Filter a large log file using powerscript

Question

I am trying to filter a large log file. Is there a way to read a line from the log, if the line contains less than 2 characters, delete the entire line from the log using power-script

I have come up with a way of counting characters in the file

  Get-Content ./output.txt | ForEach-Object { $_ | Measure-Object -Character } | Out-File count.txt

This counts each line and then outputs the characters counted into another file

And I know how to delete an empty line

  Get-Content .\output.txt | where {$_ -ne ""} | Set-Content out.txt

or a line that contains a specific character or string

  Get-Content .\in.txt | Where-Object {$_ -notmatch 'STRING'} | Set-Content out.txt

Is there a way to pipe the output and ask "if the count is <=1 delete that line from the log"

Basically

    for each line
      if line is <= 1 delete line
      else leave alone

I hope this makes sense to you guys, I find it hard to get out whats in my head sometimes in a way that makes sense to others. Any help would be much appreciated

Lars Truijens · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-06 11:48:44Z

3

$_ is a [string]/System.String and a string has properties and methods of which one tells us the length of the string.

Get-Content .\output.txt | where {$_.Length -gt 1} | Set-Content out.txt

answered Sep 6, 2013 at 11:48

Lars Truijens

43.9k6 gold badges134 silver badges146 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Andy Over a year ago

Thanks Loads :) And it makes sense

Ansgar Wiechers · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-06 11:54:02Z

2

If you want to use a regular expression to remove lines with less than 2 characters, you can do the following:

Get-Content .\in.txt | ? { $_ -match '..' } | Set-Content .\out.txt

The expression .. matches strings with at least 2 characters (not including newlines).

answered Sep 6, 2013 at 11:54

Ansgar Wiechers

202k27 gold badges286 silver badges363 bronze badges

2 Comments

Andy Over a year ago

Brilliant, it worked. Thanks loads. I'm not sure how or why it works but I'll work it out

Ansgar Wiechers Over a year ago

Get-Content returns the contents of the file as an array of lines. The regular expression allows all lines with 2 or more characters to pass and discards the rest.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Filter a large log file using powerscript

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related