Powershell Megathread: Verb-Noun Scripting is the future

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Cavern of COBOL > Powershell Megathread: Verb-Noun Scripting is the future

Moey: Oct 22, 2010; I LIKE TO MOVE IT

So I borrowed Spudman's script that scrapes computer name/model stuff by subnet. I am now trying to modify it to bring back much more than that. I am having a slight problem though getting memory to come back through the script.

To get back memory, I am using this.

(Get-WmiObject Win32_PhysicalMemory | measure-object Capacity -sum).sum/1mb

How do I throw that in my loop so I can assign it to a variable

I have tried a few different things, but here is the error I am getting

code:

You must provide a value expression on the right-hand side of the '-' operator.
At C:\Users\Moey\Desktop\CPUInfoNew.ps1:37 char:87
+   $mem = (Get-WmiObject Win32_PhysicalMemory | measure-object Capacity -sum).sum/1mb - <<<< Computer $ip -Credential $creds -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    + CategoryInfo          : ParserError: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ExpectedValueExpression

Another semi-related question, any suggestions on a good Powershell book? I like automation, so I figure might as well dive into this.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2011 22:49

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 14:15

Moey: Oct 22, 2010; I LIKE TO MOVE IT

The <<<< Computer part was added in once it errored out.

For the code, I need the | measure-object Capacity -sum as if I just do Get-WmiObject Win32_PhysicalMemory, it brings back a table of stuff that I am not interested in.

I feel like this is getting close, I am just missing something stupid.

$mem = (Get-WmiObject Win32_PhysicalMemory | measure-object Capacity -sum).sum/1mb -Computer $ip -Credential $creds -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | ForEach-Object {$_.Capacity}

# ¿ Aug 19, 2011 15:21

Moey: Oct 22, 2010; I LIKE TO MOVE IT

Mully Clown posted:

Have you tried the line of code from my previous post? I'm about 98% positive it will work for you.

Yup, you were correct, I am an idiot. I think I missed a chunk of that line you wrote when I copied it. Thanks. Now time to figure out all the other cool things I can add in to this.

Also, suggestions on a good PS book from anyone? I actually found this book in my office, it's almost 5 years old though.

http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-PowerShell-Programming-Absolute-Beginner/dp/1598633546/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314050807&sr=8-1

# ¿ Aug 22, 2011 23:07

Moey: Oct 22, 2010; I LIKE TO MOVE IT

Clanpot Shake posted:

I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask, but I've got a question for people who know Windows scripting. We have an AD setup where about half of the users are missing a piece of required software. Rather than installing this one by one, we want to run a logon script to install and configure it using elevated privileges. We're a newly setup department so we don't have SCCM or similar to push out software yet, so this will be a one-time thing.

I started looking into this and found we could use VBScript to run commands, but I haven't been able to get it to do what I want. I've got the logic right, I'm just struggling with how VBScript handles certain things. In particular, I can't seem to get it to call the installer .exe file, but I also can't see any errors because it's running quiet.

Is this the right approach, or is there a better/easier alternative for installing software than VBScript? Are there any resources/examples of doing this?

What software are you installing? The GPO megathread in SH/SC is a good place to start for things like this. You will probably need to turn that exe into an msi, so look into something like http://www.advancedinstaller.com/

It works, but can break some installers. You can then use that with a script to check to see if it is installed, then decide if it needs to be installed or not. I have not gotten that far along with this (my environment still has users manually updating flash/java/ff, and I hate it), but that seems to be the route to go.

# ¿ Sep 2, 2011 09:16

Moey: Oct 22, 2010; I LIKE TO MOVE IT

adaz posted:

Honestly I never trust Export-CSV anymore and just use my own custom objects added to a list then export that. I've run into more cases where it doesn't work than where it does.

This is awesome. I will probably work towards doing this for some of the things I am setting up. I finally have some free time so I started getting into my PS book. We have alot of user accounts in AD that are missing phone numbers, so I wrote/modified a little script to give me the names of these accounts. I figure next step is let it take arguments (or build it a little gui) so I can search for other empty attributes and allow it to select which OU to search instead of just the root of our users OU.

# ¿ Nov 24, 2011 02:01

Moey: Oct 22, 2010; I LIKE TO MOVE IT

Looking for a quick pointer in the right direction. Had some success last night using powershell to do some bulk file renaming at home. Get into work today, now I actually get to try and use some of that!

I would like to try and hack through alot of this on my own, but currently I am trying to take a directory with some files in it, then go through and create a folder in that directory with the name of each file name.

Example would be I currently have c:\ps which contains a.txt b.txt c.txt

I need to then create 3 folders, c:\ps\a, c:\ps\b, c:\ps\d

Once that is created, I need to move the respective txt files into the respective folders.

Currently hung on creating the folders by the file names. I was trying something along the lines of

code:

gci |new-item -name $_.Name -itemtype "directory"

But that is complaining that c:\ps already exists.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2011 16:07

Moey: Oct 22, 2010; I LIKE TO MOVE IT

adaz posted:

You were very close -- just need the basename (which omits the file extension) and to put the piepline input in quotes so powershell expands it before attempting to pass it to the parameter - which results in a null being passed and the new-item trying to create the root directory over again
code:
gci | new-Item -name "$_.basename" -itemtype "directory"

Didn't know that name would grab the extension as well. I am still having a problem as $_ isn't pulling files from that directory. This script will just create a folder called .basement, then error out for the rest of the items.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2011 16:53

Moey: Oct 22, 2010; I LIKE TO MOVE IT

Thanks guys, that worked perfect. Now I am stuck on moving the files into the newly created folders.

I am trying to do something like this, but it is clearly wrong.

code:

gci | %{move-item $_ .\$_.basename.tostring()}

From the little knowledge I have, my logic is that would loop through the directory, grab the files, and then move them to the directory which name matches their file name. I am getting an error after the .tostring(

Edit

If I add in the full path, it will just renames the files without moving them. Both the lines below dont move anything, but rename both the files and the folders (appends a .basename to the end). Don't know why powershell is so difficult for me to grasp.

code:

gci | %{move-item $_ c:\ps\$_.basename}
gci | %{move-item $_ c:\ps\$_.basename\}

Moey fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Dec 21, 2011

# ¿ Dec 21, 2011 21:24

Moey: Oct 22, 2010; I LIKE TO MOVE IT

adaz posted:

You are formatting the destination part wrong at first glance. Should be something like this
code:
gci | %{move-item -path $_.name -destination "$($_.directoryname)\$($_.basename)\$($_.name)" }

Makes sense and works! It spits out errors but still moves the files. I think it is trying to move the folders as well. If I run it on a directory with 1 file, I get 1 error. 3 files, 3 errors. Don't think it matters, not sure though.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2011 02:30

Moey: Oct 22, 2010; I LIKE TO MOVE IT

Woop woop. Ran it today on the production data and everything worked. Could not get the moving to ignore folders, so when it hit that line, I had 1350 errors scrolling across my PS window, but it all worked out.

code:

#Renames file to append crap user wants
gci |rename-item -newname {$_.basename + " - Cat Picture.tif"}

#Creates folders based on first 9 chars
gci | %{new-item -name $_.tostring().substring(0,9) -type directory -path .}

#moves files into folders based on file number
gci | %{move-item -path $_.name -destination "$($_.directoryname)\$($_.tostring().substring(0,9))\$($_.name)" }

Thanks again everyone!

Edit: Just out of curiosity sake, how would I add "where-object {$_.psiscontainer -eq false}" to my last line of code there? Everything I try breaks it.

Moey fucked around with this message at 17:26 on Dec 23, 2011

# ¿ Dec 23, 2011 16:52

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 14:15

Moey: Oct 22, 2010; I LIKE TO MOVE IT

Jethro posted:

Note that it's $false not false

Thanks for that. Outside the $ I was pretty close just by trial and error. I had the same thing, but I had the conditional statement (psiscontainer) after move-item.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2012 15:48

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