CODEWITHSUNDEEP
powershell
user3067193
user3067193

Reputation: 335

Output PowerShell variables to a text file

I'm new to PowerShell and have a script which loops through Active Directory searching for certain computers. I get several variables and then run functions to check things like WMI and registry settings.

In the console, my script runs great and simple Write-Host command prints the data on the screen as I want. I know about Export-Csv when using the pipeline...but I'm not looking to print from the pipeline.

I want to write the variables to a text file, continue the loop, and check the next computer in AD...output the next iteration of the same variables on the next line. Here is my Write-Host:

Write-Host ($computer)","($Speed)","($Regcheck)","($OU)

Output file:

$computer,$Speed,$Regcheck | out-file -filepath C:\temp\scripts\pshell\dump.txt -append -width 200

It gives me the data, but each variable is on its own line. Why? I'd like all the variables on one line with comma separation. Is there a simple way to do this akin to VB writeline? My PowerShell version appears to be 2.0.

Upvotes: 33

Views: 280590

Answers (6)

Joshua Biddle
Joshua Biddle

Reputation: 11

I was lead here in my Google searching. In a show of good faith I have included what I pieced together from parts of this code and other code I've gathered along the way.

# This script is useful if you have attributes or properties that span across several commandlets
# and you wish to export a certain data set but all of the properties you wish to export are not
# included in only one commandlet so you must use more than one to export the data set you want
#
# Created: Joshua Biddle 08/24/2017
# Edited: Joshua Biddle 08/24/2017
#

$A = Get-ADGroupMember "YourGroupName"

# Construct an out-array to use for data export
$Results = @()

foreach ($B in $A)
    {
		# Construct an object
        $myobj = Get-ADuser $B.samAccountName -Properties ScriptPath,Office
		
		# Fill the object
		$Properties = @{
		samAccountName = $myobj.samAccountName
		Name = $myobj.Name 
		Office = $myobj.Office 
		ScriptPath = $myobj.ScriptPath
		}

        # Add the object to the out-array
        $Results += New-Object psobject -Property $Properties
        
		# Wipe the object just to be sure
        $myobj = $null
    }

# After the loop, export the array to CSV
$Results | Select "samAccountName", "Name", "Office", "ScriptPath" | Export-CSV "C:\Temp\YourData.csv"

Cheers

Upvotes: 1

Knuckle-Dragger
Knuckle-Dragger

Reputation: 7056

The simple solution is to avoid creating an array before piping to Out-File. Rule #1 of PowerShell is that the comma is a special delimiter, and the default behavior is to create an array. Concatenation is done like this.

$computer + "," + $Speed + "," + $Regcheck | out-file -filepath C:\temp\scripts\pshell\dump.txt -append -width 200

This creates an array of three items.

$computer,$Speed,$Regcheck
FYKJ
100
YES

vs. concatenation of three items separated by commas.

$computer + "," + $Speed + "," + $Regcheck
FYKJ,100,YES

Upvotes: 1

CB.
CB.

Reputation: 60956

Use this:

"$computer, $Speed, $Regcheck" | out-file -filepath C:\temp\scripts\pshell\dump.txt -append -width 200

Upvotes: 39

Trondh
Trondh

Reputation: 3351

I usually construct custom objects in these loops, and then add these objects to an array that I can easily manipulate, sort, export to CSV, etc.:

# Construct an out-array to use for data export
$OutArray = @()

# The computer loop you already have
foreach ($server in $serverlist)
    {
        # Construct an object
        $myobj = "" | Select "computer", "Speed", "Regcheck"

        # Fill the object
        $myobj.computer = $computer
        $myobj.speed = $speed
        $myobj.regcheck = $regcheck

        # Add the object to the out-array
        $outarray += $myobj

        # Wipe the object just to be sure
        $myobj = $null
    }

# After the loop, export the array to CSV
$outarray | export-csv "somefile.csv"

Upvotes: 32

user189198
user189198

Reputation:

You can concatenate an array of values together using PowerShell's `-join' operator. Here is an example:

$FilePath = '{0}\temp\scripts\pshell\dump.txt' -f $env:SystemDrive;

$Computer = 'pc1';
$Speed = 9001;
$RegCheck = $true;

$Computer,$Speed,$RegCheck -join ',' | Out-File -FilePath $FilePath -Append -Width 200;

Output

pc1,9001,True

Upvotes: 9

Frode F.
Frode F.

Reputation: 54971

$computer,$Speed,$Regcheck will create an array, and run out-file ones per variable = they get seperate lines. If you construct a single string using the variables first, it will show up a single line. Like this:

"$computer,$Speed,$Regcheck" | out-file -filepath C:\temp\scripts\pshell\dump.txt -append -width 200

Upvotes: 2

Related Questions