Read one data element from each of the first two rows of a text file, output to .csv

Fred_Elmendorf 

As with the last script, I'm going to assume this new requirement also only uses the first two lines.

Based on this sample data across two separate files:

File 1

Station=Station1 Name
RECORDER=V3.1.8
DFR=ONLINE
PC_TIME=07/26/2023-15:41:25
TIME_MARK_SOURCE=IRIG-B
TIME_MARK_TIME=07/26/2023-15:41:26.000000
Clock=SYNC(lock)
IEEE_1344=Yes
DATA_DISK_SIZE=999546736640
DATA_DRIVE=289GB/999GB

File 2

Station=Station2 Name
RECORDER=V3.1.8
DFR=ONLINE
PC_TIME=07/26/2023-15:41:25
TIME_MARK_SOURCE=IRIG-B
TIME_MARK_TIME=07/26/2023-15:41:26.000000
Clock=SYNC(lock)
IEEE_1344=Yes
DATA_DISK_SIZE=999546736640
DATA_DRIVE=289GB/999GB

We get this output

"Station","Version","Filename","Created"
"Station1 Name","V3.1.8","D:\Data\Temp\Forum\forums.txt","20/03/2023 5:51:01 PM"
"Station2 Name","V3.1.8","D:\Data\Temp\Forum\forums2.txt","27/07/2023 9:49:17 PM"

From this example script

# Specify our CSV output file name.
$TargetFile = "D:\Data\Temp\Forum\forum.csv";

# Instantiate a new HashTable outside the loop to minimise overhead, should this have to scale to tens of thousands of files (or more.)
$HashTable = @{};

Get-ChildItem -Path "D:\Data\Temp\Forum\*" -Filter "forums*.txt" -Recurse -Depth 2 |
    ForEach-Object {
        $File = $_;
        # Read just the first two lines of the file.
        Get-Content -Path ($File.FullName) -TotalCount 2 |
            ForEach-Object {
                # Treat the first "=" only as the separator, ensuring that even if more "=" are in the rest of the string, it's not broken up into smaller substrings.
                $Parts = $_.Split([char[]]@("="), 2);

                # Some basic validation to ensure we're not reading an ineligible file.
                if (($HashTable.Count -gt 0) -or ("station" -eq $Parts[0]))
                {
                    # Add the key-value pairs to the HastTable.
                    switch ($Parts[0])
                    {
                        "station" {
                            $HashTable.Add("Station", $Parts[1]);   # Add the station value.
                            continue;
                        }

                        "recorder" {
                            $HashTable.Add("Version", $Parts[1]);   # Add the version.
                            break;
                        }

                        default {
                            # We're not going to do anything in this scenario, but it's good practice to include a default handler.
                            continue;
                        }
                    }
                }
            }

        # Time to output something useful, as long as both the values were obtained.
        if ($HashTable.Count -eq 2)
        {
            [PSCustomObject] @{
                Station  = [string]$HashTable["Station"];
                Version  = [string]$HashTable["Version"];
                Filename = $File.FullName;
                Created  = $File.CreationTime;
            }
        }

        # Clean out the HashTable, to ensure it's ready for use in the next file or just because we've finished and cleaning up after ourselves.
        $HashTable.Clear();
    } | Export-Csv -NoTypeInformation -Path $TargetFile;

Cheers,

Lain