How to remove @{} characters from output in powershell

Question

I just would like some help removing the @{} characters from my output My script is to get the folder sizes from a specific Drive or Directory Here is my script

$HugeFileSizeFolder= @() -join ','
$folder = "E:\New Folder\"
Get-ChildItem -Recurse $folder | Where-Object { $_.PSIsContainer } | 
ForEach-Object { 
    $obj = New-Object PSObject  
    $Size = [Math]::Round((Get-ChildItem -Recurse $_.FullName | Measure-Object Length -Sum -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).sum / 1000MB, 2) 
    $obj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name  "Path" $_.FullName 
    $obj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name  "SizeGB" $Size        
    if ($Size -ge   2)
    {
        $HugeFileSizeFolder +=$obj
    }
}
$HugeFileSizeFolder | Out-string
$HugeFileSizeFolderFound = [boolean] $HugeFileSizeFolder

Here is a sample output @{Path=E:\New Folder\Folder1; SizeGB=3.4GB} I've tried the suggested tweaks but somehow I cannot get it to work ok maybe I'm not doing it right.

Your input and suggestions are very much appreciated

thanks Newbie

What output format _are_ you aiming for? You might be able to solve this by simply removing `| Out-String`. — Mathias R. Jessen, Jul 02 '21 at 16:37
Hi Mathias, I'm creating an Automation Policy using Solarwinds NCentral. that's why I need the Out-string command — Ritche Falle, Jul 02 '21 at 17:45

mklement0 · Answer 1 · 2021-07-02T17:10:44.080

$HugeFileSizeFolder = @() -join ','

This makes $HugeFileSizeFolder contain a string (the empty string), not an empty array, as is your intent - the array you're later trying to append to with +=.

Because $HugeFileSizeFolder is a string, += performs string concatenation, which results in representations such as @{Path=E:\New Folder\Folder1; SizeGB=3.4GB}^[1]

While $HugeFileSizeFolder = @() would give you an empty array, it is better to avoid extending arrays iteratively with +=, because doing so requires creating a new array behind the scenes in every iteration - see this answer.

The more efficient - and simpler - alternative is to use the pipeline as an assignment statement that automatically collects all outputs for you:

$folder = "E:\New Folder"

$HugeFileSizeFolder = 
  Get-ChildItem -Recurse $folder | 
    Where-Object { $_.PSIsContainer } |
      ForEach-Object { 
        $obj = New-Object PSObject  
        $Size = [Math]::Round((Get-ChildItem -Recurse $_.FullName | Measure-Object Length -Sum -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).sum / 1000MB, 2) 
        $obj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name  "Path" $_.FullName 
        $obj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name  "SizeGB" $Size        
        if ($Size -ge 2) {
          # Output the object; all output objects are collected
          # in $HugeFileSizeFolder
          $obj 
        }
      }
    }

# Output the result (no need for Out-String)
$HugeFileSizeFolder

$HugeFileSizeFolderFound = [boolean] $HugeFileSizeFolder

As an aside: Since v3, PowerShell offers a fairly concise and efficient literal notation for creating [pscustomobject]s, so your New-Object and Add-Member-based object construction could be simplified to:

$obj = [pscustomobject] @{
  Path = $_.FullName
  SizeGB = [Math]::Round((Get-ChildItem -Recurse $_.FullName | Measure-Object Length -Sum -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).Sum / 1000MB, 2)
}

^{[1] A simple demonstration: '!' + [pscustomobject] @{ foo = 'bar' } yields '!@{foo=bar}'}

thanks mklemento. Im passing this script to an Autmation Policy in Solarwinds NCentral that's why i need the out-string at the end. the error now im getting after removing the array is that the result is just saying System.Object[] — Ritche Falle, Jul 02 '21 at 17:53
@RitcheFalle, that implies that Solarwinds NCentral simply calls `.ToString()` on the `$HugeFileSizeFolder` array. If you use `Out-String` again, you'll get a _for-display_ representation, as you would see in the console, and that isn't suitable for _programmatic_ processing. So the question is: what is the right output format expected by Solarwinds NCentral? Can you send JSON, for instance? If so, use `$HugeFileSizeFolder | ConvertToJson` — mklement0, Jul 02 '21 at 17:58

How to remove @{} characters from output in powershell

1 Answers1