PowerShell format text file - powershell

Question

I get the below output from a PowerShell query. I don't have access to the server to run the query, so I have no option to influence the output format.
Example:
Name : folderC
FullName : D:\folderA\folderB\folderC
Length :
CreationTime : 2/8/2014 11:12:58 AM
LastAccessTime: 2/8/2014 11:12:58 AM
Name : filename.txt
FullName : D:\folderA\folderB\filename.txt
Length : 71560192
CreationTime : 11/25/2015 3:10:43 PM
LastAccessTime: 11/25/2015 3:10:43 PM
How can I format above content to get something more usable, maybe like a table format like so:
Name|FullName|Length|CreationTime|LastAccessTime

Answer 1

I think you need to split the text into records, replace the colons with equals so that you can use the ConvertFrom-StringData to turn each record into a hash which you can then feed into New-Object to convert into an object. Outputting the the object into pipe separated data can then be done with the ConvertTo-Csv. Something like so:
$x = #"
Name : folderC
FullName : D:\folderA\folderB\folderC
Length : 0
CreationTime : 2/8/2014 11:12:58 AM
LastAccessTime : 2/8/2014 11:12:58 AM
Name : filename.txt
FullName : D:\folderA\folderB\filename.txt
Length : 71560192
CreationTime : 11/25/2015 3:10:43 PM
LastAccessTime : 11/25/2015 3:10:43 PM
"#
($x -split '[\r\n]+(?=Name)') | % {
$_ -replace '\s+:\s+', '='
} | % {
$_ | ConvertFrom-StringData
} | % {
New-Object psobject -Property $_
} | ConvertTo-Csv -Delimiter '|' -NoTypeInformation

Answer 2

As #alroc notes in a comment on the question, it is possible that objects are available to the OP, given that they state that the output is "from a Powershell query" - if so, simple reformatting of the object array using the usual cmdlets is an option.
By contrast, this answer assumes that only a text representation, as printed in the question, is available.
Dave Sexton's answer is a simpler and more elegant choice, if:
the input has no empty values (the OP's sample input does).
the input file is small enough to be read into memory as a whole.
Consider the approach below to avoid the issues above and/or if you want more control over how the input is converted into custom objects, notably with respect to creating properties with types other than [string]: extend the toObj() function below (as written, all properties are also just strings).
Get-Content File | % `
-begin {
function toObj([string[]] $lines) {
$keysAndValues = $lines -split '(?<=^[^ :]+)\s*: '
$htProps = #{}
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $keysAndValues.Count; $i += 2) {
$htProps.($keysAndValues[$i]) = $keysAndValues[$i+1]
}
return [PSCustomObject] $htProps
}
$lines = #()
} `
-process {
if ($_.trim() -ne '') {
$lines += $_
} else {
if ($lines) { toObj $lines }
$lines = #()
}
} `
-end {
if ($lines) { toObj $lines }
} | Format-Table
Explanation:
Uses ForEach-Object (%) with separate begin, process, and end blocks.
The -begin, executed once at the beginning:
Defines helper function toObj() that converts a block of contiguous nonempty input lines to a single custom object.
toObj() splits an array of lines into an array of contiguous key-value elements, converts that array to a hashtable, which is then converted to a custom object.
Initializes array $lines, which will store the lines of a single block of contiguous nonempty input lines
The -process block, executed for each input line:
If the input line at hand is nonempty: Adds it to the current block of contiguous nonempty input lines stored in array $lines.
Otherwise: Submits the current block to toObj() for conversion to a custom object, and then resets the $lines array to start the next block. In effect, toObj() is invoked for each paragraph (run of nonempty lines).
The -end block, executed once at the end:
Submits the last paragraph to toObj() for conversion to a custom object.
Finally, the resulting array of custom objects is passed to Format-Table.