Increment version in a text file

Question

I have a text file that contains only one line with a version number of my application. An example would be 1.0.0.1. I would like to increment the build number. Using my example I would get the output 1.0.0.2 in the same text file.

How can I do it with PowerShell?

This can be done but text files themselves do not have version numbers. Do you mean the name of the file or its contents? — Matt, May 12 '15 at 15:17
Yes, the content is just 4 numbers divided by dots just like I stated above i.e: 1.0.0.1 — mfuxi, May 12 '15 at 15:22

score 21 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 03 '19 at 19:00

This might be over kill, but it shows the use of the type [version] which will save the need to do string manipulation.

$file = "C:\temp\File.txt"
$fileVersion = [version](Get-Content $file | Select -First 1)
$newVersion = "{0}.{1}.{2}.{3}" -f $fileVersion.Major, $fileVersion.Minor, $fileVersion.Build, ($fileVersion.Revision + 1)
$newVersion | Set-Content $file

The file contents after this would contain 1.0.0.2. The unfortunate part about using [version] is that the properties are read-only, so you can't edit the numbers in place. We use the format operator to rebuild the version while incrementing the Revision by one.

On the off chance there is some whitespace or other hidden lines in the file we ensure we get the first line only with Select -First 1.

One of several string manipulation based solution would be to split the contents into an array and then rebuild it after changes are made.

$file = "C:\temp\File.txt"
$fileVersion = (Get-Content $file | Select -First 1).Split(".")
$fileVersion[3] = [int]$fileVersion[3] + 1
$fileVersion -join "." | Set-Content $file

Split the line on its periods. Then the last element (third) contains the number you want to increase. It is a string so we need to cast it as an [int] so we get an arithmetic operation instead of a string concatenation. We then rejoin with -join.

That did the trick perfectly, I understand all the commands except for Select -First 1. Does it mean take the first raw? — mfuxi, May 12 '15 at 15:31
@mfuxi `Select-Object -First $x` return the first `$x` items and throws the rest away — Mathias R. Jessen, May 12 '15 at 15:34

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered May 12 '15 at 15:35

3

$versionFile = Get-Content -Path "c:\temp\testing.txt"
$version = [version]($versionFile)

$newVersion = New-Object -TypeName System.Version -ArgumentList $version.Major, $version.Minor, $version.Build, ($version.Revision + 1)
$newVersion | Set-Content -Path "c:\temp\testing.txt"

answered May 12 '15 at 15:35

MonkeyDreamzzz

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@Matt your solution also looks great but indeed, the `New-Object` avoids having to parse your own version number. Would be nice if `System.Version` had `NextRevision()`, `NextBuild()`,... methods that returned a new Version – MonkeyDreamzzz May 12 '15 at 15:40
When I saw this question I thought it would be a great use for `[version]` until I got the read-only errors. – Matt May 12 '15 at 15:41

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 12 '18 at 10:44

One more string variation that removes the redundant assignment to the array member and includes a reminder on how to address the last element of an array. I think it is a little cleaner.

$file="C:\scripts\assemblyVersion.txt"
$versionparts = (get-content -Path $file).split('.')
([int]$versionparts[-1])++
$versionparts -join('.') | set-content $file

Increment version in a text file

3 Answers3

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