Compare file contents with string in Powershell

Question

I'm trying to compare the contents of a text file with a string. Sounds simple, but no luck!

$mystring = @'
hello
goodbye
'@

set-content c:\temp\file.txt $mystring

if (Test-Path "c:\temp\file.txt") {
    $myfile = Get-Content "c:\temp\file.txt" -raw
    if ($myfile -eq $mystring) {
        write-host 'File same'
    }
    else {
        write-host 'File different'
    }
}
else {
    write-host 'No file'
}

Write-Host $mystring.Length
Write-Host $myfile.Length

Output

File different
14
16

The lengths of the two string are different and when you open the file, there's a new line at the bottom which is where I'm presuming the extra 2 characters in the length are coming from.

What am I missing?

Possible duplicate of: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45266461/set-content-appends-a-newline-line-break-crlf-at-the-end-of-my-file — SAS, Aug 05 '19 at 11:06

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 05 '19 at 10:22

1

Append -NoNewline in set-content command

so your full line will be

Set-Content "c:\temp\file.txt" $mystring -NoNewline

answered Aug 05 '19 at 10:22

Nirav Mistry

949
5
15

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 05 '19 at 10:52

1

You could remove trailing newline characters with String.Trim() before comparing:

$myfile = (Get-Content "c:\temp\file.txt" -Raw).Trim()

answered Aug 05 '19 at 10:52

Mathias R. Jessen

157,619
12
148
206

The extra newline would still be in the file, which might not be expected, since it's not in the original string. – SAS Aug 05 '19 at 11:39

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 05 '19 at 11:03

Possible solution:

Add parameter -NoNewline

Making it: set-content c:\temp\file.txt $mystring -NoNewline

Possible duplicate of:

Set-Content appends a newline (line break, CRLF) at the end of my file

Explanation:

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/jmanning/2007/05/23/powershell-gotcha-of-the-day-set-content-adds-newlines-by-default/

Compare file contents with string in Powershell

3 Answers3