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Retrieving Powershell data and outputting to csv

Below I have a script that loops through a list of servers, remotes into them, grabs some data and writes it to csv file:

$results = @()
$serverList = Get-Content C:\Test\Servers.txt
foreach ($server in $serverList) {

    if((Test-Connection -Cn $server -BufferSize 16 -Count 1 -ea 0 -quiet))
    {
    
        $myobj = Get-ChildItem ...
	   Write-Host $myobj.Name
 
         $result =  New-object PSObject
         $result | Add-member -type Noteproperty -Name ServerName $server.ToString()
         $result | Add-member -type Noteproperty -Name MyValue -Value $myobj.Name
    
         Write-Host $result

     $results += $result
    }
}
$results | export-csv -Path c:\Test\Output.csv

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The above writes 2 columns to csv file, first column is the server name - displayed correctly, but second column get the value of "System.Object[]" even though above Write-Host $myobj.Name outputs the correct value. How can i fix my code to display the correct value in a csv file?

footech

Your $myobj = Get-ChildItem... command must have retrieved more than one object. There's a lot more flexibility with how things can be displayed on screen vs. the restrictions of a .CSV file. Namely, in a .CSV, every field has to be a string. You might try changing line 13 to:

$result | Add-member -type Noteproperty -Name MyValue -Value ($myobj.Name -join ";")

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or change line 8 so the results are more limited.

BTW, $server is already a string, so $server.ToString() is redundant.

YZlat

ASKER

But the thing is I want more then one result returned and then I want to add them all to an array and output the array to csv

footech

The sample code I provided will essentially do that, joining all the elements in the array into a single string. If you want to export to a .CSV, that's your only option.

Qlemo

Your choice is to
either combine the Name array result into a single string, as shown by footech,
or inflate results by creating a new CSV line per Name member. This leads to say 5 rows with the same server name but different, single Name entries.
As said by footech, it is not possible to have an array in a CSV directly, you need to have a representation (enumeration with special delimiter like semi-colon, pipe, or similar).

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YZlat

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Qlemo

That just joins with the "default string separator" stored in $OFS, which is a blank by default. It's the same as you see on screen, but should not use in a CSV - footech's recommendation is better. Being nit-picky " add them all to an array and output the array to csv" is not what you have done now.

YZlat

ASKER

Solved myself