Small Tricks and Tips – PowerShell – CSV file – writing string / append string – exploring New-Object PSObject

Hi All,

Greetings for the day!!!

Today new small learning for me so sharing . SHARING IS CARING 🙂

Use Case / Scenario

• I was writing PowerShell script for doing some my SharePoint online operation
• I am using Try-Catch block for handling exceptions
• I need to log exceptions in CSV file so that later we could go through exceptions and verify
• I know how to write / export our SharePoint result in CSV but when I need to write single string I need to google
• Bit googled and found the solution. So as usual sharing 🙂

Detailed steps to write a string to CSV file

• Create a object of type PSObject
• Specify the column name and string while creating PSObject
• Use CMDLET Export-Csv method to append object to CSV file
• We already have very good article for writing objects / arrays to CSV file, please have a look – Write a CSV file with PowerShell using the Export-CSV

Example 1 – Writing simple string to CSV / TXT file

#writing simple string to CSV file
$str1 = "Life Is Beautiful"


$objStr = New-Object PSObject -Property @{ MotivationalText = $str1 }

Export-Csv -InputObject $objStr -Path "C:\Prasham\Articles\PowerShell\CSVfileoperations\csvfiledemo.csv" -NoTypeInformation

• Here in above example we are writing string – “Life Is Beautiful” to csv file – csvfiledemo.csv
• When script is executed CSV file is generated on given path

• What is New-Object
  • New-Object CMDLET is used to create new object
  • New-Object cmdlet was introduced in PowerShell v1.0
  • Creates an instance of a Microsoft .NET Framework or COM object

New-Object
   [-TypeName] <String>
   [[-ArgumentList] <Object[]>]
   [-Property <IDictionary>]
   [<CommonParameters>]


New-Object
   [-ComObject] <String>
   [-Strict]
   [-Property <IDictionary>]
   [<CommonParameters>]

• We can get help on New-Object using Get-Help CMDLET

Get-Help New-Object

PS C:\> C:\Prasham\Articles\PowerShell\csvfileoperations\newobject.ps1

NAME
    New-Object
    
SYNOPSIS
    Creates an instance of a Microsoft .NET Framework or COM object.
    
    
SYNTAX
    New-Object [-TypeName] <System.String> [[-ArgumentList] <System.Object[]>] [-Property <System.Collections.IDictionary>] 
    [<CommonParameters>]
    
    New-Object [-ComObject] <System.String> [-Property <System.Collections.IDictionary>] [-Strict] [<CommonParameters>]
    
    
DESCRIPTION
    The `New-Object` cmdlet creates an instance of a .NET Framework or COM object.
    
    You can specify either the type of a .NET Framework class or a ProgID of a COM object. By default, you type the fully qualified name of 
    a .NET Framework class and the cmdlet returns a reference to an instance of that class. To create an instance of a COM object, use the 
    ComObject parameter and specify the ProgID of the object as its value.
    

RELATED LINKS
    Online Version: 
    https://docs.microsoft.com/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.utility/new-object?view=powershell-5.1&WT.mc_id=ps-gethelp
    about_Object_Creation 
    Compare-Object 
    Group-Object 
    Measure-Object 
    Select-Object 
    Sort-Object 
    Tee-Object 

REMARKS
    To see the examples, type: "get-help New-Object -examples".
    For more information, type: "get-help New-Object -detailed".
    For technical information, type: "get-help New-Object -full".
    For online help, type: "get-help New-Object -online"

• Namespace: System.Management.Automation
• Assembly:System.Management.Automation.dll
• Package:System.Management.Automation v7.2.7
• New-Object PSObject creates hashtable like object where data is stored in Key-Value pair

Example 2 – Demo of New-Object PSObject – creating simple two columns / keys

$_PSObject = New-Object -TypeName psobject -Property @{AFFIRMATION1 = 'LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL';AFFIRMATION2 = 'WE ARE VERY RICH'}

$_PSObject

OUTPUT - 
PS C:\> C:\Prasham\Articles\PowerShell\csvfileoperations\newobject.ps1

AFFIRMATION2     AFFIRMATION1     
------------     ------------     
WE ARE VERY RICH LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

• Here in above example we have created two keys (columns)

Example 3 – Writing exception message string to CSV file

Try {
    #code block goes here
}
catch{
        write-host "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red
        $error1 = New-Object PSObject -Property @{ Exceptions = "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)"}
        $error1 | Export-Csv -Append -Path "C:\ErrorLogs.csv" -NoTypeInformation
}

• In above example we are creating object with key – “Exceptions” and value – “Exception message” and appending to CSV file
• Here please note, as a key – Heading of column in CSV file – once it is created it wont get created again

REFERENCES

• Write a CSV file with PowerShell using the Export-CSV
• PowerShell New-Object – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.utility/new-object?view=powershell-7.3
• New-Object – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.utility/new-object?view=powershell-7.3

If you want to explore more on PowerShell with Microsoft 365 or want to prepare interview for PowerShell for Microsoft 365 – please refer my book – Microsoft 365 Power Shell hand book for Administrators and Beginners and 100 Power Shell Interview Questions

Thanks for reading! HAVE A FANTASTIC TIME AHEAD!!!