Powershell -replace regex not working on connection strings

Question

I'm attempting to use the Powershell -replace command to update the data source in my config file. However, the -replace regex below will not remove the $oldServer value.

I've place a string directly in to the $_.connectionString variable in the loop and it saved properly, so I know that is not the issue. Seems to just be the regex.

    #environment variables
    $env = "DEV"                    
    $oldServer = "quasq10"          
    $newValue = "$env-AR-SQL.CORP.COM"

    $doc = [xml](Get-Content "D:\AMS\app.config")      
    $doc.configuration.connectionStrings.add|%{        
        $_.connectionString = $_.connectionString -replace $oldServer, $newValue;
    }
    $doc.Save($file.FullName)

EDIT

Per the comment below I added a Write-host $_.connectionString statement as the first line in the loop. Below is the console output

metadata=res:///MonetDb.csdl|res:///MonetDb.ssdl|res://*/MonetDb.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string="data source=quasq10\sql08a;initial catalog=MyDB ;integrated security=True;multipleactiveresultsets=True;App=EntityFramework"

Well that is a pretty basic statement you have there so to figure out why it isn't matching we would probably need a sample of what is actually in $_.connectionString within your foreach. I suggest sticking a Write-Host $_.connectionString in the foreach to get a sample of the values to be matched and perhaps post them here. — New Guy
– New Guy, Commented Mar 16, 2015 at 19:54
Was just thinking the same. Added the connection string value to the post. — NealR
– NealR, Commented Mar 16, 2015 at 21:33

mortenya · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-17 20:06:52Z

1

I just put this right into ISE, I copied your connection string into a variable and was able to do this replace as a one off.

$connectionString = 'metadata=res:///MonetDb.csdl|res:///MonetDb.ssdl|res://*/MonetDb.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string="data source=quasq10\sql08a;initial catalog=MyDB ;integrated security=True;multipleactiveresultsets=True;App=EntityFramework"'
$env = "DEV"
$oldServer = "quasq10"          
$newValue = "$env-AR-SQL.CORP.COM"

$connectionString -replace $oldServer, $newValue

res:///MonetDb.csdl|res:///MonetDb.ssdl|res://*/MonetDb.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string="data source=DEV-AR-SQL.CORP.COM\sql08a;initial catalog=MyDB ;integrated security=True;multipleactiveresultsets=True;App=EntityFramework"

I think your foreach loop might not be getting the info you want, because it looks like your replace is fine.

$doc.configuration.connectionStrings.add

I haven't done much with XML, does the XML data type have an ADD member function? You aren't really adding anything, right?

As a test, what do you get from this:

$doc.configuration.connectionStrings | % {        
    $_.connectionString -replace $oldServer, $newValue;
}

Run that against a dummy file and see what happens.

For a sanity check on the replace operator:

$string = "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog"
$oldColor = "brown"
$newColor = "orange"

$string -replace $oldColor, $newColor

To avoid digging through comments, this method worked

$string.Replace($oldColor,$newColor)

edited Mar 17, 2015 at 20:06

answered Mar 16, 2015 at 23:26

mortenya

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11 Comments

NealR Over a year ago

Interesting - so if I copy/paste the variables/regex from the top of your post into ISE I do not get the same results. The $oldServer value does not get replaced. Any idea why that would be? Haven't touched the code at all, just did a copy/paste.

NealR Over a year ago

Also if I set a breakpoint inside the foreach you have in your post, I see that the -replace line is hit, however again the regex fails to replace the old value.

mortenya Over a year ago

What PowerShell version are you using? I'm using v4, though I'm not sure that would make a difference.

NealR Over a year ago

Using $PSVersionTable it looks like I'm on PSVersion 4.0 too.

mortenya Over a year ago

Odd, just for sanity's sake I copied that back into ISE from my post here, and the -Replace still works as expected. Do you get any errors or warnings when doing the replace?

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