How do I add multi-line strings to an array in powershell?

Question

I'm trying to loop through a series of txt files extracting information into arrays based a : delimiter.

All values i'm taking from the text files fit on a single line, except for one. (The "ad text" value). This cuts off the information after line 1 in the final output. When I remove line carriages and breaks beforehand, none of the fields are inputted correctly.

How would I specify wanting my array to accept multi-line inputs for the "ad text" field?

Below is the code i'm working with:

$files = ls "*.txt" 
$dictionary = @{} 
[System.Collections.Generic.List[String]]$list = @() 

foreach($f in $files){$in = Get-Content $f
 $in.Split([Environment]::NewLine) | ForEach-Object { $key,$value = $_.Split(':') 
 $dictionary[$key] = $value 
 }

[void]$list.Add( $dictionary['Ad ID'] + ',' + $dictionary['Ad Text'] + ',' + $dictionary['Ad Landing Page'] + ',' + $dictionary['Ad Targeting Location'] + ',' + $dictionary['Age'] + ',' + $dictionary['Language'] + ',' + $dictionary['Placements'] + ',' + $dictionary['Interests'] + ',' + $dictionary['Behaviors'] + ',' + $dictionary['Ad Impressions'] + ',' + $dictionary['Ad Clicks'] + ',' + $dictionary['Ad Spend'] + ',' + $dictionary['Ad Creation Date'] + ','+ $dictionary['Friends'] + ',' + $dictionary['Ad End Date'] + ',' + $dictionary['Excluded Connections'] + ',' + $dictionary['Image'] + ',' + $dictionary['Ad Targeting Location']+','+$dictionary[‘File Name’] ) 
} 


$list | Out-File -FilePath '.\trial.csv' -Append

Get-Content - without -Raw - returns an array of lines, so its elements by definition have no embedded newlines. — mklement0
– mklement0, Commented Jun 15, 2019 at 23:16

mklement0 · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-15 23:58:41Z

4

Assuming that the additional lines following Ad Text:-prefixed lines do not contain : chars themselves:

# Create sample text file t.txt
@'
Ad ID:10
Ad Text:one
two
Ad Landing Page:http://example.org
'@ > t.txt

# Split the lines into field names and values by ":" and
# build a dictionary.
$dict = [ordered] @{}
$i = 0
(Get-Content -Raw t.txt) -split '(?m)^([^\n:]+):' -ne '' | ForEach-Object {
  if ($i++ % 2 -eq 0) {
    $key = $_
  } else {
    $dict[$key] = $_
  }
}

# Output the dictionary, showing each entry as a list.
$dict | Format-List

The output is as follows, showing that the Ad Text entry comprises two lines:

Name  : Ad ID
Value : 10


Name  : Ad Landing Page
Value : http://example.org


Name  : Ad Text
Value : one
        two

edited Jun 15, 2019 at 23:58

answered Jun 15, 2019 at 23:37

mklement0

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