Need help exporting output of script to csv - powershell

Question

I found a script to give me the size of each subfolder within a directory.
The problem is I don't know where to put the export-csv command to get that output in a CSV.
As a bonus I would also like to throw in a lastmodified property to those subfolders if possible. But I realize that may require a different script entirely.
Here is the script:
$startFolder = "C:\Scripts"
$colItems = (Get-ChildItem $startFolder | Measure-Object -property length -sum)
"$startFolder -- " + "{0:N2}" -f ($colItems.sum / 1MB) + " MB"
$colItems = (Get-ChildItem $startFolder -recurse | Where-Object {$_.PSIsContainer -eq $True} | Sort-Object)
foreach ($i in $colItems)
{
$subFolderItems = (Get-ChildItem $i.FullName | Measure-Object -property length -sum)
$i.FullName + " -- " + "{0:N2}" -f ($subFolderItems.sum / 1MB) + " MB"
}
I've tried adding | export-csv c:\path to the very end, both inside and outside the bracket. I also tried adding it after the script command, ie c:\script.ps1 | export-csv. Each time I get the error that "An empty pipe element is not allowed."

Answer 1

If you want to process the output of a foreach loop with a pipeline you must either collect its output in a variable:
$results = foreach ($i in $colItems) {
...
}
$results | Export-Csv 'C:\path\to\your.csv' -NoType
or run it in an expression (i.e. in parentheses):
(foreach ($i in $colItems) {
...
}) | Export-Csv 'C:\path\to\your.csv' -NoType
However, personally I'd prefer ForEach-Object over foreach loops (for differences between the two see here), because the former does work with pipelines:
Get-ChildItem $startFolder -recurse |
Where-Object {$_.PSIsContainer -eq $True} |
Sort-Object |
ForEach-Object {
...
} |
Export-Csv 'C:\path\to\your.csv' -NoType
With that said, you may not want a loop in the first place. The Export-Csv cmdlet processes a list of objects and writes the properties of the input objects as fields to a CSV file. Since you already have object input you could simply select the properties you want to export:
Get-ChildItem $startFolder -recurse |
Where-Object {$_.PSIsContainer -eq $True} |
Sort-Object |̣
Select-Object FullName, LastWriteTime |
Export-Csv 'C:\path\to\your.csv' -NoType
Custom properties can be added for instance as calculated properties:
Get-ChildItem $startFolder -recurse |
Where-Object {$_.PSIsContainer -eq $True} |
Sort-Object |̣
Select-Object FullName, LastWriteTime, #{n='FolderSize';e={
Get-ChildItem $_.FullName |
Measure-Object -Property Length -Sum |
Select-Object -Expand Sum
}} |
Export-Csv 'C:\path\to\your.csv' -NoType