Out-File

Module:
Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility
Sends output to a file.

Syntax 

Out-File
   [-FilePath] <String>
   [[-Encoding] <String>]
   [-Append]
   [-Force]
   [-NoClobber]
   [-Width <Int32>]
   [-NoNewline]
   [-InputObject <PSObject>]
   [-WhatIf]
   [-Confirm]
   [<CommonParameters>]
Out-File
   -LiteralPath <String>
   [[-Encoding] <String>]
   [-Append]
   [-Force]
   [-NoClobber]
   [-Width <Int32>]
   [-NoNewline]
   [-InputObject <PSObject>]
   [-WhatIf]
   [-Confirm]
   [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The Out-File cmdlet sends output to a file. You can use this cmdlet instead of the redirection operator (>) when you need to use its parameters.

Examples

Example 1: Send output to a file 

PS C:\> Get-Process | Out-File -filepath C:\Test1\process.txt

This command sends a list of processes on the computer to the Process.txt file. If the file does not exist, Out-File creates it. Because the name of the FilePath parameter is optional, you can omit it and submit the equivalent command "Get-Process | Out-File C:\Test1\process.txt".

Example 2: Send output to a file without overwriting 

PS C:\> Get-Process | Out-File C:\Test1\process.txt -NoClobber



Out-File : File C:\Test1\process.txt already exists and NoClobber was specified.

At line:1 char:23

+ Get-Process | Out-File  <<<< process.txt -NoClobber

This command also sends a list of processes to the Process.txt file, but it uses the NoClobber parameter, which prevents an existing file from being overwritten. The output shows the error message that appears when NoClobber is used with an existing file.

Example 3: Send output to a file in ASCII format 

PS C:\> $A = Get-Process

PS C:\> Out-File -FilePath C:\Test1\process.txt -InputObject $A -Encoding ASCII -Width 50

These commands send a list of processes on the computer to the Process.txt file. The text is encoded in ASCII format so that it can be read by search programs like Findstr and Grep. By default, Out-File uses Unicode format.

The first command gets the list of processes and stores them in the $A variable. The second command uses the Out-File cmdlet to send the list to the Process.txt file.

The command uses the InputObject parameter to specify that the input is in the $A variable. It uses the Encoding parameter to convert the output to ASCII format. It uses the Width parameter to limit each line in the file to 50 characters. Because the lines of output are truncated at 50 characters, the rightmost column in the process table is omitted.

Example 4: Send output from outside a file system drive 

PS C:\> Set-Location hklm:\software

PS C:\> Get-Acl mycompany\mykey | Out-File -FilePath c:\ps\acl.txt

PS C:\> Get-Acl mycompany\mykey | Out-File -FilePath filesystem::acl.txt

These commands show how to use the Out-File cmdlet when you are not in a FileSystem drive.

The first command sets the current location to the HKLM:\Software registry key.

The second and third commands have the same effect. They use the 1Get-Acl1 cmdlet to get the security descriptor of the MyKey registry subkey (HKLM\Software\MyCompany\MyKey). A pipeline operator passes the result to the Out-File cmdlet, which sends it to the Acl.txt file.

Because Out-File is not supported by the PowerShell Registry provider, you must specify either the file system drive name, such as "c:", or the name of the provider followed by two colons, "FileSystem::", in the value of the FilePath parameter. The second and third commands demonstrate these methods.

Required Parameters

-FilePath

Specifies the path to the output file.

Type: String
Position: 1
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-LiteralPath

Specifies the path to the output file. Unlike FilePath , the value of the LiteralPath parameter is used exactly as it is typed. No characters are interpreted as wildcards. If the path includes escape characters, enclose it in single quotation marks. Single quotation marks tell PowerShell not to interpret any characters as escape sequences.

Type: String
Aliases: PSPath
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: True (ByPropertyName)
Accept wildcard characters: False

Optional Parameters

-Append

Adds the output to the end of an existing file, instead of replacing the file contents.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Confirm

Prompts you for confirmation before running the cmdlet.

Type: SwitchParameter
Aliases: cf
Position: Named
Default value: False
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Encoding

Specifies the type of character encoding used in the file. The acceptable values for this parameter are:

  • Unknown
  • String
  • Unicode
  • BigEndianUnicode
  • UTF8
  • UTF7
  • UTF32
  • ASCII
  • Default
  • OEM

Unicode is the default.

"Default" uses the encoding of the system's current ANSI code page.

"OEM" uses the current original equipment manufacturer code page identifier for the operating system.

Type: String
Parameter Sets: unknown, string, unicode, bigendianunicode, utf8, utf7, utf32, ascii, default, oem
Position: 2
Default value: Unicode
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Force

Indicates that the cmdlet overwrites an existing read-only file. Even using the Force parameter, the cmdlet cannot override security restrictions.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-InputObject

Specifies the objects to be written to the file. Enter a variable that contains the objects or type a command or expression that gets the objects.

Type: PSObject
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: True (ByValue)
Accept wildcard characters: False
-NoClobber

Indicates that the cmdlet will not overwrite an existing file. By default, if a file exists in the specified path, Out-File overwrites the file without warning. If both Append and NoClobber are used, the output is appended to the existing file.

Type: SwitchParameter
Aliases: NoOverwrite
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-NoNewline

Specifies that the content written to the file does not end with a newline character. The string representations of the input objects are concatenated to form the output. No spaces or newlines are inserted between the output strings. No newline is added after the last output string.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-WhatIf

Shows what would happen if the cmdlet runs. The cmdlet is not run.

Type: SwitchParameter
Aliases: wi
Position: Named
Default value: False
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Width

Specifies the number of characters in each line of output. Any additional characters are truncated, not wrapped. If you omit this parameter, the width is determined by the characteristics of the host. The default for the Windows PowerShell console is 80 characters.

Type: Int32
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False

Inputs

System.Management.Automation.PSObject

You can pipe any object to Out-File .

Outputs

None

Out-File does not generate any output.

Notes

The Out cmdlets do not format objects; they just render them and send them to the specified display destination. If you send an unformatted object to an Out cmdlet, the cmdlet sends it to a formatting cmdlet before rendering it.

The Out cmdlets do not have parameters for names or file paths. To send data to a cmdlet that contains the Out verb (an Out cmdlet), use a pipeline operator (|) to send the output of a PowerShell command to the cmdlet. You can also store data in a variable and use the InputObject parameter to pass the data to the cmdlet. For help, see the examples.

Out-File sends data, but it does not emit any output objects. If you pipe the output of Out-File to Get-Member , Get-Member reports that no objects have been specified.