powershell substring method not found

Question

$computername = 'RSERV1234'    
$computername.Substring(5,4) returns '1234' as expected    
Get-ADOrganizationalUnit -Filter {Name -like $computername.Substring(5,4)}

returns:

Property 'Substring' not found in object of type: 'System.String'

Please help!

Method calls are not supported as comparison arguments inside the Active Directory filter, causing PowerShell to ignore the (5,4) part and look for a property called Substring - which doesn't exist. Call Substring() before Get-ADOrganizationalUnit — Mathias R. Jessen
– Mathias R. Jessen, Commented May 27, 2015 at 13:08
Try: Get-ADOrganizationalUnit -Filter {Name -like "*$($computername.Substring(5,4))*"} — arco444
– arco444, Commented May 27, 2015 at 13:11

Mathias R. Jessen · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-27 13:17:24Z

1

From about_ActiveDirecory_Filter:

Filter Syntax
  The following syntax descriptions use Backus-Naur form to show the
  PowerShell Expression Language for the Filter parameter.

    <filter>  ::= "{" <FilterComponentList> "}"

    <FilterComponentList> ::= <FilterComponent> |
        <FilterComponent> <JoinOperator> <FilterComponent> |
        <NotOperator>  <FilterComponent>

    <FilterComponent> ::= <attr> <FilterOperator> <value> |
        "(" <FilterComponent> ")"

    <FilterOperator> ::= "-eq" | "-le" | "-ge" | "-ne" | "-lt" | "-gt" |
        "-approx" | "-bor" | "-band" | "-recursivematch" | "-like" |
        "-notlike"

    <JoinOperator> ::= "-and" | "-or"

    <NotOperator> ::= "-not"

    <attr> ::= <PropertyName> | <LDAPDisplayName of the attribute>

    <value>::= < this value will be compared to the object data for
        attribute <ATTR> using the specified filter operator

The Filter parameter translates PowerShell-like expressions to an LDAP filter, but doesn't support just any arbitrary PowerShell statement, only a specific set of comparison operations with attribute names as the left-hand operand and the comparison value on the right hand side.

Do your Substring() call beforehand:

$substr = $computername.Substring(5,4)

Get-ADOrganizationalUnit -Filter {Name -like "$substr"}

answered May 27, 2015 at 13:17

Mathias R. Jessen

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1 Comment

Chester1111 Over a year ago

Great thanks, wanted to pipeline the computername in but thanks anyway

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