I'm dabbling in PowerShell again. My experience thus far has been limited to file operations typically found in old school DOS batch files (build folder structures, copy files, append to a file, etc.).
The following outputs a property label ("TotalSeconds") and its property value ("12.3456").
Measure-Command { c:\_foo\test.txt c:\_bar } | select TotalSeconds
How do I output only the property value ("12.3456")?
Thanks!
Wrap the whole command in parentheses, and use the dot operator to access the property name.
Give this a shot:
(Measure-Command { c:\_foo\test.txt c:\_bar } | select TotalSeconds).TotalSeconds;
Or even more simply:
(Measure-Command { c:\_foo\test.txt c:\_bar }).TotalSeconds;
measure-command { ... } | select-object -expandproperty TotalSecondsThe Select-Object cmdlet has an -ExpandProperty parameter that will return the property's value:
Measure-Command { c:\_foo\test.txt c:\_bar } |
Select-Object -ExpandProperty TotalSeconds
You can use the -ExpandProperty option on the Select-Object cmdlet. Here's a real-life example.
I want to add cl.exe from the MSVC toolchain to my path, so I can compile C programs from the Windows CMD prompt and PowerShell. I never remember the full path because it's buried in the application folder.
I do remember the path to the application folder though, so I assign it to a variable and use Get-ChildItem and Select-Object with a few options you may not have seen yet*.
_
Here is the example:
<0.o> $d="c:\program files (x86)\microsoft visual studio"
<0.o> get-childitem -path $d -filter 'cl.exe' -force -recurse -erroraction silentlycontinue|select -expandproperty directory|select -expandproperty fullname
C:\program files (x86)\microsoft visual studio\2019\Community\SDK\ScopeCppSDK\vc15\VC\bin
C:\program files (x86)\microsoft visual studio\2019\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\bin\Hostx64\x64
C:\program files (x86)\microsoft visual studio\2019\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\bin\Hostx64\x86
C:\program files (x86)\microsoft visual studio\2019\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\bin\Hostx86\x64
C:\program files (x86)\microsoft visual studio\2019\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\bin\Hostx86\x86
This task confused me at first, because I tried to go straight from this:
> get-childitem -path $y -filter "cl.exe" -recurse -erroraction silentlycontinue -force|select directory
Directory : C:\program files (x86)\microsoft visual
studio\2019\Community\SDK\ScopeCppSDK\vc15\VC\bin
Directory : C:\program files (x86)\microsoft visual
studio\2019\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\bin\Hostx64\x64
Directory : C:\program files (x86)\microsoft visual
studio\2019\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\bin\Hostx64\x86
Directory : C:\program files (x86)\microsoft visual
studio\2019\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\bin\Hostx86\x64
Directory : C:\program files (x86)\microsoft visual
studio\2019\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30037\bin\Hostx86\x86
to this:
> get-childitem -path $y -filter "cl.exe" -recurse -erroraction silentlycontinue -force|select -expandtab directory
Name : bin
CreationTime : 7/26/2021 12:47:05 AM
LastWriteTime : 7/26/2021 12:47:06 AM
LastAccessTime : 9/29/2021 9:32:55 AM
Mode : d-----
LinkType :
Target : {}
Name : x64
CreationTime : 7/26/2021 12:49:02 AM
LastWriteTime : 7/26/2021 12:50:09 AM
LastAccessTime : 9/29/2021 9:32:55 AM
Mode : d-----
LinkType :
Target : {}
Name : x86
CreationTime : 7/26/2021 12:49:02 AM
LastWriteTime : 7/26/2021 12:50:09 AM
LastAccessTime : 9/29/2021 9:32:55 AM
Mode : d-----
LinkType :
Target : {}
Name : x64
CreationTime : 7/26/2021 12:48:55 AM
LastWriteTime : 7/26/2021 12:50:09 AM
LastAccessTime : 9/29/2021 9:32:55 AM
Mode : d-----
LinkType :
Target : {}
Name : x86
CreationTime : 7/26/2021 12:48:54 AM
LastWriteTime : 7/26/2021 12:50:09 AM
LastAccessTime : 9/29/2021 9:32:55 AM
Mode : d-----
LinkType :
Target : {}
Yikes! Adding -ExpandTab to my previous command didn't give me what I wanted. Let's back up and use the Get-Module command (gm) to look at the objects in my pipeline:
> get-childitem -path $y -filter "cl.exe" -recurse -erroraction silentlycontinue -force|select -expandproperty directory|gm
TypeName: System.IO.DirectoryInfo
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
LinkType CodeProperty System.String LinkType{get=GetLinkType;}
Mode CodeProperty System.String Mode{get=Mode;}
Target CodeProperty System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1[[...
Create Method void Create(), void Create(System.Security...
CreateObjRef Method System.Runtime.Remoting.ObjRef CreateObjRe...
CreateSubdirectory Method System.IO.DirectoryInfo CreateSubdirectory...
Delete Method void Delete(), void Delete(bool recursive)
EnumerateDirectories Method System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable[Sys...
EnumerateFiles Method System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable[Sys...
EnumerateFileSystemInfos Method System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable[Sys...
Equals Method bool Equals(System.Object obj)
GetAccessControl Method System.Security.AccessControl.DirectorySec...
GetDirectories Method System.IO.DirectoryInfo[] GetDirectories()...
GetFiles Method System.IO.FileInfo[] GetFiles(string searc...
GetFileSystemInfos Method System.IO.FileSystemInfo[] GetFileSystemIn...
GetHashCode Method int GetHashCode()
GetLifetimeService Method System.Object GetLifetimeService()
GetObjectData Method void GetObjectData(System.Runtime.Serializ...
GetType Method type GetType()
InitializeLifetimeService Method System.Object InitializeLifetimeService()
MoveTo Method void MoveTo(string destDirName)
Refresh Method void Refresh()
SetAccessControl Method void SetAccessControl(System.Security.Acce...
ToString Method string ToString()
Attributes Property System.IO.FileAttributes Attributes {get;s...
CreationTime Property datetime CreationTime {get;set;}
CreationTimeUtc Property datetime CreationTimeUtc {get;set;}
Exists Property bool Exists {get;}
Extension Property string Extension {get;}
FullName Property string FullName {get;}
LastAccessTime Property datetime LastAccessTime {get;set;}
LastAccessTimeUtc Property datetime LastAccessTimeUtc {get;set;}
LastWriteTime Property datetime LastWriteTime {get;set;}
LastWriteTimeUtc Property datetime LastWriteTimeUtc {get;set;}
Name Property string Name {get;}
Parent Property System.IO.DirectoryInfo Parent {get;}
Root Property System.IO.DirectoryInfo Root {get;}
BaseName ScriptProperty System.Object BaseName {get=$this.Name;}
I spy a FullName property that looks promising, bringing me to the final version I showed up top.
_
*For options you have not seen, pop open a powershell and type:
get-help get-childitem -showwindow
or
get-help select-object -showwindow
and use the search bar at the top of the window that appears to search for the option you want.
