Redirect the output of a PowerShell script to a file using command prompt

Question

How to redirect the output of a PowerShell 5.0 script to a file using cmd in Windows 10? I tried the following:

powershell ".\myscript.ps1 | Out-File outfile.txt"

and:

powershell .\myscript.ps1 > outfile.txt

to no avail. The outfile.txt is created but remains empty. The command prompt window is run with Administrator privileges.

In a script I use:

Write-Host $MyVar
Write-Host $SomeOtherVar

to output the values to a screen.

I'm not an expert, but isn't there the option `-Command` missing? — aschipfl, Jul 11 '19 at 09:29
@I.TDelinquent Some internal info. It works as expected when run as-is and displays the output in the powershell console as expected. I would like to redirect this output to a file using `cmd`. — Ron, Jul 11 '19 at 09:32
@Ron Does `myscript.ps1` make use of `Write-Host`? That won't be redirected in any case — Mathias R. Jessen, Jul 11 '19 at 09:44
Have you tried `powershell -file myscript.ps1 > outfile.txt`? Otherwise I'd suggest posting a sample script with which this behavior is reproducable (I'm unable to) — Mathias R. Jessen, Jul 11 '19 at 09:46
Possible duplicate of [How to redirect the output of a PowerShell to a file during its execution](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1215260/how-to-redirect-the-output-of-a-powershell-to-a-file-during-its-execution) — iRon, Jul 11 '19 at 10:33
From the accepted answer you apparently also accept answers that involve modifying the PowerShell script. [`Start-Transcript`](https://learn.microsoft.com/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.host/start-transcript?view=powershell-6) might be easier to implement than replacing all `Write-Host` commands. Anyways, an answer that doesn't involve changing the PowerShell script is below. — iRon, Jul 11 '19 at 12:55

iRon · Answer 1 · 2019-07-11T15:53:30.857

2

Use the specific PowerShell redirection operators:
_{(they appear to work at the (cmd) command prompt as wel)}

Redirect the success stream (1>):

powershell .\myscript.ps1 1> outfile.txt

Redirect all streams (*>):

powershell .\myscript.ps1 *> outfile.txt

edited Jul 11 '19 at 15:53

answered Jul 11 '19 at 11:12

iRon

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score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 11 '19 at 09:52

In a script I use:
Write-Host $MyVar
Write-Host $SomeOtherVar
to output the values to a screen.

Yeah, that's your problem right there! Write-Host writes the information straight to the screen buffer of the host application, so the standard output stream will never actually see anything.

Change your Write-Host statements to Write-Output (or just remove them):

Write-Output $MyVar
Write-Output $SomeOtherVar
# or simply
$MyVar
$SomeOtherVar

Redirect the output of a PowerShell script to a file using command prompt

2 Answers2