PowerShell Cmdlet Help for Get-ContentNAME Get-Content SYNOPSIS Gets the content of the item at the specified location. SYNTAX Get-Content [-LiteralPath] ] [-Include Get-Content [-Path] lude DESCRIPTION The Get-Content cmdlet gets the content of the item at the location specified by the path, such as the text in a fi le. It reads the content one line at a time and returns an object for each line. PARAMETERS -Credential Specifies a user account that has permission to perform this action. The default is the current user. Type a user name, such as "User01" or "Domain01\User01", or enter a PSCredential object, such as one generated by the Get-Credential cmdlet. If you type a user name, you will be prompted for a password. This parameter is not supported by any providers that are installed with Windows PowerShell. Required? false Position? named Default value Accept pipeline input? true (ByPropertyName) Accept wildcard characters? false -Exclude Omits the specified items. The value of this parameter qualifies the Path parameter. Enter a path element or pa ttern, such as "*.txt". Wildcards are permitted. Required? false Position? named Default value Accept pipeline input? false Accept wildcard characters? false -Filter Specifies a filter in the provider's format or language. The value of this parameter qualifies the Path paramet er. The syntax of the filter, including the use of wildcards, depends on the provider. Filters are more efficie nt than other parameters, because the provider applies them when retrieving the objects, rather than having Win dows PowerShell filter the objects after they are retrieved. Required? false Position? named Default value Accept pipeline input? false Accept wildcard characters? false -Force [ Overrides restrictions that prevent the command from succeeding, just so the changes do not compromise security . For example, Force will override the read-only attribute or create directories to complete a file path, but i t will not attempt to change file permissions. Required? false Position? named Default value Accept pipeline input? false Accept wildcard characters? false -Include Retrieves only the specified items. The value of this parameter qualifies the Path parameter. Enter a path elem ent or pattern, such as "*.txt". Wildcards are permitted. Required? false Position? named Default value Accept pipeline input? false Accept wildcard characters? false -LiteralPath Specifies the path to an item. Unlike Path, the value of LiteralPath is used exactly as it is typed. No charact ers are interpreted as wildcards. If the path includes escape characters, enclose it in single quotation marks. Single quotation marks tell Windows PowerShell not to interpret any characters as escape sequences. Required? true Position? 1 Default value Accept pipeline input? true (ByPropertyName) Accept wildcard characters? false -Path Specifies the path to an item. Get-Content retrieves the content of the item. Wildcards are permitted. The para meter name ("Path" or "FilePath") is optional. Required? true Position? 1 Default value Accept pipeline input? true (ByPropertyName) Accept wildcard characters? false -ReadCount Specifies how many lines of content are sent through the pipeline at a time. The default value is 1. A value of 0 (zero) sends all of the content at one time. This parameter does not change the content displayed, but it does affect the time it takes to display the conte nt. As the value of ReadCount increases, the time it takes to return the first line increases, but the total ti me for the operation decreases. This can make a perceptible difference in very large items. Required? false Position? named Default value Accept pipeline input? true (ByPropertyName) Accept wildcard characters? false -TotalCount Specifies how many lines of content are retrieved. The default is -1 (all lines). Required? false Position? named Default value Accept pipeline input? true (ByPropertyName) Accept wildcard characters? false -UseTransaction [ Includes the command in the active transaction. This parameter is valid only when a transaction is in progress. For more information, see about_Transactions. Required? false Position? named Default value Accept pipeline input? false Accept wildcard characters? false This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug, ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, WarningAction, WarningVariable, OutBuffer and OutVariable. For more information, type, "get-help about_commonparameters". INPUTS None You cannot pipe input to Get-Content. OUTPUTS Object Get-Content returns objects that represent the content that it gets. The object type depends on the content typ e. NOTES You can also refer to Get-Content by its built-in aliases, "cat", "type" and "gc". For more information, see ab out_Aliases. The Get-Content cmdlet is designed to work with the data exposed by any provider. To list the providers availab le in your session, type "Get-PsProvider". For more information, see about_Providers. -------------------------- EXAMPLE 1 -------------------------- C:\PS>get-content -Path C:\Chapters\chapter1.txt Description ----------- This command displays the content of the Chapter1.txt file on the console. It uses the Path parameter to specify th e name of the item. Get-Content actually passes the content down the pipeline, but because there are no other pipel ine elements, the content is formatted and displayed on the console. -------------------------- EXAMPLE 2 -------------------------- C:\PS>get-content c:\Logs\Log060912.txt -totalcount 50 | set-content sample.txt Description ----------- This command gets the first 50 lines of the Log060912.txt file and stores them in the sample.txt file. The command uses the Get-Content cmdlet to get the text in the file. (The name of Path parameter, which is optional, is omitted .) The TotalCount parameter limits the retrieval to the first 50 lines. The pipeline operator (|) sends the result to Set-Content, which places it in the sample.txt file. -------------------------- EXAMPLE 3 -------------------------- C:\PS>(get-content cmdlets.txt -totalcount 5)[-1] Description ----------- This command gets the fifth line of the Cmdlets.txt text file. It uses the TotalCount parameter to get the first fi ve lines and then uses array notation to get the last line (indicated by "-1") of the resulting set. RELATED LINKS Online version: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113310 about_Providers Add-Content Set-Content Clear-Content |