CODEWITHSUNDEEP
string
Q7777777
Q7777777

Reputation: 13

PowerShell Strings

I extract some data from my computer and it creates either a variable or I've written it to a .txt file. The output looks like this:

RVR7RYR

RVR7RYR

I I only need the first 7 characters so I wrote this:

$line = get-content "c:\temp\file.txt"
$var = $line
$result = $var.SubString($var.length - 7, 7)
$result

It gives me this error:

Exception calling "Substring" with "2" argument(s): "StartIndex cannot be less than zero. Parameter name: startIndex" At line:5 char:1

my file does have spaces inbetween the values and even after the second value, not sure if that matters.

how do I get just the first 7 characters?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 87

Answers (1)

paulsm4
paulsm4

Reputation: 121699

The problem was that you were inadvertently reading an ARRAY, not just a single text string.

.ps1:

$line = get-content "c:\temp\file.txt" 
echo "line: " $line ", line.length: " $line.length ", line[0].length: " $line[0].length
$result = $line[0].SubString(0, 7)
echo "result: " $result

Sample output:

line:
RVR7RYR

RVR7RYR

cow pig chicken goat
, line.length:
5
, line[0].length:
7
result:
RVR7RYR

In other words, you want to take the first 7 characters of the first line ($line[0]).

Upvotes: 0

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