Creating and appending CSV from powershell

Question

I am trying to create a csv file from powershell with the following headers "A,B,C,D"

Under each header, I wish to append data to the csv file after it is created.

I'm currently using

$csv = "Path,Publish,Hashlist,Package`r`n"
$fso = new-object -comobject scripting.filesystemobject
$file = $fso.CreateTextFile($path,$true)
$file.write($csv)
$file.close()

to create the csv and trying to append it with

Add-Content browser.csv "$filepath, $publishtimestamp, $hashdestination, $packagedestination"

However, when appending the .csv file I've created here, it doesn't work correctly and looks like an encoding error. If I manually create the csv with those headers and then append, it works fine. Any ideas on the correct way to create a csv for my purposes?

I would highly, highly suggest looking at the Export-CSV cmdlet. You are re-inventing the wheel here. — EBGreen
– EBGreen, Commented Aug 15, 2011 at 20:07
If I wanted to create the CSV initially with just the headers in the top line, would you be able to explain how to do that with Export-CSV? I'm not too familiar with creating an object for export with only one line of content — Michael Smart
– Michael Smart, Commented Aug 18, 2011 at 23:10
Iguess that I would question the need to do this. It could be done, but it would be a little hacky. Instead why not just let Export-CSV create the headers the first time that you actually write data out? — EBGreen
– EBGreen, Commented Aug 19, 2011 at 13:15

manojlds · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-15 20:49:24Z

3

If you are seeing encoding issues, use the -Encoding flag of Out-File and Add-Content to specify the encoding you want (UTF8 etc.) Why are you not using Powershell cmdlets for this? Powershell provides easier ways to write to a file, append to a file etc. Not to mention that there is the Export-Csv cmdlet for easily manipulating csv.

answered Aug 15, 2011 at 20:49

manojlds

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