windows powershell add text to the beginning of each object in a csv file

Question

I have a csv file like this:

samaccountname,enabled
user1,false
user2,false

I want to take each entry in the samaccaountname column and add this exact text:

C:\Users\

then I need to create a new csv file that only contains a single column with the new data like this:

header
C:\Users\User1
C:\Users\User2
C:\Users\User3

what is the best way to accomplish this?

What have you tried, and how has what you've tried failed? Ideally, you should provide a Minimal, Complete, and Verifiable Example of what you've tried, and include specific information on how it failed, with error messages and/or erroneous output. SO is not a code-writing service; the best questions are those which provide useful information so that those who answer can guide you to devising your own correct answer. See How to Ask a Good Question. — Jeff Zeitlin
– Jeff Zeitlin, Commented Jun 8, 2017 at 19:03
I've been playing with using this: Import-Csv -Delim ';' disabled.csv | Foreach {$_.samaccountname = "prepend\$($_.samaccountname)";$_} | Export-Csv dispaths.csv -Delim ';' -NoTypeInformation but its telling me it can't find the property im specifying. I thought for sure I was barking up the wrong tree... — soltkr
– soltkr, Commented Jun 8, 2017 at 19:10
Read in file to a powershell object, loop through each instance in the CSV and change the property value and then rewrite it back to the file. — thepip3r
– thepip3r, Commented Jun 8, 2017 at 19:13
You should not put code into comments; edit your question to include the new information. — Jeff Zeitlin
– Jeff Zeitlin, Commented Jun 8, 2017 at 19:20

thepip3r · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-08 19:49:16Z

1

Another way to skin this cat is to use the custom property creation via Select-Object:

import-csv $yourcsv | Select-Object *,@{Name="fullpath";Expression={"C:\users\$($_.path)"}} | export-csv -notypeinformation $newcsv

this time, tested and does work.

Edit: and if you don't want the original property, just change Select object to select the properties you do want with the custom property included.

edited Jun 8, 2017 at 19:49

answered Jun 8, 2017 at 19:16

thepip3r

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8 Comments

soltkr Over a year ago

thanks for this. however, i keep getting "The property 'samaccountname' cannot be found on this object." when I run it. I am certain cell A1 contains exactly this text: samaccountname. what am I missing here?

thepip3r Over a year ago

this was supposed to be a sample to get you in the right direction. assign 'gc $sourcefile' to a variable, look at the property names it imports and then replace 'samaccountname' with whatever property it is tha tyou want to append "C:\users" to

BenH Over a year ago

@soltkr gc is Get-Content which won't have that property, using Import-CSV would get rid of that error.

soltkr Over a year ago

@thepip3r sorry, I should have been more clear. I didnt just copy and past your example into the powershell. I altered it to fit my csv filename and the column heading I want to append is samaccountname

soltkr Over a year ago

@benh making that change quited the errors and created the export .csv file. however it was empty. i changed the export-csv at the end of the code to out-file and tried again but I got the same thing an empty csv file...

|

BenH · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-08 22:11:18Z

0

Import the csv, loop through the entries of that csv, for each of them create an object with the property name you want. Then export

$DataToExport = Import-CSV $sourcefile | ForEach-Object {
    [pscustomobject]@{
        "Header" = "C:\Users\$($_.samaccountname)"
    }
} 
$DataToExport | Export-CSV $newfile -NoTypeInformation

edited Jun 8, 2017 at 22:11

user6811411

answered Jun 8, 2017 at 19:32

BenH

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1 Comment

user6811411 Over a year ago

There was an erroneous trailing " at the pscustomobject.

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