Setting Powershell output to a variable

Question

So I'm working on a script that will have a variable set to a file path, then it will Get-ChildItem of that path and if these items are over a certain size then it will print the output of that with the name of the file and the file size.

Get-ChildItem $file | ? {$_.Length -gt 1mb} | ForEach-Object {Write-Host "Users:" $_.name "have Outlook Data Files larger than 8gb, with a total of" ("{0:N2}" -f($_.length/1mb)) "mb"}

I am trying to assign this output, to a variable so I can utilize the second command and send this output in an email to myself. Unless there is a better way to accomplish this.

We need to know what's not working... Where's the rest of your code? Help us help you. — rpm192
– rpm192, Commented Dec 21, 2018 at 18:01
Write-Host results go directly to a display. The correct cmdlet to use is Write-Output. — JosefZ
– JosefZ, Commented Dec 21, 2018 at 18:38
@rpm192 It's not that it's not working, I just am unsure how how to set the output of the above line of code to a variable so I can call it in a Send-MailMessage on the next line. — Logan Gregory
– Logan Gregory, Commented Dec 21, 2018 at 19:20
@LoganGregory - as JosefZ pointed out ... you are sending things to the screen. if you want to capture the current screen output, remove the Write-Host stuff and let things go to the output stream. THEN add a $VarName = in front of your line of code. — Lee_Dailey
– Lee_Dailey, Commented Dec 21, 2018 at 19:49
I guess I'm not quite understanding because when I use ? {Write-Output $final = "Users:" ... it seems to work but when I try and call that variable it just outputs a return. Sorry guys, it's my second week with powershell. And I appreciate the replies. — Logan Gregory
– Logan Gregory, Commented Dec 21, 2018 at 20:39

No Refunds No Returns · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-21 22:15:50Z

1

$content = gci -Recurse -File | ? { $_.Length -gt 40000 }

Include $content as the body of your email.

answered Dec 21, 2018 at 22:15

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Comments

Mike Campbell · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-21 22:23:06Z

As the previous comments have pointed out, it seems like your primary problem might be a misunderstanding about how the Write-* cmdlets work in PowerShell. Write-Host outputs directly to the host/console, bypassing the normal PowerShell output streams. This can be illustrated quickly by running the following commands in a PowerShell session:

$MyVariable1 = Write-Host "Hello, World!"
$MyVariable2 = Write-Output "Hello, World!"
$MyVariable1
$MyVariable2

If you run the above, you'll find that $MyVariable1 has no value assigned (and you could actually test it for that with something like $null -eq $MyVariable1) but $MyVariable2 will have the value 'Hello, World!'.

For your example to work to get your output into a variable you would need to run something like the following:

$LargeFiles = Get-ChildItem $file | ? {$_.Length -gt 1mb} | ForEach-Object {Write-Output "Users:" $_.name "have Outlook Data Files larger than 8gb, with a total of" ("{0:N2}" -f($_.length/1mb)) "mb"}

To learn more about PowerShell output streams you might also want to read the about_redirection article.

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