Getting first line of string in a variable using Powershell

Question

This line of code:

$eventResult = Get-EventLog -Source ".net runtime" -LogName Application -Newest 1 | select -expandproperty message

Outputs a very long string into $eventResult.

What I'd like to do is grab the very first line of it.

This outputs the ENTIRE content of $eventResult:

$eventResult | select-object -first 1

However, Outputting the data into a file and then parsing it works like a charm:

$eventResult | out-file c:\output.txt
cat c:\output.txt | select-object -first 1

What am I missing here?

UPDATE: if the output is as follows:

 Line1...
 Line2...
 Line3...

Then all I want is "Line1..."

UPDATE2:

I edited the $eventResult (forgot the | select message).

Your post is a little vague with the 'first line' language. Are you looking to grab the data without the headers? Is that what you mean by first line? — dfundako
– dfundako, Commented Mar 8, 2016 at 16:00

Lars Truijens · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-08 16:03:39Z

29

Splitting the string on newline into an array and then taking the first of the array will work, although it might not be the most efficient.

($eventResult.Message -split '\n')[0]

answered Mar 8, 2016 at 16:03

Lars Truijens

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2 Comments

JustAGuy Over a year ago

Not efficient but it worked :) Kudos to you my friend.

Jaro Over a year ago

(-split $eventResult.Message)[0]

Stephen Rauch · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-11 01:02:52Z

17

Select-Object is returning the entire content of $eventResult because the entire content of $eventResult is the first object.

For the first line to be returned by this query each line in $eventResult needs to become its own object, e.g:

$eventResult.Split([Environment]::NewLine) | Select -First 1

edited May 11, 2018 at 1:02

Stephen Rauch♦

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answered May 11, 2018 at 0:43

Andrew Cleland

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2 Comments

Joe Johnston Over a year ago

Using [Environment]::NewLine is key to this code working cross platform.

Shrikant Prabhu Over a year ago

$eventResult.Split([Environment]::NewLine) | Select -Skip 1 to skip first line but obtain rest of it. More details can be found here learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/…

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