pipe foreach loop CSV PowerShell

Question

I've written a script but cannot get it to export to CSV or output in any way.

PowerShell does not like foreach loops and exporting.

For each "folderpath/filename" in the .txt file it checks to see if the file is still there and outputs true or false + folderpath/file name.

Script works fine, just cannot get the thing to export to CSV.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

foreach ($WantFile in Get-Content "C:\scripts\folderpaths.txt") {
    $FileExists = Test-Path $WantFile

    if ($FileExists -eq $True) {
        Write-Output $wantfile "True"
    } else {
        Write-Output $wantfile "False"
    }
} | Export-Csv C:\scripts\output.csv -noType

What is it that you want to write to the output file? Your loop doesn't write anything to the pipeline. — alroc
– alroc, Commented Nov 28, 2013 at 23:11
@alroc AFAICS that's exactly the problem he's trying to solve. ;) — Ansgar Wiechers
– Ansgar Wiechers, Commented Nov 28, 2013 at 23:15
Right, but he hasn't defined the expected content of output.csv. If you don't know the destination, you can't very well plot a route. — alroc
– alroc, Commented Nov 28, 2013 at 23:16
@alroc Judging from the Write-Output instructions I'd suspect that he wants a CSV with 2 columns: one for the filename and one for the boolean value. — Ansgar Wiechers
– Ansgar Wiechers, Commented Nov 28, 2013 at 23:43
All good I got rid of the "If Else statement" and just used the True, False output from $FileExists variable. Did the trick :) cheers — user2770724
– user2770724, Commented Dec 2, 2013 at 0:38

Ansgar Wiechers · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-28 23:12:56Z

3

Change your code to this:

Get-Content 'C:\scripts\folderpaths.txt' | % {
  if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $_) {
    Write-Output $_ "True"
  } else {
    Write-Output $_ "False"
  }
} | Export-Csv 'C:\scripts\output.csv' -NoType

I doubt that the resulting file will contain what you expect, though. Export-Csv exports the properties of objects. The output you generate are string objects (2 with each Write-Output statement, actually), and their only property is Length, so your result will be one column with the lengths of the strings you echo.

To create a CSV with 2 columns, one for path and the other for existence of the path you need to create objects with the desired properties, e.g. like this:

Get-Content 'C:\scripts\folderpaths.txt' `
  | select @{n='Path';e={$_}}, @{n='Exists';e={Test-Path -LiteralPath $_}} `
  | Export-Csv 'C:\scripts\output.csv' -NoType

answered Nov 28, 2013 at 23:12

Ansgar Wiechers

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3 Comments

user2770724 Over a year ago

Awesome thanks!! The second code is the solution and outputs exactly how I wished it to :)

user2770724 Over a year ago

Though on my original code, how do I make the output (eg. true or false) output into a variable?

Ansgar Wiechers Over a year ago

@user2770724 I'm not sure what you mean. Which output do you want in a variable?

mjolinor · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-28 23:50:12Z

1

With regard to the original question (exporting the output of a foreach loop to CSV), you can make that output to the pipeline by wrapping it in a subexpression, but that's not going to solve the other problems in your script with regard to what it is you're trying to export:

$(ForEach ($WantFile in Get-Content "C:\scripts\folderpaths.txt"){

  $FileExists = Test-Path $WantFile 

  If ($FileExists -eq $True) {Write-Output $wantfile "True"}

  Else {Write-Output $wantfile "False"}

})| export-csv C:\scripts\output.csv -noType

answered Nov 28, 2013 at 23:50

mjolinor

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Comments

Hudha Zainudeen · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-05 03:56:54Z

1

I got the same problem and i got it worked by doing as follow.

$forloop = foreach ( $i in $computers)
    {
      $i
      $out = .\psexec.exe \\$i C:\hp\hpsmh\bin\smhlogreader.exe --version 
      $out


     } 

$forloop | Out-file C:\scripts\output.txt -Append

answered Nov 5, 2014 at 3:56

Hudha Zainudeen

111 silver badge2 bronze badges

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