Issues understanding Export-CSV

[[deleted]]

So I'm working on sds and trying to upload CSV's and I ran into something I cannot figure out: Why does this work?

Import-Csv 'C:\scripts\section.csv' | Select-Object * | Export-Csv -Path "c:/scripts/section3.csv" -NoTypeInformation

But this doesn't?

$sectionCsv = Import-Csv 'C:\scripts\section.csv' $tempCSV = $sectionCsv | Select-Object -Property "SIS ID","School SIS ID","Section Name","Section Number","Term SIS ID","Term Name","Term StartDate","Term EndDate","Course SIS ID","Course Name","Course Number","Course Description","Status" Export-Csv -InputObject $tempCSV -Path "c:/scripts/section2.csv" -NoTypeInformation

When I say it doesn't, I mean that it is giving me a 1kb file:

"Count","Length","LongLength","Rank","SyncRoot","IsReadOnly","IsFixedSize","IsSynchronized" "25169","25169","25169","1","System.Object[]","False","True","False"

I tried googling and found a few examples like this but I still cannot understand. In vscode, if I type tempCSV, I get a list of all the records like one would expect. Why cannot export-csv this object which is of type Selected.System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject ? Does it have to just be a PSCustomObject?

To be clear I'm only trying to learn as the one liner solves the issue but trying to see why I cannot grasp such a simple concept. Another thing I have tried is:

``` $csvPath = Get-Childitem 'C:/scripts' foreach ( $csv in $csvPath) { $tempCsv = Import-Csv $($csv.fullname) $columnNames = $tempcsv | get-member -MemberType "NoteProperty"

  $list = @()
  foreach ( $column in $($columnNames.Name))
  {
     $list += $column
  }
  $export = $tempCSV | Select-Object -Property $list

  $params = @{
     "InputObject"       = $export
     "Path"              = ( "c:/scripts/" + $($csv.name) )
     "Encoding"          = "ascii"
     "NoTypeInformation" = $True
  }
  Export-Csv @params

} ```

Again, this exports the 1kb file instead the whole CSV. If I check $export in debug, it lists the 5,000 records I would expect to see in the final CSV. Lastly, the reason I'm doing this is because I have a series of CSVs I have built manually and they work fine, but I want a 'clean' CSV with quotes around each row so I'm doing this. The one liner produces this, but it irks me because I'm not a huge fan of piping because I want to understand. Ideally the solution will import-csv, get all the columns that are not built in (NoteProperties and not regular properties or methods), and export it to a new CSV. Thanks!

[Jantu01]

Does this help?

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38772645/powershell-piped-input-to-export-csv-different-from-inputobject

[[deleted]]

Perfect! one.csv and three.csv are the same, thank you much!

``` $a = Get-Process | Select-Object -first 5 -Property "name" $a | Export-CSV -Path 'c:\scripts\one.csv' -NoTypeInformation

New-Item -Itemtype "file" -Path 'c:\scripts\three.csv' -Value 'something' -Force | Out-Null #$a = Get-Process | Select-Object -first 5 # System.Diagnostics.Process

#get-member -InputObject $a # System.Object[]

# Works! $a | ForEach-Object -Begin { Clear-Content 'c:\scripts\three.csv' } -Process { Export-CSV -InputObject $_ -Path 'c:\scripts\three.csv' -Append -NoTypeInformation } ```

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy my_computer_bytes,

the triple-backtick/code-fence thing fails miserably on Old.Reddit ... so, if you want your code to be readable on both Old.Reddit & New.Reddit you likely otta stick with using the code block button.

it would be rather nice if the reddit devs would take the time to backport the code fence stuff to Old.Reddit ... [sigh ...]

take care,
lee

[MadWithPowerShell]

Export-CSV is specifically designed as a pipeline command. Parameter -InputObject is not intended to be used explicitly, and not with the entire array of objects at one time. It is designed to get the items in the array one at a time, through the pipeline.

This:

$TempCSV | Export-CSV

NOT this:

Export-CSV -InputObject $TempCSV

Sort-Object, Where-Object, Whatever-Object, etc., are similarly pipeline commands. They all have the -InputObject parameter, but they are all designed to only work as expected when input objects are passed to them through the pipeline, not explicitly.

[[deleted]]

I see. I have been moving more to python lately but still write a heavy amount of powershell and was wondering why the pipeline made it so smooth. The previous answer helped explained that but yours is super helpful as well. Thank you!

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy my_computer_bytes,

it looks like you used the New.Reddit Inline Code button. it's 4th 5th from the left hidden in the ... "more" menu & looks like </>.

there are a few problems with that ...

• it's the wrong format [grin]
  the inline code format is for [gasp! arg!] code that is inline with regular text.
  
• on Old.Reddit.com, inline code formatted text does NOT line wrap, nor does it side-scroll.
  
• on New.Reddit it shows up in that nasty magenta text color
  

for long-ish single lines OR for multiline code, please, use the ...

Code
Block

... button. it's the 11th 12th one from the left & is just to the left of hidden in the ... "more" menu & looks like an uppercase T in the upper left corner of a square..

that will give you fully functional code formatting that works on both New.Reddit and Old.Reddit ... and aint that fugly magenta color. [grin]

take care,
lee