Using the replace operator to remove extra text from a string

Question

I have a list of Active Directory group name in the form

cn=GROUPA,ou=Dept1,ou=Departmental Groups,ou=GROUPS1,dc=test,dc=server,dc=com

and I was wondering if there was a way to use the -replace function to remove all of the "ou=" and "dc=" sections. I know I could just use

-replace "ou=Dept1",""

but I want to know if there is a way I could replace "ou=Dept1" without knowing the Dept1 part, since not all of the group names include Dept1, but instead use other names. I was thinking maybe some way of using select-string with a -notlike, but I have not found a way yet. Thank you.

Andy Arismendi · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-23 17:15:54Z

1

To remove all ou= and dc=

-replace 'dc=.+?,|dc=.+$|ou=.+?,',''

It will leave you with cn=GROUPA,. If you actually just want the cn part you can do:

-match '(cn=.+?),' | Out-Null
$matches[1]

In the second part of your question you can replace the ou= parts without knowing the name like this:

-replace 'ou=.+?', 'ou=test,'

edited Apr 23, 2013 at 17:15

answered Apr 23, 2013 at 16:34

Andy Arismendi

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4 Comments

Frode F. Over a year ago

Am I reading the question wrong? It seems he wants to only keep the container part, so why are you removing it? ^^

Andy Arismendi Over a year ago

That's what I interpreted ... a way to ... remove all of the "ou=" and "dc=" sections to mean @Graimer. The question as worded is a bit confusing TBH.

Frode F. Over a year ago

You're saying the same as me, but your answer is different. Your code is removing the CONTAINER(cn), not the domain comp.(dc) as it should.

Andy Arismendi Over a year ago

oh LOL I see, I misread dc to be cn, Thx @Graimer, i'll fix it.

Austin T French · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-23 16:31:36Z

1

Yes, just use replace...

$myOUString.Replace(",ou",",dc")

Would replace each ,cn with ,dn and would also make sure that if there were a group that contained ou for some other reason you are OK, for eaxample Thousands would not become thdcsands.

$myOuString -Replace ",ou",",dc" should also work.

Eitherway, you should not need wildcards in your example, because you do not want to replace ou=ForgottenUsers with dc=

answered Apr 23, 2013 at 16:31

Austin T French

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Comments

mjolinor · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-23 17:14:43Z

1

Coming at it from the other direction:

-replace '.+?(dc=.+)','$1'

answered Apr 23, 2013 at 17:14

mjolinor

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