Display a CSV file in 2 columns in Powershell

Question

I want to read a csv file in 2 columns that when i will open my excel it will shows the informations of my CSV file displayed in 2 columns.

Actually, i only display in one column with the Following code :

Function Read-File {
    Param([string]$file, [string]$head)
    if (Test-Path $file) {
        Write-Verbose "$file exists, importing list."
        $data = Import-Csv -Path $file
        $s = @()
        if ($data.$head) {
            foreach ($device in $data) {
                try {
                    $s += $device.$head
                    Write-Verbose -Message "$device.$head"
                } catch {
                    Write-Error -Message "Failed to add $device to list."
                }
            }
        } else {
            Write-Error -Message "No such column, $head, in CSV file $file."
        }

        return $s
    }
}

$list = Read-File $file $fileColumn

So now i want to do it but in 2 columns , i'm a beginner in PowerShell so i would apreciate some help :) thank you

this is my CSV file :

Asset Number, Serial Number
cd5013172cffd6a317bd2a6003414c1,N5WWGGNL
8df47f5b1f1fcda12ed9d390c1c55feaab8,SN65AGGNL
dc0d1aaba9d55ee8992c657,B2NGAA3501119

i am only trying to display thoses both ( asset number and serial number) on 2 columns on my excel , dont worry thoses informations are not sensitive at all so its ok :)

Answer 1

• Use Select-Object to extract multiple properties from input objects (wrapped in custom object instances, [pscustomobject]).

• Use implicit output from your function - no need to collect results in an array first, especially not by building it inefficiently with +=, which behind the scenes creates a new array in every iteration.

  • Note that return is never required to return (output) data from a function in PowerShell; any command whose output is neither captured, suppressed, nor redirected contributes to function's overall output.

Function Read-File {

  # Not that $column (formerly: $head) now accepts an *array* of strings,
  # [string[]]
  Param([string] $file, [string[]] $column)

  if (Test-Path $file) {

    Write-Verbose "$file exists, importing list."

    # Import the CSV file, create custom objects with only the column(s)
    # of interest, and output the result.
    # Also store the result in variable $result via -OutVariable, for
    # inspection below.
    Import-Csv -Path $file | Select-Object -Property $column -OutVariable result

    # If at least 1 object was output, see if all columns specified exist
    # in the CSV data.
    if ($result.Count) {
      foreach ($col in $column) {
        if ($null -eq $result[0].$col) {
          Write-Error -Message "No such column in CSV file $file`: $column"
        }
      }  
    }

  }

}

# Sample call with 2 column names.
$list = Read-File $file 'Asset Number', 'Serial Number'

$list can then be piped to Export-Csv to create a new CSV file, which you can open in Excel:

# Export the selected properties to a new CSV file.
$list | Export-Csv -NoTypeInformation new.csv

# Open the new file with the registered application, asssumed to be Excel.
Invoke-Item new.csv