Extract partial line of text from text file

Question

I need to keep the first 5 characters from data being pulled from a text file.

Data looks like this:

S1831KWT0081
S2004KWT0083
S2351KWT0085
S0054KWT0087

Results should looks like this:

I can get it working when setting the variable within PowerShell:

PS> $a = "S1831KWT0081"
PS> $a.Substring(0, $a.IndexOf('K'))

S1831

but I'm stuck when trying to pull from a text file.

> But I'm stuck when trying to pull from a text file. How so? Could you give some examples of what you have tried? The only code you've given is what you've gotten to work. — Jacob Colvin
– Jacob Colvin, Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 14:18
$location = Get-Content "C:\location.txt" $location.Substring(0, $location.IndexOf('K')) — supertoy
– supertoy, Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 14:24
$location = Get-Content "C:\location.txt" | ForEach-Object { $_.Substring(0, $_.IndexOf('K')) } — Mark Wragg
– Mark Wragg, Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 14:27
This actually exposes the issue you're having - in your question, you treat each line as a separate entity. In your comment, you basically treat an entire array as a variable. :) — Jacob Colvin
– Jacob Colvin, Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 14:27
Amazing how easy it is once you see the solution. Thanks guys! — supertoy
– supertoy, Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 14:32

Jacob Colvin · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-10 14:39:58Z

1

To solve this, you will need to parse the text file on a line-by-line basis. Basically treating each line as a value in an array.

Get-Content location.txt | foreach { $_.Substring(0, $_.IndexOf('K')) }

answered Jul 10, 2017 at 14:34

Jacob Colvin

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Comments

Ansgar Wiechers · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-10 16:48:09Z

1

Another option would be a regular expression replacement:

(Get-Content 'C:\path\to\input.txt') -replace '^(.{5}).*', '$1'

That would also allow you more specific matches, e.g. like this:

$re = '^([a-z]\d{4}).*'
(Get-Content 'C:\path\to\input.txt') -match $re -replace $re, '$1'

answered Jul 10, 2017 at 16:48

Ansgar Wiechers

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user6811411 · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-10 15:53:09Z

0

Just to show there always is more than one PoSh way ;-)

gc .\input.txt|%{$_.split('K')[0]}

Or the more verbose version

Get-Content .\input.txt | 
  ForEach-Object { $_.split('K')[0] }

answered Jul 10, 2017 at 15:53

user6811411