I am trying to export a list of documents modified files after a set date, including its owners from a recursive scan using Get-ChildItem.
For some reason I cannot get it to port out to a file/csv:
$Location2 = "\\fs01\DATAIT"
$loc2 ="melb"
cd $Location2
Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Where-Object { $_.lastwritetime -gt [datetime]"2017/05/01" } | foreach { Write-Host $_.Name "," $_.lastwritetime "," ((get-ACL).owner) } > c:\output\filelisting-$loc2.txt
Could any of the PowerShell gurus on here shed some light please?
The problem with your code is that you are using Write-Host which explicitly sends output to the console (which you then can't redirect elsewhere). The quick fix is as follows:
Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Where-Object { $_.lastwritetime -gt [datetime]"2017/05/01" } | foreach { "$($_.Name),$($_.lastwritetime),$((get-ACL).owner)" } > filelisting-$loc2.txt
This outputs a string to the standard output (the equivalent of using Write-Output). I've made it a single string which includes the variables that you wanted to access by using the subexpression operator $() within a double quoted string. This operator is necessary to access the properties of objects or execute other cmdlets/complex code (basically anything more than a simple $variable) within such a string.
You could improve the code further by creating an object result, which would then allow you to leverage other cmdlets in the pipeline like Export-CSV. I suggest this:
Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Where-Object { $_.lastwritetime -gt [datetime]"2017/05/01" } | ForEach-Object {
$Properties = [Ordered]#{
Name = $_.Name
LastWriteTime = $_.LastWriteTime
Owner = (Get-ACL).Owner
}
New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property $Properties
} | Export-CSV $Loc2.csv
This creates a hashtable #{} of the properties you wanted and then uses that hashtable to create a PowerShell Object with New-Object. This Object is then returned to standard output, which goes into the pipeline so when the ForEach-Object loop concludes all the objects are sent in to Export-CSV which then outputs them correctly as a CSV (as it takes object input).
As an aside, here is an interesting read from the creator of PowerShell on why Write-Host is considered harmful.
[Ordered] requires PowerShell 3 or above. If you're using PowerShell 2, remove it. It just keeps the order of the properties within the object in the order they were defined.
Related
In the creation of a script I'm writing, I ran across the use of what appears to be a pipeline shortcut that I have never seen before.
For example:
$acl | select -expandproperty Access | ? {$_.IdentityReference -eq "AD\$Group"}
can be shortened to
$acl.Access.Where({$_.IdentityReference -eq "AD\$Group"})
What is this? $acl.Access makes sense to me as it's just a property reference but I do not see any such .Where() method being available on this object. As such it seems .Where({}) is some sort of pipeline shortcut for " | Where-Object {}". Where can I find documentation for such a thing? Do others like this exist?
Second question. I have a need to add a calculated property to my results, and within the property expression I have to perform piping as well, so where I would typically just reference $_ from the parent pipeline, this is lost within the expression statement.
I can get around this by using -PipelineVariable up within the pipeline, but it seems this only works when used with cmdlets and is not available when starting a pipeline with a variable (which I do often). Is there a way around this?
This works:
$acl = Get-Acl -Path "AD:\$dn"
$acl | select -expandproperty access -PipelineVariable AccessRight | ? {$_.IdentityReference -eq "AD\$Group"} | select *, #{N='ObjectTypeName';E={($ADGuidMap.GetEnumerator() | ? {$_.Value -eq $AccessRight.ObjectType}).Name}}
I'd really like to be able to do this with the shortcut as anywhere I can shorten my oneliner I would like to do. Unfortunately the following will not work as I cannot use pipelinevariable at this location.
$acl.Access.Where({$_.IdentityReference -eq "AD\$Group"}) -PipeLineVariable AccessRight | select *, #{N='ObjectTypeName';E={($ADGuidMap.GetEnumerator() | ? {$_.Value -eq $AccessRight.ObjectType}).Name}}
It's always bugged me about not being able to use Pipeline variables outside of cmdlets so I finally figured I'd ask if there was some sort of way around that.
As for the first question:
The .Where() and .ForEach() methods are intrinsic members, i.e. members that PowerShell implicitly makes available on objects of any type.
While they function similarly to their cmdlet counterparts, Where-Object and ForEach-Object, there are important differences.
See this answer for more information.
As an aside: You could have simplified your command even when using the Where-Object cmdlet, namely with simplified syntax:
$acl.Access | Where-Object IdentityReference -eq "AD\$Group"
As for the second question:
Because the .Where() method isn't a cmdlet, you cannot use the common -PipelineVariable parameter with it.
Given that .Access typically returns multiple objects, using the pipeline with -PipelineVariable enables an elegant solution.
If you do want to avoid the pipeline (operator), you can combine the .Where() and .ForEach() methods as follows, with the help of an intermediate (regular) variable:
$acl.Access.
Where({ $_.IdentityReference -eq "AD\$Group" }).
ForEach({
$aclEntry = $_
Select-Object -InputObject $aclEntry -Property *,
#{
N = 'ObjectTypeName'
E = { ($ADGuidMap.GetEnumerator().Where({ $_.Value -eq $aclEntry.ObjectType })).Name }
}
})
Update:
As you've discovered yourself, if you stick with a pipeline, you can combine -PipeLineVariable with Write-Output in order to capture each element of an array / collection in a pipeline variable as it flows through the pipeline, for use a later script block, as the following (contrived) example shows:
$array = 0..3
Write-Output $array -Pipeline arrayElement |
Where-Object { 0 -eq $_ % 2 } | # filter out odd numbers
ForEach-Object { $_ + 1 } | # add 1
ForEach-Object { "pipeline variable / `$_: $arrayElement / $_" }
Output, which shows that each element of input array $array was individually captured in pipeline variable $arrayElement:
pipeline variable / $_: 0 / 1
pipeline variable / $_: 2 / 3
I am trying to use below code with date range as Where-Object filter but that is slowing down my output speed as well as unable to export to csv.
$Prids = get-content -Path C:\Temp\sqltest.txt
foreach ($prid in $prids){
$filterDate = [datetime]::Today.AddDays(-22)
Get-CdPac2000Problems -PId $Prid | Where-Object {$_.ClosedDate.Date -ge $filterDate} |ft PID,ClosedDate,ClosedByELID,ResponsibleGroup,ReferredDate -autosize
}
How can I change Where-Object to parameter that looks something like -closedate $variable like I did with -PID? The biggest struggle for me is to creating a datetime variable.
First of, you should move the $filterDateout of the loop, second you should NEVER use Format-Table, and ABSOLUTELY NEVER in a loop.
Try this:
$filterDate = [datetime]::Today.AddDays(-22)
$Prids = get-content -Path C:\Temp\sqltest.txt
$Result = foreach ($prid in $prids){
Get-CdPac2000Problems -PId $Prid | Where-Object {(Get-Date $_.ClosedDate.Date) -ge $filterDate}
}
$Result | Format-Table PID,ClosedDate,ClosedByELID,ResponsibleGroup,ReferredDate -autosize
One of the most beautyfull things in PowerShell is, that you can interfere directly with all objects. All methods and properties are preserved, when passing the objects to a variable or to the next command in a pipe. Format-Table converts objects to a table - something human readable and something stripped from methods and life.
In my Powershellscript I read some data from a csv-File in an Arraylist.
In the second step I eliminate every line without the specific char: (.
At the third step I want to eliminate every double entries.
Example for my list:
Klein, Jürgen (Klein01); salesmanagement national
Klein, Jürgen (Klein01); salesmanagement national
Meyer, Gerlinde (Meyer02); accounting
Testuser
Admin1
Müller, Kai (Muell04); support international
I use the following script:
$Arrayusername = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList
$NewArraylistuser = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList
$Arrayusername = Get-Content -Path "C:\Temp\User\Userlist.csv"
for ($i=0; $i -le $Arrayusername.length; $i++)
{
if ($Arrayusername[$i] -like "*(*")
{
$NewArraylistuser.Add($Arrayusername_ads[$i])
}
$Array_sorted = $NewArraylistuser | sort
$Array_sorted | Get-Unique
}
But the variable $Array_sorted still has double entries.
I don´t find the mistake.
Some Ideas how you could change your code:
Use the existing Command to import .csv files with the Delimiter ;.
Filter the output with Where-Object to only include Names with (.
Select only unique objects with Select-Object, or if you want to sort the Object, use the Sort-Object with the same paramets.
Something like this should work:
Import-csv -Delimiter ';' -Header "Name","Position" -Path "C:\Temp\User\Userlist.csv" | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*(*"} | Sort-Object -Unique -Property Name,Position
This is as simplified version of what I'd like to achieve... I think it's called 'variable referencing'
I have created an array containing the content of the folder 'foo'
$myDirectory(folder1, folder2)
Using the following code:
$myDirectory= Get-ChildItem ".\foo" | ForEach-Object {$_.BaseName}
I'd like to create 2 arrays named as each folders, with the contained files.
folder1(file1, file2)
folder2(file1, file2, file3)
I tried the following code:
foreach ($myFolder in $myDirectory) {
${myFolder} = Get-ChildItem ".\$myFolders" | forEach-Object {$_.BaseName}
}
But obviously didn't work.
In bash it's possible create an array giving it a variable's name like this:
"${myForder[#]}"
I tried to search on Google but I couldn't find how to do this in Powershell
$myDirectory = "c:\temp"
Get-ChildItem $myDirectory | Where-Object{$_.PSIsContainer} | ForEach-Object{
Remove-Variable -Name $_.BaseName
New-Variable -Name $_.BaseName -Value (Get-ChildItem $_.FullName | Where-Object{!$_.PSIsContainer} | Select -ExpandProperty Name)
}
I think what you are looking for is New-Variable. Cycle through all the folders under C:\temp. For each folder make a new variable. It would throw errors if the variable already exists. What you could do for that is remove a pre-exising variable. Populate the variable with the current folders contents in the pipeline using Get-ChildItem. The following is a small explanation of how the -Value of the new variable is generated. Caveat Remove-Variable has the potiential to delete unintended variables depending on your folder names. Not sure of the implications of that.
Get-ChildItem $_.FullName | Where-Object{!$_.PSIsContainer} | Select -ExpandProperty Name
The value of each custom variable is every file ( not folder ). Use -ExpandProperty to just gets the names as strings as supposed to a object with Names.
Aside
What do you plan on using this data for? It might just be easier to pipe the output from the Get-ChildItem into another cmdlet. Or perhaps create a custom object with the data you desire.
Update from comments
$myDirectory = "c:\temp"
Get-ChildItem $myDirectory | Where-Object{$_.PSIsContainer} | ForEach-Object{
[PSCustomObject] #{
Hotel = $_.BaseName
Rooms = (Get-ChildItem $_.FullName | Where-Object{!$_.PSIsContainer} | Select -ExpandProperty Name)
}
}
You need to have at least PowerShell 3.0 for the above to work. Changing it for 2.0 is easy if need be. Create and object with hotel names and "rooms" which are the file names from inside the folder. If you dont want the extension just use BaseName instead of Name in the select.
This is how I did it at the end:
# Create an array containing all the folder names
$ToursArray = Get-ChildItem -Directory '.\.src\panos' | Foreach-Object {$_.Name}
# For each folder...
$ToursArray | ForEach-Object {
# Remove any variable named as the folder's name. Check if it exists first to avoid errors
if(Test-Path variable:$_.BaseName){ Remove-Variable -Name $_.BaseName }
$SceneName=Get-ChildItem ".\.src\panos\$_\*.jpg"
# Create an array using the main folder's name, containing the names of all the jpg inside
New-Variable -Name $_ -Value ($SceneName | Select -ExpandProperty BaseName)
}
And here it goes some code to check the content of all the arrays:
# Print Tours information
Write-Verbose "Virtual tours list: ($($ToursArray.count))"
$ToursArray | ForEach-Object {
Write-Verbose " Name: $_"
Write-Verbose " Scenes: $($(Get-Variable $_).Value)"
}
Output:
VERBOSE: Name: tour1
VERBOSE: Scenes: scene1 scene2
VERBOSE: Name: tour2
VERBOSE: Scenes: scene1
I have a problem I am hoping someone could help with....
I have a powershell script containing the lines shown below:
$output = Get-ChildItem -path $target -recurse | Select-String -pattern hello | group path | select name
Write-Output "Output from the string match is $output"
The error I am getting:
Output from the string match Microsoft.Powershell.Commands.GroupInfo Microsoft.Powershell.Commands.GroupInfo
When I run this command on it's own (ie not within a script) it works perfectly and returns the two files in that location that contains the word "hello".
It appears that it knows there are two things it has found because it prints the "Microsoft.Powershell.Commands.GroupInfo" text twice (as shown above in the error). But why is it printing this and not the path to the files as it should do?
There must be something obvious I am overlooking but I dont know what.
Your help is much appreciated, thanks
The reason you're seeing this is because $output is an array of Selected.Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GroupInfo objects -- the objects returned by Group-Object when passed to Select-Object (without Select-Object they would just be Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GroupInfo objects instead). You can confirm the type of objects in $ouput by running:
$output | Get-Member
Check the TypeName that is displayed at the top of the output.
When you run these commands interactively in the console, you are seeing the paths because PowerShell knows how to display GroupInfo objects in the console so that they are human-readable. Note that when you just call $output in the console, you see a "Name" header underlined with dash characters -- this is PowerShell interpreting the GroupInfo object you gave it and displaying the Name property for you in the console.
The problem occurs when you try to output the $output array inside a string. Then PowerShell is not able to use its more advanced formatting logic and instead merely tries to convert the object to a string to insert into your string. When it does that, it doesn't have enough logic to know that what you really want to appear in your string is the Name property of these GroupInfo objects, so instead if just prints out a string with the type name of each of the objects in the $output array. So that's why you see the type name twice.
The simple solution to this problem is the -ExpandProperty parameter for Select-Object. This does what it says -- it expands the property you asked for with Select-Object and returns just that property, not the parent object. So the Name property of a GroupInfo object is a string. If you call Select-Object Name, you get a GroupInfo object with the Name property. If you call Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name, you get just the Name property as a String object. Which is what I expect that you want in this case.
So try this instead:
$output = Get-ChildItem -path $target -recurse | Select-String -pattern hello | group path | select -ExpandProperty name
A foreach would be appropriate here I believe. Try this:
$output = Get-ChildItem -path $target -recurse | where {$_.name -like "*hello*"} | select name
foreach ($file in $output) {
write-host $file.name
}
Or this:
$output = Get-ChildItem -path $target -recurse | select-string -pattern "hello" | select name
foreach ($file in $output) {
write-output $file.name
}