Object {$_ -match '\\'} |
Where-Object {$_ -notmatch 'User Files'}
}
$Folders | Export-Csv C:\Folders-mod.csv -NoTypeInformation
I haven't added the coding for adding the new column yet, but this keeps the header. However, I end up with a bunch of empty rows where the Where-Object deletes the line, and the only way I can find to get rid of them is to run the output file through a Get-Content command. This all seems overly complicated for something that should be simple.
So, what am I missing?

Answer 1

Thanks to TheMadTechnician for pointing out what I was doing wrong. Here is my final script (with additional column added):
$Folders= Import-CSV C:\Folders.csv
ForEach ($Folder in $Folders)
{
$Folder.FullName = $Folder.FullName.replace('\\server\project\','')
}
$Folders | Where-Object {$_ -match '\\' -and $_ -notmatch 'User'} |
Select-Object *,#{Name='T/F';Expression={'FALSE'}} |
Export-CSV C:\Folders.csv -NoTypeInformation

Answer 2

I would do this with a Table Array and pscustomobject.
#Create an empty Array
$Table = #()
#Manipulate the data
$Fullname = Get-Content C:\Folders.csv |
ForEach-Object {$_.replace('\\server\project\', '')} |
Where-Object {$_ -match '\\'} |
#Removes User Folders rows from CSV
Where-Object {$_ -notmatch 'User'}
#Define custom objects
Foreach ($name in $Fullname) {
$Table += [pscustomobject]#{'Fullname' = $name; 'T/F' = 'FALSE'}
}
#Export results to new csv
$Table | Export-CSV C:\Folders-mod.csv -NoTypeInformation

Answer 3

here's yet another way to do it ... [grin]
$FileList = #'
FullName
\\server\project\AOI
\\server\project\AOI\Folder1
\\server\project\AOI\Folder2
\\server\project\AOI\Folder3\User
'# | ConvertFrom-Csv
$ThingToRemove = '\\server\project'
$FileList |
Where-Object {
# toss out any blank lines
$_ -and
# toss out any lines with "user" in them
$_ -notmatch 'User'
} |
ForEach-Object {
[PSCustomObject]#{
FullName = $_.FullName -replace [regex]::Escape($ThingToRemove)
'T/F' = $False
}
}
output ...
FullName T/F
-------- ---
\AOI False
\AOI\Folder1 False
\AOI\Folder2 False
notes ...
putting a slash in the property name is ... icky [grin]
that requires wrapping the property name in quotes every time you need to access it. try another name - perhaps "Correct".
you can test for blank array items [lines] with $_ all on its own
the [regex]::Escape() stuff is really quite handy