powershell truncates file fullnames ONLY as automated task - powershell

Question

We have a file server that processes files that are received. When a file fails to process for whatever reason, it is moved into a failure folder. I've written a script to iterate through every possible one of these folders and spit out the FullName of the file into an e-mail which it sends to me.
Now when I run it manually, it works fine. However, when I set it as a scheduled task (running as Local System), the script still runs successfully, but the e-mail contains paths like \\blahblah\blah\blahblahblah\bl.....
I've tweaked the script a bunch of different ways and every time the output ends up the same. When I run it manually, it works as intended, when it runs as an automated script, it truncates the FullNames. I've found other people with this issue, but not as an automated task.
This is the relevant code of the script.
$emailFileList = ""
$filelist = #()
try {
GCI $topLevelPath -Recurse |
? { $_.PSIsContainer } |
ForEach-Object {
dir $_.FullName |
Where-Object {$_.FullName -like $unableToProcess} | ForEach-Object {
$filelist += dir $_.FullName
}
}
$emailFileList = Out-String -InputObject $($filelist | Select-Object FullName | Format-Table -AutoSize)
$emailBody = $emailBody + $emailFileList
}
EDIT:
I used the HTML method below but it added a bunch of junk markup. I added 4 lines to replace the markup with quotes. The inside of the try block now looks like this, and it works even as scheduled tasks.
GCI $topLevelPath -Recurse |
? { $_.PSIsContainer } |
ForEach-Object {
dir $_.FullName |
Where-Object {$_.FullName -like $unableToProcess} | ForEach-Object {
$filelist += dir $_.FullName
}
}
$emailFileList = $filelist | Select-Object FullName | ConvertTo-Html -fragment
$emailFileList = [regex]::Replace($emailFileList, "<table>.+</th></tr>", "")
$emailFileList = $emailFileList -replace '<tr><td>', '"'
$emailFileList = $emailFileList -replace '</td></tr>', """`r`n"
$emailFileList = $emailFileList -replace '</table>', ''
$emailBody = $emailBody + $emailFileList
I guess I also technically used regex on html what have I done noooooooo
Edit: Regardling answer "duplication" the problem above is SPECIFICALLY an interaction between powershell and the windows scheduled tasks.

Answer 1

This gives the kind of output you would probably expect
[command] | Format-Table -AutoSize | Out-String -Width 10000 #| clip.exe

Answer 2

Since you were using Format-Table -Autosize it was probably truncating due to the the amount of characters per line in the powershell instance. You can use the ConvertTo-Html function with the -Fragment command to create an HTML table.
Try something like this:
$emailFileList = ""
$filelist = #()
try {
Get-ChildItem $topLevelPath -Recurse `
| Where-Object -Property PSIsContainer -EQ -Value $True `
| ForEach-Object {
Get-ChildItem $_.FullName |
Where-Object -Property FullName -Like -Value $UnableToProcess `
| ForEach-Object {
$filelist += Get-ChildItem $_.FullName
}
}
$emailFileList = $filelist | Select-Object FullName | ConvertTo-Html -Fragment
$emailBody = $emailBody + $emailFileList
}
catch
{
}

Answer 3

Your problem is the formatter truncating because the console host can't render the full strings. Here's a solution where you'll get a txt with a list of names that can be used however you want
General rule of thumb: filter left, format right.
#Requires -Version 3
Try
{
Get-ChildItem -Path $TopLevelPath -Recurse -Folder |
## If you're on version 2, replace the -Folder switch with the following:
#Where-Object { $_.PSIsContainer }
ForEach-Object {
## If version 2, remove #().FullName and replace with
# | Select-Object -ExpandProperty FullName
$FileList = #(Get-ChildItem -Path $_.FullName -Filter "*$UnableToProcess*").FullName
}
$EmailBody += #($FileList)
}
Catch
{
}