PowerShell log filename with datetime issue

Question

I am trying to create a log filename for today date time using powershell command

 $date = Get-Date
    $log = "D:\NewFolder\Logs\FixService$date.log"  
    "Write this text to log" >> $log

I am getting error as shown below , How to do this?

 out-file : The given path's format is not supported.
    At D:\NewFolder\somefile.ps1:5 char:1
    + "Write this text to log" >> $log
    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        + CategoryInfo          : OpenError: (:) [Out-File], NotSupportedException
        + FullyQualifiedErrorId : FileOpenFailure,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.OutFileCommand

But this works without date in log file name

$date = Get-Date  
$log = "D:\Crowdstrike\Logs\FixService.log"   
"Write this to log" >> $log

What I am doing wrong?

Depending on your culture, the `$date` might contain colons (`:`) which aren't supported in a filename, see: [Allowed characters in filename](https://stackoverflow.com/a/4814088/1701026) — iRon, Oct 11 '21 at 09:32
See this one: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2249619/how-to-format-a-datetime-in-powershell — harper, Oct 11 '21 at 09:34
Does this answer your question? [Using Out-File to have a date variable within the name for the file](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50339544/using-out-file-to-have-a-date-variable-within-the-name-for-the-file) — iRon, Oct 11 '21 at 09:34
This worked $date = Get-Date $DateStr = $date.ToString("yyyyMMdd") $log = "D:\Crowdstrike\Logs\FixService$DateStr.log" — SmartestVEGA, Oct 11 '21 at 09:37
Can't post as answer. It's more a hint that this is duplicate question. — harper, Oct 12 '21 at 07:13
Does this answer your question? [How to format a DateTime in PowerShell](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2249619/how-to-format-a-datetime-in-powershell) — harper, Oct 12 '21 at 07:13

Abdul Niyas P M · Answer 1 · 2021-10-11T09:47:58.810

Powershell uses ToString method to convert the value of the current DateTime object to its equivalent string representation using the specified format and the formatting conventions of the current culture. You can inspect your current culture by

[System.Globalization.CultureInfo]::CurrentCulture.Name

Or using Get-Culture Cmdlet. The issue here is that the resultant string contain the characters that are not allowed in filenames. So one solution is to use the format parameter of the get-date Cmdlet.

Get-Date -Format yyyyMMdd

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 11 '21 at 15:43

1

$LogPath = "C:\Users"

$LogPathName = Join-Path -Path $LogPath -ChildPath "logToday-$(Get-Date -Format 'MM-dd-yyyy').log"

answered Oct 11 '21 at 15:43

Narayana Lvsl

315
2
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Please mark as answer, if it is unblocked your issue – Narayana Lvsl Oct 12 '21 at 10:05

PowerShell log filename with datetime issue

2 Answers2