Utilizing PowerShell’s String Manipulation

The System.String object in PowerShell is a very useful object to get to know.  Many times I see Network Admins trying to create a lot of extra code that is not necessary when it comes to manipulating the contents of a string.  Even though I instruct that outputting data as a string is not a good PowerShell process, we need to be able to handle string data as input.  A case in point, what if you need to extract data from the message portion of an event log entry?  To simulate a string with multiple lines, I use this code:

$String = "This is a set of data.`n"

$String += "It has multiple lines.`n"

$String += "I need to extract the name of a computer.`n"

$String += "Computer Name: Indy-DC1.`n"

$String += "Now, try to extract it."

You can see that the string is telling us our objective.  I want to extract the name of the computer, Indy-DC1, from this string. The `n provides for a carriage return.  This is what the string looks like when you ask for the variable $String:

PS C:\> $String

This is a set of data.

It has multiple lines.

I need to extract the name of a computer.

Computer Name: Indy-DC1.

Now, try to extract it.

First let’s explore a couple of methods.  If you execute the command $String | Get-Member, you will see a list of the methods that are available to you.
To get a description of the methods for the object System.String, we can go to MSDN.  Take a look at the MSDN article for System.String. Since only one line of the string actually has the name of the computer, we need to somehow eliminate all the other lines.  Take a look at the Split method.  According to MSDN:
Returns a string array that contains the substrings in this string that are delimited by elements of a specified Unicode character array. Parameters specify the maximum number of substrings to return and whether to return empty array elements.
So we are going to turn this string into an array.  We need to use a delimiter to separate each line.  The easiest way to do this is by using the carriage return.

$String = $String.Split("`n")

The Split method has split up the string.  There are two ways to find the container of the array that holds the computer name.  If the string data is always on the same line, we could use the index number.  Remember, the first container of the array is at index 0.

$Data = $String[3]

If we do not know what line the value is on, we can utilize other information in the line that does not change to search for it.

ForEach ($Item in $String)

{

    If ($Item.Contains("Computer Name:"))

    {

        $Data = $Item

    }

}

This code cycles through each line of the string in the array.  It utilizes the Contains method of System.String.  If the string contains the text that follows (Computer Name:), the response is TRUE.  If it is TRUE, then that line of text is saved in the variable $Data.
If we take a look at $Data, this is what we get.

PS C:\> $Data

Computer Name: Indy-DC1.

We are getting close, but we are not down to just the computer name.  Utilizing the Replace method allows us to remove text from the string that we do not want.

$Data = $Item.Replace("Computer Name:", "")

Now the output looks like this.

PS C:\> $Data

 Indy-DC1.

We still have a period at the end of the string and a space at the beginning.  To deal with the period, let’s use the Replace method again.

$Data = $Item.Replace("Computer Name:", "").Replace(".","")

We then add our second Replace method to handle the period.  Now for the extra space.  We could use Replace, but the string method also has a Trim.  Trim will remove all spaces to the left and right of the string.  TrimStrart and TrimEnd will remove just the spaces to the left and right of the string.

$Data = $Item.Replace("Computer Name:", "").Replace(".","").Trim()

I used Trim to ensure there were not any spaces after the text that I could not see.  Here is the final output.

PS C:\> $Data

Indy-DC1

Take the time to look at the member information for each object that you use in PowerShell.  You never know, someone may have already written the code that you need.  Below is the final code for used in this post.

$String = "This is a set of data.`n"

$String += "It has multiple lines.`n"

$String += "I need to extract the name of a computer.`n"

$String += "Computer Name: Indy-DC1.`n"

$String += "Now, try to extract it."

$String = $String.Split("`n")

ForEach ($Item in $String)

{

    If ($Item.Contains("Computer Name:"))

    {

        $Data = $Item.Replace("Computer Name:", "").Replace(".","").Trim()

    }

}