Understanding the Convert-String Cmdlet in PowerShell
Welcome back to Wahmans PowerShell Blog! In this post, we’re diving into a unique and often underutilized cmdlet: Convert-String
. According to Microsoft, this cmdlet “formats a string to match examples.” But what does that actually mean in practice? In short, Convert-String
uses example-driven parsing to transform strings based on given patterns.
This cmdlet is especially useful when you’re trying to reshape or extract data in custom formats. Rather than parsing strings manually with regex or complicated logic, you can define examples of the source and target format, and Convert-String
tries to do the rest.
Basic Syntax
Convert-String -InputObject <string> -Example "InputExample=OutputExample"
Example 1: Simple String Conversion
Let’s start with a basic usage. Suppose you have names in “Last, First” format and want them in “First Last” format.
"Doe, John" | Convert-String -Example "Doe, John=John, Doe"
Output:
John Doe
Example 2: Extracting Values from a Pattern
Imagine you have logs with entries like this:
"[INFO] 2024-06-01 User: wahman123"
You want to extract just the username.
$log = "[INFO] 2024-06-01 User: wahman123" | Convert-String -Example "[INFO] Date User: username=username"
Output:
wahman123
Example 3: Batch Processing Multiple Inputs
You can also process multiple lines:
$data = "Smith, Anna", "Brown, James", "Taylor, Sophia" | Convert-String -Example "Last, First=First Last"
Output:
Anna Smith
James Brown
Sophia Taylor
Example 4: Advanced Pattern Matching
Say you have a string containing employee data:
"Name: Jane Smith | ID: 5678 | Dept: IT"
You want just the ID and Department in the format “5678 – IT”:
$emp="Name: Jane Smith | ID: 5678 | Dept: IT" $emp | Convert-String -Example "Name: FullName | ID: 1234 | Dept: Department=1234 - Department"
Output:
5678 - IT
Wrapping Up
Convert-String
is a hidden gem in PowerShell, especially helpful for string transformations when regex feels like overkill. By providing example-based mappings, you can build robust string manipulation logic with minimal code and high readability.
Happy scripting, and I will see you in the next post!
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