Forum Discussion
Select-Object Substring Blank
Hi.
You're likely getting a blank because there's not such function named "Substring" in PowerShell. What does exist is the Substring() method on a string object, but you're not referencing that, hence the blank result.
Secondly, the property "Directory" is of type [System.IO.FileSystemInfo], not [System.String]. PowerShell can and does do various kind of implicit conversions but it's inefficient, occasionally ambiguous and therefore hard to debug for the uninitiated. Instead of "Directory", use the "DirectoryName" property, as it is of type [System.String].
You do not need the "Where" clause in this example. Get-ChildItem provides a parameter named "-File" which does what your "Where" clause does, just more efficiently.
Lastly, you need to perform some bounds checking as a call .Substring() cannot have a negative number for the starting position, else it will throw a .NET exception.
With those considerations in mind, here's an adjusted version of your command that does what you've asked.
Get-ChildItem -File -Filter *.txt -Recurse -Path "C:\SamIam\Listings" | Select-Object @{Name='Directory2';e={ if ($_.DirectoryName.Length -ge 10) { $_.DirectoryName.Substring($_.DirectoryName.Length - 10) } else { $_.DirectoryName } }},Name,DirectoryNameCheers,
Lain
Hi.
You're likely getting a blank because there's not such function named "Substring" in PowerShell. What does exist is the Substring() method on a string object, but you're not referencing that, hence the blank result.
Secondly, the property "Directory" is of type [System.IO.FileSystemInfo], not [System.String]. PowerShell can and does do various kind of implicit conversions but it's inefficient, occasionally ambiguous and therefore hard to debug for the uninitiated. Instead of "Directory", use the "DirectoryName" property, as it is of type [System.String].
You do not need the "Where" clause in this example. Get-ChildItem provides a parameter named "-File" which does what your "Where" clause does, just more efficiently.
Lastly, you need to perform some bounds checking as a call .Substring() cannot have a negative number for the starting position, else it will throw a .NET exception.
With those considerations in mind, here's an adjusted version of your command that does what you've asked.
Get-ChildItem -File -Filter *.txt -Recurse -Path "C:\SamIam\Listings" | Select-Object @{Name='Directory2';e={ if ($_.DirectoryName.Length -ge 10) { $_.DirectoryName.Substring($_.DirectoryName.Length - 10) } else { $_.DirectoryName } }},Name,DirectoryName
Cheers,
Lain
- Thank you all for your assistance, and the various options! Great help, and much appreciated!
