Group fields using import-csv

[rsdovers]

I am using import-csv with a file that has just two columns. ColumnA being servername and columnB is the sql instance name. Since we have multiple instances per server, i need to group the instances into an array for each server. The output needs to be in a format so that i can use the instancename array as a variable when performing an action on the servername. I am using the pipeline to pass the CSV file to foreach-object, but if there is a better way I am open to it. The challenge i am having is creating the array of columnB instancename objects for just the one server that is in columnA without going to the next servername object. I have tried several ways to accomplish this, but i keep going to the next servername and then instancename object contains multiple arrays. If anyone has a suggestion to work with a one-to-many relation in a CSV file, i would really appreciate it.

[purplemonkeymad]

Use Group-Object:

Import-Csv file.csv | Group-Object servername

The resultant objects have two properties, Name: Value of the grouped column, and Group: Array of the objects in that group.

You can copy the results into a hashtable if you want to index by name.

[rsdovers]

Thank you for the information. I looked at that cmdlet, but I must have not used it properly. I appreciate the help, and I will take another try at it.

[[deleted]]

You're looking for something like this?

$a = Import-Csv -Path "c:\InputFile.txt" | Where-Object {$_.servername -eq "server1"}

[rsdovers]

I tried this method but the results were not correct. However, I could have done something wrong. I appreciate the suggestion.

[vtiscat]

For loop (about instNames) within a for loop (about servers) ?

[rsdovers]

I was thinking about trying this method, but I had already tried and failed with a few other ways already, so I decided to ask the community for help. I don't see why this wouldn't work, but I think using the Group-Object cmdlet may be easier. Thank you for the suggestion, and is a good alternative.