“Export” is a word that has become synonymous with “on the outside of society,” yet if we look further into its meaning — which can be traced back to Latin and then Germanic roots — it becomes clear how difficult it is for any individual or group in our world today to live without some products being exported.
The “export and import meaning” is a tool that allows users to export their files. Users can also import the files they have exported.
The Export-CSV cmdlet is useful if you need to export data from PowerShell to a CSV file. This cmdlet helps administrators save time by converting unstructured text into an organized format. Instead than fiddling around with Excel, we can produce CSV files using PowerShell.
With the Export-Csv cmdlet, you can produce CSV files from any PowerShell object to feed reports, transfer to databases, and more.
The CSV format is just a text file with a comma-separated list of rows. We could possibly use a general text file command like Set-Content to perform the job since it’s simply a text file. However, using a general command would need creating the requisite CSV format ourself. Why do that when Export-Csv already has a CSV export command for sending CSV output to a file?
A certain structure is required for CSV files. The ability of this PowerShell cmdlet to interpret, read, and convert data to CSV files is what makes it so useful.
CSV Rows Objects -eq
The only function of the Export-Csv cmdlet is to save PowerShell objects to a CSV file.
Let’s imagine you have a property named foo and another called bar. Each of these characteristics has a value of one or two. When you give that object to Export-Csv, a CSV file with two columns and a single row will be created. The contents of the CSV file may then be imported and examined.
PS> $testObject = [pscustomobject]@{‘foo’ = 1; ‘bar’ = 2} PS> $testObject | Export-Csv -Path C:TestObject.csv PS> $testObject foo bar 1 2 PS> Import-Csv -Path C:TestObject.csv foo bar 1 2
PowerShell handles a memory object and a CSV file in the same way! My column labels are also intended to be headers. Using this cmdlet to export objects is the same as saving them to the file system. We can check the raw content using the general text PowerShell command Get-Content to see what the Export-Csv command exported.
PS> Get-Content -Path C:TestObject.csv #TYPE System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject “foo”,”bar” “1”,”2″
Each row item is surrounded by a double quotation in the command. This also enables you to use fields with spaces.
Parameters to Consider
The Export-CSV cmdlet in Windows PowerShell 5.1 specifies the kind of object that generates the CSV file. If you’d prefer not see this line right now, a common argument is NoTypeInformation, which completely removes it.
You can discover the hard way if you deal with a lot of different CSV files or data sources because Export-CSV overwrites previous files. If you use the Append argument, however, there will be no issues. Instead of overwriting an existing file, the Append argument enables you to add rows to the CSV.
Delimiter is another helpful option. You may need to build a CSV file that doesn’t utilize the standard list separator (comma) to separate fields on occasion. Instead, you may need to construct a file with a lot of data that utilizes tabs or semicolons as separators. We may also use the Export-Csv PowerShell cmdlet to aid us with these by giving the delimiter we require.
PS> $testObject | Export-Csv -Path C:TestObject.csv -Delimiter “`t” PS> Get-Content -Path C:TestObject.csv #TYPE System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject “foo” “bar” “1” “2”
How to Use Quotation Marks
Export-Csv encloses all fields in quote marks when producing CSV rows. This may not be desirable in certain circumstances. Unfortunately, there isn’t much that can be done about it. However, with a little additional coding, it is possible.
An example of how to create a CSV file may be seen below. Get-Content then reads the raw text file and removes any double quotes from memory. Set-Content then copies the information from memory to disk.
$testObject | C:TestObject.csv | Export-Csv (Get-Content -Path C:TestObject.csv -Raw). replace(‘”‘,”) | -Path C:TestObject.csv Set-Content
Summary
The Export-Csv cmdlet is a basic yet powerful tool for working with CSV files. It can decipher a CSV data file’s structure and convert PowerShell objects into CSV rows.
I’m not going back to batch or VBScript, when producing a CSV file from an existing object requires establishing a FileSystemObject, a loop, and a slew of Write() methods!
Another wonderful incentive to start developing PowerShell code today is this command!
The “export synonym” is a command-line tool that allows users to export their files in various formats. The command has many options, and the most common format is PDF.
Related Tags
- export data
- export company
- export business
- export trade
- export examples
