Out-File (Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility)

When you need to specify parameters for the output, use Out-File rather than the ... utf7 : Encodes in UTF-7 format. utf8 : Encodes in UTF-8 format. Skiptomaincontent Thisbrowserisnolongersupported. UpgradetoMicrosoftEdgetotakeadvantageofthelatestfeatures,securityupdates,andtechnicalsupport. DownloadMicrosoftEdge MoreinfoaboutInternetExplorerandMicrosoftEdge Tableofcontents Exitfocusmode ReadinEnglish Save Tableofcontents ReadinEnglish Save Feedback Edit Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Email Tableofcontents Out-File Reference Module: Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility Sendsoutputtoafile. Inthisarticle Syntax Out-File [-FilePath] [[-Encoding]] [-Append] [-Force] [-NoClobber] [-Width] [-NoNewline] [-InputObject] [-WhatIf] [-Confirm] [] Out-File [[-Encoding]] -LiteralPath [-Append] [-Force] [-NoClobber] [-Width] [-NoNewline] [-InputObject] [-WhatIf] [-Confirm] [] Description TheOut-Filecmdletsendsoutputtoafile.ItimplicitlyusesPowerShell'sformattingsystemto writetothefile.Thefilereceivesthesamedisplayrepresentationastheterminal.Thismeans thattheoutputmaynotbeidealforprogrammaticprocessingunlessallinputobjectsarestrings. Whenyouneedtospecifyparametersfortheoutput,useOut-Fileratherthantheredirection operator(>).Formoreinformationaboutredirection,see about_Redirection. Examples Example1:Sendoutputandcreateafile Thisexampleshowshowtosendalistofthelocalcomputer'sprocessestoafile.Ifthefiledoes notexist,Out-Filecreatesthefileinthespecifiedpath. Get-Process|Out-File-FilePath.\Process.txt Get-Content-Path.\Process.txt NPM(K)PM(M)WS(M)CPU(s)IdSIProcessName ------------------------------------- 2922.3935.4010.98427649Application 5399.04113.960.00326640CcmExec 2796.62112.43113.00177209Code TheGet-Processcmdletgetsthelistofprocessesrunningonthelocalcomputer.TheProcess objectsaresentdownthepipelinetotheOut-Filecmdlet.Out-FileusestheFilePath parameterandcreatesafileinthecurrentdirectorynamedProcess.txt.TheGet-Content commandgetscontentfromthefileanddisplaysitinthePowerShellconsole. Example2:Preventanexistingfilefrombeingoverwritten Thisexamplepreventsanexistingfilefrombeingoverwritten.Bydefault,Out-Fileoverwrites existingfiles. Get-Process|Out-File-FilePath.\Process.txt-NoClobber Out-File:Thefile'C:\Test\Process.txt'alreadyexists. Atline:1char:15 +Get-Process|Out-File-FilePath.\Process.txt-NoClobber +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TheGet-Processcmdletgetsthelistofprocessesrunningonthelocalcomputer.TheProcess objectsaresentdownthepipelinetotheOut-Filecmdlet.Out-FileusestheFilePath parameterandattemptstowritetoafileinthecurrentdirectorynamedProcess.txt.The NoClobberparameterpreventsthefilefrombeingoverwrittenanddisplaysamessagethatthe filealreadyexists. Example3:SendoutputtoafileinASCIIformat Thisexampleshowshowtoencodeoutputwithaspecificencodingtype. $Procs=Get-Process Out-File-FilePath.\Process.txt-InputObject$Procs-EncodingASCII-Width50 TheGet-Processcmdletgetsthelistofprocessesrunningonthelocalcomputer.TheProcess objectsarestoredinthevariable,$Procs.Out-FileusestheFilePathparameterandcreates afileinthecurrentdirectorynamedProcess.txt.TheInputObjectparameterpassesthe processobjectsin$ProcstothefileProcess.txt.TheEncodingparameterconvertsthe outputtoASCIIformat.TheWidthparameterlimitseachlineinthefileto50charactersso somedatamightbetruncated. Example4:Useaproviderandsendoutputtoafile ThisexampleshowshowtousetheOut-FilecmdletwhenyouarenotinaFileSystemprovider drive.UsetheGet-PSProvidercmdlettoviewtheprovidersonyourlocalcomputer.Formore information,seeabout_Providers. PS>Set-Location-PathAlias: PS>Get-Location Path ---- Alias:\ PS>Get-ChildItem|Out-File-FilePathC:\TestDir\AliasNames.txt PS>Get-Content-PathC:\TestDir\AliasNames.txt CommandTypeName --------------- Alias%->ForEach-Object Alias?->Where-Object Aliasac->Add-Content Aliascat->Get-Content TheSet-LocationcommandusesthePathparametertosetthecurrentlocationtotheregistry providerAlias:.TheGet-LocationcmdletdisplaysthecompletepathforAlias:. Get-ChildItemsendsobjectsdownthepipelinetotheOut-Filecmdlet.Out-Fileusesthe FilePathparametertospecifythecompletepathandfilenamefortheoutput, C:\TestDir\AliasNames.txt.TheGet-ContentcmdletusesthePathparameteranddisplaysthe file'scontentinthePowerShellconsole. Example5:Setfileoutputwidthforentirescope Thisexampleuses$PSDefaultParameterValuestosettheWidthparameterforallinvocationsof Out-Fileandtheredirectionoperartors(>and>>)to2000.Thisensuresthateverywhere withinthecurrentscopethatyououtputtableformatteddatatofile,PowerShellusesalinewidth of2000insteadofalinewidthdeterminedbythePowerShellhost'sconsolewidth. functionDemoDefaultOutFileWidth(){ try{ $PSDefaultParameterValues['out-file:width']=2000 $logFile="$pwd\logfile.txt" Get-ChildItemEnv:\>$logFile Get-Service-ErrorActionIgnore|Format-Table-AutoSize|Out-File$logFile-Append Get-Process|Format-TableId,SI,Name,Path,MainWindowTitle>>$logFile } finally{ $PSDefaultParameterValues.Remove('out-file:width') } } DemoDefaultOutFileWidth Formoreinformationabout$PSDefaultParameterValues,see about_Preference_Variables. Parameters -Append Addstheoutputtotheendofanexistingfile. Type:SwitchParameter Position:Named Defaultvalue:None Acceptpipelineinput:False Acceptwildcardcharacters:False -Confirm Promptsyouforconfirmationbeforerunningthecmdlet. Type:SwitchParameter Aliases:cf Position:Named Defaultvalue:False Acceptpipelineinput:False Acceptwildcardcharacters:False -Encoding Specifiesthetypeofencodingforthetargetfile.Thedefaultvalueisutf8NoBOM. Theacceptablevaluesforthisparameterareasfollows: ascii:UsestheencodingfortheASCII(7-bit)characterset. bigendianunicode:EncodesinUTF-16formatusingthebig-endianbyteorder. bigendianutf32:EncodesinUTF-32formatusingthebig-endianbyteorder. oem:UsesthedefaultencodingforMS-DOSandconsoleprograms. unicode:EncodesinUTF-16formatusingthelittle-endianbyteorder. utf7:EncodesinUTF-7format. utf8:EncodesinUTF-8format. utf8BOM:EncodesinUTF-8formatwithByteOrderMark(BOM) utf8NoBOM:EncodesinUTF-8formatwithoutByteOrderMark(BOM) utf32:EncodesinUTF-32format. BeginningwithPowerShell6.2,theEncodingparameteralsoallowsnumericIDsofregisteredcode pages(like-Encoding1251)orstringnamesofregisteredcodepages(like -Encoding"windows-1251").Formoreinformation,seethe.NETdocumentationfor Encoding.CodePage. Note UTF-7*isnolongerrecommendedtouse.AsofPowerShell7.1,awarningiswrittenifyou specifyutf7fortheEncodingparameter. Type:Encoding Acceptedvalues:ASCII,BigEndianUnicode,BigEndianUTF32,OEM,Unicode,UTF7,UTF8,UTF8BOM,UTF8NoBOM,UTF32 Position:1 Defaultvalue:UTF8NoBOM Acceptpipelineinput:False Acceptwildcardcharacters:False -FilePath Specifiesthepathtotheoutputfile. Type:String Aliases:Path Position:0 Defaultvalue:None Acceptpipelineinput:False Acceptwildcardcharacters:False -Force Overridestheread-onlyattributeandoverwritesanexistingread-onlyfile.TheForceparameter doesnotoverridesecurityrestrictions. Type:SwitchParameter Position:Named Defaultvalue:None Acceptpipelineinput:False Acceptwildcardcharacters:False -InputObject Specifiestheobjectstobewrittentothefile.Enteravariablethatcontainstheobjectsortype acommandorexpressionthatgetstheobjects. Type:PSObject Position:Named Defaultvalue:None Acceptpipelineinput:True Acceptwildcardcharacters:False -LiteralPath Specifiesthepathtotheoutputfile.TheLiteralPathparameterisusedexactlyasitistyped. Wildcardcharactersarenotaccepted.Ifthepathincludesescapecharacters,encloseitinsingle quotationmarks.SinglequotationmarkstellPowerShellnottointerpretanycharactersasescape sequences.Formoreinformation,seeabout_Quoting_Rules. Type:String Aliases:PSPath,LP Position:Named Defaultvalue:None Acceptpipelineinput:True Acceptwildcardcharacters:False -NoClobber NoClobberpreventsanexistingfilefrombeingoverwrittenanddisplaysamessagethatthefile alreadyexists.Bydefault,ifafileexistsinthespecifiedpath,Out-Fileoverwritesthefile withoutwarning. Type:SwitchParameter Aliases:NoOverwrite Position:Named Defaultvalue:None Acceptpipelineinput:False Acceptwildcardcharacters:False -NoNewline Specifiesthatthecontentwrittentothefiledoesnotendwithanewlinecharacter.Thestring representationsoftheinputobjectsareconcatenatedtoformtheoutput.Nospacesornewlinesare insertedbetweentheoutputstrings.Nonewlineisaddedafterthelastoutputstring. Type:SwitchParameter Position:Named Defaultvalue:None Acceptpipelineinput:False Acceptwildcardcharacters:False -WhatIf Showswhatwouldhappenifthecmdletruns.Thecmdletisnotrun. Type:SwitchParameter Aliases:wi Position:Named Defaultvalue:False Acceptpipelineinput:False Acceptwildcardcharacters:False -Width Specifiesthenumberofcharactersineachlineofoutput.Anyadditionalcharactersaretruncated, notwrapped.Ifthisparameterisnotused,thewidthisdeterminedbythecharacteristicsofthe host.ThedefaultforthePowerShellconsoleis80characters.Ifyouwanttocontrolthewidthfor allinvocationsofOut-Fileaswellastheredirectionoperators(>and>>),set $PSDefaultParameterValues['out-file:width']=2000beforeusingOut-File. Type:Int32 Position:Named Defaultvalue:None Acceptpipelineinput:False Acceptwildcardcharacters:False Inputs PSObject YoucanpipeanyobjecttoOut-File. Outputs None Out-Filedoesnotgenerateanyoutput. Notes Inputobjectsareautomaticallyformattedastheywouldbeintheterminal,butyoucanusea Format-*cmdlettoexplicitlycontroltheformattingoftheoutputtothefile.Forexample, Get-Date|Format-List|Out-Fileout.txt TosendaPowerShellcommand'soutputtotheOut-Filecmdlet,usethepipeline.Alternatively,you canstoredatainavariableandusetheInputObjectparametertopassdatatotheOut-File cmdlet. Out-Filesavesdatatoafilebutitdoesnotproduceanyoutputobjectstothepipeline. PowerShell7.2addedtheabilitytocontrolhowANSIescapesequencesarerendered.ANSI-decorated outputthatispassedtoOut-Filecanbealteredbasedonthesettingofthe $PSStyle.OutputRenderingproperty.Formoreinformation,see about_ANSI_Terminals. RelatedLinks about_Providers about_Quoting_Rules Out-Default Out-Host Out-Null Out-String Tee-Object Feedback Submitandviewfeedbackfor Thisproduct Thispage Viewallpagefeedback Inthisarticle