CODEWITHSUNDEEP
powershell
Baizen93
Baizen93

Reputation: 5

Powershell Read a file and compare content

Have a problem which seems to be to simple, but I can not crack.

I have 3 Files with a content of Usernames. I want to see which users match in File1 and File2/File3. I would then write the users that match, into another file.

The problem is my if statement, it doesnt give me any values back / its never true. If I look for a random user that is in File 1 if (User -in $MDM_USER) {Add-Content "C:\temp\MDM\USER_without_VPN.txt"} " its working, but not as a $file variable.

Even if there is another way to get the same result, I would really appreciate if somebody could tell me what my mistake is.

$VPN_USER = Get-Content "C:\temp\MDM\Alle Benutzer mit VPN.txt"
$IT_USER = Get-Content "C:\temp\MDM\Alle_IT_Benutzer.txt"
$MDM_USER = Get-Content "C:\temp\MDM\alle_MDM-ios_user.txt"

foreach ($file in $IT_USER)
{
if ($file -in $MDM_USER) {Add-Content "C:\temp\MDM\IT_USER_with_VPN.txt"} 
}

Upvotes: 0

Views: 903

Answers (1)

AdminOfThings
AdminOfThings

Reputation: 25001

Using Compare-Object seems like an easier solution:

# it.txt users
user4
user5
user6
user2
user3

# vpn.txt users
user1
user2
user3

# mdm.txt users
user1
user5
user7
user3
user10

$it_users = Get-Content it.txt
$vpn_users = Get-Content vpn.txt
$mdm_users = Get-Content mdm.txt

Compare-Object $it_users $vpn_users -IncludeEqual -ExcludeDifferent -PassThru |
    Set-Content it_and_vpn.txt

Compare-Object $it_users $mdm_users -IncludeEqual -ExcludeDifferent -PassThru |
    Set-Content it_and_mdm.txt

Results:

PS> Get-Content it_and_mdm.txt
user5
user3

PS> Get-Content it_and_vpn.txt
user2
user3

Explanation:

By default, Compare-Object outputs differences between the reference and difference objects. You must use -IncludeEqual and -ExcludeDifferent in Windows PowerShell to only see equal objects from both lists. -PassThru outputs just the input objects (the compared objects) instead of the custom object typically created by Compare-Object.

Your logic seems correct with your approach. However, you have an extra set of {} around the Add-Content command. This creates a script block, and you did not call that script block, which results in Add-Content never being called. See below for an example of the behavior.

PS> { Get-Content vpn.txt } # Only outputs script block contents as a string
 Get-Content vpn.txt

PS> & { Get-Content vpn.txt } # & calls the script block
user1
user2
user3

Upvotes: 2

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