Forum Discussion

AndiPsh180's avatar
AndiPsh180
Copper Contributor
Dec 21, 2021

How construct a variable that works with export-csv?

Hello,

I have a small csv file that I import in Powershell into a variable. Here it is (as I can't seem to upload a file):

 

 

 

"RGG","BAS","IMT"
"keepass","webex","firefox"
"acrobat","ciscoany","teams"
"","keepass","Visio"
"","Acrobat","Project"
"","gekkotArt",""

 

 

After importing it I can examine $myCsvVar in many ways.

For example:

 

 

$myCsvVar= Import-Csv -Path C:\temp\csvFile.csv -Delimiter ","

$myCsvVar
$myCsvVar.RGG 
$myCsvVar.RGG[1]
$myCsvVar[1]
$myCsvVar[1,2]
$myCsvVar.gettype()
$myCsvVar.RGG.gettype()
$myCsvVar[1].gettype()
$myCsvVar|get-member

 

 

However hard I try, I am not able to create such a variable from within Powershell.

Would anybody here know how to do that? 

The reason is that I have to construct a variable as an object that I then can use with export-csv.

Thank you.

 

construct variable for export-csv
  • AndiPsh180's avatar
    AndiPsh180
    Copper Contributor
    Jan 05, 2022

    AndiPsh180 

    Hi,

    One solution would be to create an array of pscustomobjects like so:

     

    $myArr=@()
for($i=0; $i -lt 10; $i++){
    $myArr = $myArr + [PSCustomObject]@{AAA = ""; BBB = ""; CCC = "" }
    }

     

    Afterwards I can set any cell of the matrix:

     

    $myArr[2].aaa="note"

     

    The only problem is that I have more then three keys, all through to ZZZ.

    As I don't want to type them all, I wonder whether I can get this done programmatically?

    I tried to build a string variable and put it within the curly brackets of the hashtable. But the compiler does not allow for that as it requires a hard coded equal sign.

    Anybody have an idea?

    Thank you

     

  • Harm_Veenstra's avatar
    Harm_Veenstra
    MVP
    Dec 23, 2021
    Usually you create an array with all the fields (colums) that you need and export it to a .csv using export-csv with the -NoTypeInformation parameter.

    Example export to csv with a list of files in c:\temp

    [array]$contents=Get-ChildItem c:\temp
    $contents | export-csv -Path c:\temp\x.csv -Delimiter ';' -NoTypeInformation

    • AndiPsh180's avatar
      AndiPsh180
      Copper Contributor
      Dec 23, 2021
      Hello,
      thank you for looking into this.
      When I pull contents from my small csv file into a variable, I have no problem to export it again.
      However, as I need to get things from here and there, strings mostly, I figured I would construct a variable just like the one I get after importing my csv file.
      But that does not work. As long as I pull objects into a variable it is okay. But constructing a variable and putting strings from different places into it seems impossible.
      So far I helped myself by writing into a file, knowing that the data in csv must be homogenous troughout.
      It would have been elegant to construct the variable first as an object, give it the noteproperties (members) I need and only do one export-csv in the end.
      Good New Year 2022 to you - in any case.

Resources