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powershellfile-move

Reading input and moving files with similar names

I am trying to create a script which reads the first line of a file and then moves all of files with a similar naming convention up a level.

These are 3 example files:

C:\Users\USERNAME\location\PYYYYYYYYY.txt.asc
C:\Users\USERNAME\location\holdingarea\PYYYYYYYYY.tt.asc
C:\Users\USERNAME\location\holdingarea\PYYYYYYYYY.t.asc

The script I have so far is:

$location = Read-Host -Prompt "Location Filename"
$locationfilename = Select-String C:\Users\USERNAME\location\holdingarea\*.txt.asc –pattern $location  -Context 1
$locationfilenames = $locationfilename.basename
$locationarea = "C:\Users\USERNAME\location\holdingarea"
$locationlocation = "C:\Users\USERNAME\location"

Select-String C:\Users\USERNAME\location\holdingarea\*.txt.asc -Pattern $location -Context 1 |
  Out-File -Append C:\Users\USERNAME\location\logs.txt
Move-Item -Path "$locationfilenames" -Destination "$locationlocation"
Solution

  • Your issue is arising here:

    $locationfilename = Select-String C:\Users\USERNAME\location\holdingarea\*.txt.asc –pattern $location  -Context 1

    Assuming you're just trying to get the filename, this should work:

    $lcoationfilename = $location | Split-Path -Leaf

    If it's the parent folder you're after, then this is appropriate:

    $lcoationfilename = $location | Split-Path -Parent

    If for some reason you're on a version of PS that doesn't have Split-Path, let me know and I'll edit to a more appropriate solution.