CODEWITHSUNDEEP
powershellconsoleoutput-redirect
Houman
Houman

Reputation: 66320

How to capture output in a variable rather than a logfile?

This would write the output to a logfile:

& $Env:WinDir\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe >test.log

But what if I wanted to keep the output in a string variable to use it in the email body?

I tried this without any luck..

$test = ""
& $Env:WinDir\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe >$test

Write-Host $test

Upvotes: 54

Views: 88976

Answers (3)

Hayden Moulds
Hayden Moulds

Reputation: 19

If you are using powershell >= 5.0

The Tee-Object command supports both variables and files. Reference doc.

& $Env:WinDir\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe | Tee-Object -Variable test

Tee-Object forwards any input further down the pipe, so if you also want to prevent output to console/host you will need to redirect to Out-Null

& $Env:WinDir\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe | Tee-Object -Variable test | Out-Null

Upvotes: 1

Gunasekaran
Gunasekaran

Reputation: 461

Capturing the output of a executable is as simple as,

$cmdOutput = &"Application.exe" 2>&1

2>&1 - Includes the error stream in the output

Return type of the executable in PowerShell is an array of strings. In case of logging such outputs,

Write-Host $cmdOutput

will output the strings in the array to the output stream separated by spaces

To print them in a string per line fashion, choose 

Write-Output $cmdOutput

or

$cmdOutput = &"Application.exe" | Out-String
Write-Host $cmdOutput

Upvotes: 28

manojlds
manojlds

Reputation: 301047

You have to do:

$test = & $Env:WinDir\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe

If you wanted to redirect error as well, add 2>&1 in the end.

Upvotes: 56

Related Questions