Powershell split() function is returning more values than expected

Question

I have a csv file which conatins line something similar to this

"Some KIND of Test","[STATUS]","TESTNAME","VMNAME","TESTTME","SOME PARAMETER"

I am trying to parse this. I am using split to get STATUS and TESTNAME

$col = $line.split('","') #used .split('`",`"') as well
$col.length #output value is 18
#cl = $line.split(',')
$cl.length #output value is 6

Why am I seeing two different values here. In both cases ' and "," present same number of times

It seems like I am making some basic mistake. I couldn't figure it out. Any help would be grateful. Thanks

Mathias R. Jessen · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-14T14:18:54.410

2

The only resolvable overload for String.Split() treats the "," string argument as a character array and splits on each occurrence of any of the characters in the array.

Use the -split regex operator instead:

$col = $line -split '","'

If you really hate regex, you can force an overload of String.Split() that takes strings as separators by explicitly casting the first input argument to a string array:

$col = $line.Split([string[]]@('","'),[System.StringSplitOptions]::None)

edited Sep 14 '17 at 14:18

answered Sep 14 '17 at 10:32

Mathias R. Jessen

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Thanks. That is pretty straight forward. – srikanth peetha Sep 14 '17 at 10:39
*If you're on version 2.0 where `-split` is not available* Why did you say that? – user4003407 Sep 14 '17 at 14:10
@PetSerAl Because my memory is bad, and it's poorly documented – Mathias R. Jessen Sep 14 '17 at 14:18

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 14 '17 at 17:07

Why you dont use import-csv command like it?

import-csv "yourpathtofile"

if you want really use get-content you cando it too:

$string='"Some KIND of Test","[STATUS]","TESTNAME","VMNAME","TESTTME","SOME PARAMETER"'
$string | ConvertFrom-Csv -Delimiter "," -Header p1, status, testname, p4, p5 | select status, testname

Powershell split() function is returning more values than expected

2 Answers2