Tag Archives: Append

cmdlet, Start, Transcript

Start-Transcript

NAME
    Start-Transcript

SYNOPSIS
    Creates a record of all or part of a Windows PowerShell session in a text file.

SYNTAX
    Start-Transcript [[-Path] <string>] [-Append] [-Force] [-NoClobber] [-Confirm] [-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]

DESCRIPTION
    The Start-Transcript cmdlet creates a record of all or part of a Windows PowerShell session in a text file. The transcript includes all command that the user types and all output that appears on the console.

PARAMETERS
    -Append [<SwitchParameter>]
        Adds the new transcript to the end of an existing file. Use the Path parameter to specify the file.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -Force [<SwitchParameter>]
        Allows the cmdlet to append the transcript to an existing read-only file. When used on a read-only file, the cmdlet changes the file permission to read-write. Even using the Force parameter, the cmdlet cannot override security restrictions.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -NoClobber [<SwitchParameter>]
        Will not overwrite (replace the contents) of an existing file. By default, if a transcript file exists in the specified path, Start-Transcript overwrites the file without warning.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -Path <string>
        Specifies a location for the transcript file. Enter a path to a .txt file. Wildcards are not permitted.

        If you do not specify a path, Start-Transcript uses the path in the value of the $Transcript global Variable. If you have not created this Variable, Start-Transcript stores the transcripts in the $Home\My Documents directory as \PowerShell_transcript.<time-stamp>.txt files.

        If any of the directories in the path do not exist, the command fails.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    1
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -Confirm [<SwitchParameter>]
        Prompts you for confirmation before executing the command.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -WhatIf [<SwitchParameter>]
        Describes what would happen if you executed the command without actually executing the command.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    <CommonParameters>
        This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug,
        ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, WarningAction, WarningVariable,
        OutBuffer and OutVariable. For more information, type,
        “Get-Help about_CommonParameters“.

INPUTS
    None
        You cannot pipe objects to this cmdlet.

OUTPUTS
    System.String
        Start-Transcript returns a string that contains a confirmation message and the path to the output file.

NOTES

        To stop a transcript, use the Stop-Transcript cmdlet.

        To record an entire session, add the Start-Transcript command to your profile. For more information, see about_profiles.

    ————————– EXAMPLE 1 ————————–

    C:\PS>Start-Transcript

    Description
    ———–
    This command starts a transcript in the default file location.

    ————————– EXAMPLE 2 ————————–

    C:\PS>Start-Transcript -Path c:\transcripts\transcript0.txt -NoClobber

    Description
    ———–
    This command starts a transcript in the Transcript0.txt file in C:\transcripts. The NoClobber parameter prevents any existing files from being overwritten. If the Transcript0.txt file already exists, the command fails.

RELATED LINKS
    Online version: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113408
    Stop-Transcript

cmdlet, File, Out

Out-File

NAME
    Out-File

SYNOPSIS
    Sends output to a file.

SYNTAX
    Out-File [-FilePath] <string> [[-Encoding] <string>] [-Append] [-Force] [-InputObject <psobject>] [-NoClobber] [-Width <int>] [-Confirm] [-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]

DESCRIPTION
    The Out-File cmdlet sends output to a file. You can use this cmdlet instead of the redirection operator (>) when you need to use its parameters.

PARAMETERS
    -Append [<SwitchParameter>]
        Adds the output to the end of an existing file, instead of replacing the file contents.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -Encoding <string>
        Specifies the type of character encoding used in the file. Valid values are “Unicode”, “UTF7”, “UTF8”, “UTF32”, “ASCII”, “BigEndianUnicode”, “Default”, and “OEM”. “Unicode” is the default.

        “Default” uses the encoding of the system’s current ANSI code page.

        “OEM” uses the current original equipment manufacturer code page identifier for the operating system.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    2
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -FilePath <string>
        Specifies the path to the output file.

        Required?                    true
        Position?                    1
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -Force [<SwitchParameter>]
        Allows the cmdlet to overwrite an existing read-only file. Even using the Force parameter, the cmdlet cannot override security restrictions.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -InputObject <psobject>
        Specifies the objects to be written to the file. Enter a Variable that contains the objects or type a command or expression that gets the objects.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     true (ByValue)
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -NoClobber [<SwitchParameter>]
        Will not overwrite (replace the contents) of an existing file. By default, if a file exists in the specified path, Out-File overwrites the file without warning. If both Append and NoClobber are used, the output is appended to the existing file.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -Width <int>
        Specifies the number of characters in each line of output. Any additional characters are truncated, not wrapped. If you omit this parameter, the width is determined by the characteristics of the host. The default for the Windows PowerShell console is 80 (characters).

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -Confirm [<SwitchParameter>]
        Prompts you for confirmation before executing the command.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -WhatIf [<SwitchParameter>]
        Describes what would happen if you executed the command without actually executing the command.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    <CommonParameters>
        This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug,
        ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, WarningAction, WarningVariable,
        OutBuffer and OutVariable. For more information, type,
        “Get-Help about_CommonParameters“.

INPUTS
    System.Management.Automation.PSObject
        You can pipe any object to Out-File.

OUTPUTS
    None
        Out-File does not generate any output.

NOTES

        The Out cmdlets do not format objects; they just render them and send them to the specified display destination. If you send an unformatted object to an Out cmdlet, the cmdlet sends it to a formatting cmdlet before rendering it.

        The Out cmdlets do not have parameters for names or file paths. To send data to a cmdlet that contains the Out verb (an Out cmdlet), use a pipeline operator (|) to send the output of a Windows PowerShell command to the cmdlet. You can also store data in a Variable and use the InputObject parameter to pass the data to the cmdlet. For help, see the examples.

        Out-File sends data, but it does not emit any output objects. If you pipe the output of Out-File to Get-Member, Get-Member reports that no objects have been specified.

    ————————– EXAMPLE 1 ————————–

    C:\PS>Get-Process | Out-File -FilePath C:\Test1\process.txt

    Description
    ———–
    This command sends a list of processes on the computer to the Process.txt file. If the file does not exist, Out-File creates it. Because the name of the FilePath parameter is optional, you can omit it and submit the equivalent command “Get-Process | outfile C:\Test1\process.txt”.

    ————————– EXAMPLE 2 ————————–

    C:\PS>Get-Process | Out-File C:\Test1\process.txt -NoClobber

    Out-File : File C:\Test1\process.txt already exists and NoClobber was specified.
    At line:1 char:23
    + Get-Process | Out-File <<<< process.txt -NoClobber

    Description
    ———–
    This command also sends a list of processes to the Process.txt file, but it uses the NoClobber parameter, which prevents an existing file from being overwritten. The output shows the error message that appears when NoClobber is used with an existing file.

    ————————– EXAMPLE 3 ————————–

    C:\PS>$a = Get-Process

    C:\PS> Out-File -FilePath C:\Test1\process.txt -InputObject $a -Encoding ASCII -Width 50

    Description
    ———–
    These commands send a list of processes on the computer to the Process.txt file. The text is encoded in ASCII format so that it can be read by search programs like Findstr and Grep. By default, Out-File uses Unicode format.

    The first command gets the list of processes and stores them in the $a Variable. The second command uses the Out-File cmdlet to send the list to the Process.txt file.

    The command uses the InputObject parameter to specify that the input is in the $a Variable. It uses the Encoding parameter to convert the output to ASCII format. It uses the Width parameter to limit each line in the file to 50 characters. Because the lines of output are truncated at 50 characters, the rightmost column in the process table is omitted.

    ————————– EXAMPLE 4 ————————–

    C:\PS>Set-Location hklm:\software

    c:\PS>Get-Acl mycompany\mykey | Out-File -FilePath c:\ps\acl.txt

    c:\PS>Get-Acl mycompany\mykey | Out-File -FilePath FileSystem::acl.txt

    Description
    ———–
    These commands show how to use the Out-File cmdlet when you are not in a FileSystem drive.

    The first command sets the current location to the HKLM:\Software Registry key.

    The second and third commands have the same effect. They use the Get-Acl cmdlet to get the security descriptor of the MyKey Registry subkey (HKLM\Software\MyCompany\MyKey). A pipeline operator passes the result to the Out-File cmdlet, which sends it to the Acl.txt file.

    Because Out-File is not supported by the Windows PowerShell Registry provider, you must specify either the file system drive name, such as “c:”, or the name of the provider followed by two colons, “FileSystem::”, in the value of the FilePath parameter. The second and third commands demonstrate these methods.

RELATED LINKS
    Online version: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113363
    Out-String
    Out-Null
    Out-Host
    Out-Printer
    Out-Default
    Tee-Object

Alias, cmdlet, Export

Export-Alias

NAME
    Export-Alias

SYNOPSIS
    Exports information about currently defined Aliases to a file.

SYNTAX
    Export-Alias [-Path] <string> [[-Name] <string[]>] [-Append] [-As {Csv | Script}] [-Description <string>] [-Force] [-NoClobber] [-PassThru] [-Scope <string>] [-Confirm] [-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]

DESCRIPTION
    The Export-Alias cmdlet exports the Aliases in the current session to a file. If the output file does not exist, the cmdlet will create it.

    Export-Alias can export the Aliases in a particular scope or all scopes, it can generate the data in CSV format or as a series of Set-Alias commands that you can add to a session or to a Windows PowerShell profile.

PARAMETERS
    -Append [<SwitchParameter>]
        Appends the output to the specified file, rather than overwriting the existing contents of that file.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -As <ExportAliasFormat>
        Determines the output format. CSV is the default.

        Valid values are:

        — CSV: Comma-separated value (CSV) format.
        — Script: Creates a Set-Alias command for each exported Alias. If you name the output file with a .ps1 file name extension, you can run it as a script to add the Aliases to any session.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -Description <string>
        Adds a description to the exported file. The description appears as a comment at the top of the file, following the header information.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -Force [<SwitchParameter>]
        Overwrites the output file, even if the read-only attribute is set on the file.

        By default, Export-Alias overwrites files without warning, unless the read-only or hidden attribute is set or the NoClobber parameter is used in the command. The NoClobber parameter takes precedence over the Force parameter when both are used in a command.

        The Force parameter cannot force Export-Alias to overwrite files with the hidden attribute.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value                Does not overwrite read-only files.
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -Name <string[]>
        Specifies the names of the Aliases to export. Wildcards are permitted.

        By default, Export-Alias exports all Aliases in the session or scope.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    2
        Default value                Export all Aliases
        Accept pipeline input?     true (ByPropertyName)
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -NoClobber [<SwitchParameter>]
        Prevents Export-Alias from overwriting any files, even if the Force parameter is used in the command.

        If the NoClobber parameter is omitted, Export-Alias will overwrite an existing file without warning, unless the read-only attribute is set on the file. NoClobber takes precedence over the Force parameter, which permits Export-Alias to overwrite a file with the read-only attribute.

        NoClobber does not prevent the Append parameter from adding content to an existing file.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value                Overwrites read-write files.
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -PassThru [<SwitchParameter>]
        Returns objects that represent the Aliases that were exported. By default, this cmdlet does not generate any output.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value                No output
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -Path <string>
        Specifies the path to the output file. Wildcards are permitted, but the resulting path value must resolve to a single file name. This parameter is required.

        Required?                    true
        Position?                    1
        Default value                None
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -Scope <string>
        Specifies the scope from which the Aliases should be exported.

        Valid values are “Global”, “Local”, or “Script”, or a number relative to the current scope (0 through the number of scopes where 0 is the current scope and 1 is its parent). “Local” is the default. For more information, see about_scopes.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value                Local
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -Confirm [<SwitchParameter>]
        Prompts you for confirmation before executing the command.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    -WhatIf [<SwitchParameter>]
        Describes what would happen if you executed the command without actually executing the command.

        Required?                    false
        Position?                    named
        Default value
        Accept pipeline input?     false
        Accept wildcard characters? false

    <CommonParameters>
        This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug,
        ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, WarningAction, WarningVariable,
        OutBuffer and OutVariable. For more information, type,
        “Get-Help about_CommonParameters“.

INPUTS
    None.
        You cannot pipe objects to this cmdlet.

OUTPUTS
    None or System.Management.Automation.AliasInfo
        When you use the Passthru parameter, Export-Alias returns a System.Management.Automation.AliasInfo object that represents the Alias. Otherwise, this cmdlet does not generate any output.

NOTES

        You can only Export-Aliases to a file.

    ————————– EXAMPLE 1 ————————–

    C:\PS>Export-Alias -Path Alias.csv

    Description
    ———–
    This command exports current Alias information to a file named Alias.csv in the current directory.

    ————————– EXAMPLE 2 ————————–

    C:\PS>Export-Alias -Path Alias.csv -NoClobber

    Description
    ———–
    This command exports the Aliases in the current session to an Alias.csv file.

    Because the NoClobber parameter is specified, the command will fail if an Alias.csv file already exists in the current directory.

    ————————– EXAMPLE 3 ————————–

    C:\PS>Export-Alias -Path Alias.csv -Append -Description “Appended Aliases” -Force

    Description
    ———–
    This command appends the Aliases in the current session to the Alias.csv file.

    The command uses the Description parameter to add a description to the comments at the top of the file.

    The command also uses the Force parameter to overwrite any existing Alias.csv files, even if they have the read-only attribute.

    ————————– EXAMPLE 4 ————————–

    C:\PS>Export-Alias -Path Alias.ps1 -As script

    C:\PS> Add-Content -Path $profile -value (Get-Content Alias.ps1)

    C:\PS> $s = New-PSSession -computername Server01
    C:\PS> Invoke-Command -session $s -filepath .\alias.ps1

    Description
    ———–
    This example shows how to use the script file format that Export-Alias generates.

    The first command exports the Aliases in the session to the Alias.ps1 file. It uses the As parameter with a value of Script to generate a file that contains a Set-Alias command for each Alias.

    The second command adds the Aliases in the Alias.ps1 file to the CurrentUser-CurrentHost profile. (The path to the profile is saved in the $profile Variable.) The command uses the Get-Content cmdlet to get the Aliases from the Alias.ps1 file and the Add-Content cmdlet to add them to the profile. For more information, see about_profiles.

    The third and fourth commands add the Aliases in the Alias.ps1 file to a remote session on the Server01 computer. The third command uses the New-PSSession cmdlet to create the session. The fourth command uses the FilePath parameter of the Invoke-Command cmdlet to run the Alias.ps1 file in the new session.

RELATED LINKS
    Online version: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113296
    Import-Alias
    Get-Alias
    New-Alias
    Set-Alias