Powershell how to check if text file is empty and ignore whitespaces

Question

I'm trying to make a simple check for a log file if it's empty or not

if (Get-Content path-to-file) {
  do stuff
}

Issue is that the file may contain a white-space only and return true I tried .replace(" ", "") and .trim() still returns true, what can I do?

try something like the following to make an array of spaces and/or empty strings into an empty array ... @(' ', '', ' ').Where({-not [string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($_)}) — Lee_Dailey
– Lee_Dailey, Commented Nov 15, 2020 at 15:47

Bugs Bunny · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-15 15:52:43Z

2

Found a fix if (-not [string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($logContent)) { do stuff }

answered Nov 15, 2020 at 15:52

Bugs Bunny

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1 Comment

Mathias R. Jessen Over a year ago

You may find if(Get-Content path\to\file -TotalCount 1){ ... } to be more efficient

Esperento57 · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-15 17:40:55Z

1

Not necessary to read all file with get-content (be carefull to performance if you test a big file), try this :

if ((get-item "c:\temp\test.txt").Length -gt 0)
{
  "File is not empty"
}
else
{
  "File is empty"
}

answered Nov 15, 2020 at 17:40

Esperento57

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1 Comment

Theo Over a year ago

This however reports files with just whitespace(s) in them as 'not empty', where the OP wants those files to be regarded empty aswell..

Alex_P · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-15 15:51:29Z

0

You can try this:

$log = Get-Content -Path '.\Desktop\Document.txt'

if ((($null -eq $log) -or ($log.Trim().Length -eq 0))) {
    ...
}
else {
    ...
}

The null check must be first as in case the file is empty it would otherwise throw an error. In this situation, if $log is empty, the second check will be skipped automatically.

answered Nov 15, 2020 at 15:51

Alex_P

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