Is it possible to use a configuration file with a PowerShell script?
For example, the configuration file:
#links
link1=http://www.google.com
link2=http://www.apple.com
link3=http://www.microsoft.com
And then call this information in the PS1 script:
start-process iexplore.exe $Link1
Thanks a lot for your help Dennis and Tim! Your answers put me on the good track and I found this
SETTINGS.TXT
#from http://tlingenf.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!B1B09F516B5BAEBF!213.entry
#
[General]
MySetting1=value
[Locations]
InputFile="C:\Users.txt"
OutputFile="C:\output.log"
[Other]
WaitForTime=20
VerboseLogging=True
POWERSHELL COMMAND
#from http://tlingenf.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!B1B09F516B5BAEBF!213.entry
#
Get-Content "C:\settings.txt" | foreach-object -begin {$h=@{}} -process { $k = [regex]::split($_,'='); if(($k[0].CompareTo("") -ne 0) -and ($k[0].StartsWith("[") -ne $True)) { $h.Add($k[0], $k[1]) } }
then
After executing the code snippet, a variable ($h) will contain the values in a HashTable.
Name Value
---- -----
MySetting1 value
VerboseLogging True
WaitForTime 20
OutputFile "C:\output.log"
InputFile "C:\Users.txt"
*To retrieve an item from the table, use the command $h.Get_Item("MySetting1").*
There is a much more convenient way to read settings from JSON-file using the ConvertFrom-Json Cmdlet in PowerShell to read a JSON formatted file:
$SettingsObject = Get-Content -Path \path\to\settings.json | ConvertFrom-Json
In your case settings in JSON would be like settings.json:
{
"link1": "http://www.google.com",
"link2": "http://www.apple.com",
"link3": "http://www.microsoft.com"
}
Reading:
PS C:\> $SettingsObject = Get-Content -Path \path\to\settings.json | ConvertFrom-Json
PS C:\> $SettingsObject
link1 link2 link3
----- ----- -----
http://www.google.com http://www.apple.com http://www.microsoft.com
PS C:\> $SettingsObject.link1
http://www.google.com
Source: PowerTip: Read a JSON configuration file as a PowerShell object
There's a good thread here which shows this code (quoting from the linked thread):
# from http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/30358576/powershell-and-ini-files.aspx
param ($file)
$ini = @{}
switch -regex -file $file
{
"^\[(.+)\]$" {
$section = $matches[1]
$ini[$section] = @{}
}
"(.+)=(.+)" {
$name,$value = $matches[1..2]
$ini[$section][$name] = $value
}
}
$ini
Then you can do:
PS> $links = import-ini links.ini
PS> $links["search-engines"]["link1"]
http://www.google.com
PS> $links["vendors"]["link1"]
http://www.apple.com
Assuming an INI file that looks like this:
[vendors]
link1=http://www.apple.com
[search-engines]
link1=http://www.google.com
Unfortunately the regexes are missing from the code at the link so you'll have to reproduce them, but there's a version that handles files without section headers and lines that are comments.
yes, the cmdlets you're looking for are get-content and select-string.
$content=get-content C:\links.txt
start-process iexplore.exe $content[0]
There is a great post by Microsoft Scripting Guys which is something I've used with great success in my own modules.
Use PowerShell to Work with Any INI File
Summary: Guest Blogger Oliver Lipkau shares two Windows PowerShell functions to simplify reading and writing to INI files. (Posted: August 20th, 2011)
The function they provide and explain is as follows:
function Get-IniContent ($filePath)
{
$ini = @{}
switch -regex -file $FilePath
{
"^\[(.+)\]" # Section
{
$section = $matches[1]
$ini[$section] = @{}
$CommentCount = 0
}
"^(;.*)$" # Comment
{
$value = $matches[1]
$CommentCount = $CommentCount + 1
$name = "Comment" + $CommentCount
$ini[$section][$name] = $value
}
"(.+?)\s*=(.*)" # Key
{
$name,$value = $matches[1..2]
$ini[$section][$name] = $value
}
}
return $ini
}
For a more comprehensive approach, consider https://github.com/alekdavis/ConfigFile . This module supports config files in JSON format, as well as INI. It allows expanding variables and does a few neat tricks. The thing to remember is that the names of the key-value pairs in the INI file must match the names of the script parameters or variables.
Powershell module psini.
Example from readme.
Returns the key "Key2" of the section "Category2" from the C:\settings.ini file:
$FileContent = Get-IniContent "C:\settings.ini"
$FileContent["Category2"]["Key2"]
My solution with ansible.
Here my solution to parse INI file with Powershell :
config.ini:
[readme]
; This is a sample configuration file
; Comments start with ';', as in php.ini
[asset]
; Allows you to select assets based on custom fields
environnement_field = "Environnement"
environnement_values[] = "production"
decommissioned_field = "Deco"
decommissioned_values[] = "oui"
decommissioned_values[] = "yes"
decommissioned_values[] = "vrai"
decommissioned_values[] = "true"
[form]
second_section[one] = "1 associated"
second_section[two] = "2 associated"
second_section[] = "1 unassociated"
second_section[] = "2 unassociated"
second_section[] = 1
second_section[] = 1.3
second_section[] = 2.2
[second_section]
path = "/usr/local/bin"
URL = "http://www.example.com/~username"
second_section[one] = "1 associated"
second_section[two] = "2 associated"
second_section[three] = 3
second_section[four] = 4.4
second_section[] = "1 unassociated"
second_section[] = "2 unassociated"
second_section[] = 1
second_section[] = 2.2
[third_section]
phpversion[] = "5.0"
phpversion[] = "5.1"
phpversion[] = "5.2"
phpversion[] = "5.3"
my_script.ps1 :
$PSScriptRoot
function Parse-IniFile ($filePath)
{
$ini = [ordered]@{}
$count = @{}
switch -regex -file $filePath
{
#Section.
"^\[(.+)\]$"
{
$section = $matches[1].Trim()
$ini[$section] = [ordered]@{}
$count[$section] = @{}
$CommentCount = 0
continue
}
# Comment
"^(;.*)$"
{
$value = $matches[1]
$CommentCount = $CommentCount + 1
$name = "Comment" + $CommentCount
if ($section -eq $null) {
$section = "header"
$ini[$section] = [ordered]@{}
}
$ini[$section][$name] = $value
continue
}
#Array Int.
"^\s*([^#][\w\d_-]+?)\[]\s*=\s*(\d+)\s*$"
{
$name,$value = $matches[1..2]
if (!$ini[$section][$name]) {
$ini[$section][$name] = [ordered]@{}
}
if (!$count[$section][$name]) {
$count[$section][$name] = 0
}
$ini[$section][$name].Add($count[$section][$name], [int]$value)
$count[$section][$name] += 1
continue
}
#Array Decimal
"^\s*([^#][\w\d_-]+?)\[]\s*=\s*(\d+\.\d+)\s*$"
{
$name,$value = $matches[1..2]
if (!$ini[$section][$name]) {
$ini[$section][$name] = [ordered]@{}
}
if (!$count[$section][$name]) {
$count[$section][$name] = 0
}
$ini[$section][$name].Add($count[$section][$name], [decimal]$value)
$count[$section][$name] += 1
continue
}
#Array Everything else
"^\s*([^#][\w\d_-]+?)\[]\s*=\s*(.*)"
{
$name,$value = $matches[1..2]
if (!$ini[$section][$name]) {
$ini[$section][$name] = [ordered]@{}
}
if (!$count[$section][$name]) {
$count[$section][$name] = 0
}
$ini[$section][$name].Add($count[$section][$name], $value.Trim())
$count[$section][$name] += 1
continue
}
#Array associated Int.
"^\s*([^#][\w\d_-]+?)\[([\w\d_-]+?)]\s*=\s*(\d+)\s*$"
{
$name, $association, $value = $matches[1..3]
if (!$ini[$section][$name]) {
$ini[$section][$name] = [ordered]@{}
}
$ini[$section][$name].Add($association, [int]$value)
continue
}
#Array associated Decimal
"^\s*([^#][\w\d_-]+?)\[([\w\d_-]+?)]\s*=\s*(\d+\.\d+)\s*$"
{
$name, $association, $value = $matches[1..3]
if (!$ini[$section][$name]) {
$ini[$section][$name] = [ordered]@{}
}
$ini[$section][$name].Add($association, [decimal]$value)
continue
}
#Array associated Everything else
"^\s*([^#][\w\d_-]+?)\[([\w\d_-]+?)]\s*=\s*(.*)"
{
$name, $association, $value = $matches[1..3]
if (!$ini[$section][$name]) {
$ini[$section][$name] = [ordered]@{}
}
$ini[$section][$name].Add($association, $value.Trim())
continue
}
#Int.
"^\s*([^#][\w\d_-]+?)\s*=\s*(\d+)\s*$"
{
$name,$value = $matches[1..2]
$ini[$section][$name] = [int]$value
continue
}
#Decimal.
"^\s*([^#][\w\d_-]+?)\s*=\s*(\d+\.\d+)\s*$"
{
$name,$value = $matches[1..2]
$ini[$section][$name] = [decimal]$value
continue
}
#Everything else.
"^\s*([^#][\w\d_-]+?)\s*=\s*(.*)"
{
$name,$value = $matches[1..2]
$ini[$section][$name] = $value.Trim()
continue
}
}
return $ini
}
function Set-IniFile ($ini, $filePath)
{
$output = @()
foreach($section in $ini.Keys)
{
# Put a newline before category as seperator, only if there is null
$seperator = if ($output[$output.Count - 1] -eq $null) { } else { "`n" }
$output += $seperator + "[$section]";
foreach($key in $ini.$section.Keys)
{
if ( $key.StartsWith('Comment') )
{
$output += $ini.$section.$key
}
elseif ($ini.$section.$key -is [System.Collections.Specialized.OrderedDictionary]) {
foreach($subkey in $ini.$section.$key.Keys) {
if ($subkey -is [int]) {
$output += "$key[] = " + $ini.$section.$key.$subkey
} else {
$output += "$key[$subkey] = " + $ini.$section.$key.$subkey
}
}
}
else
{
$output += "$key = " + $ini.$section.$key
}
}
}
$output | Set-Content $filePath -Force
}
$ini = Parse-IniFile -filePath ".\config.ini"
Set-IniFile -ini $ini -filePath ".\config_copy.ini"
Write-Host "=first_section"
$ini["first_section"]
Write-Host "=second_section"
$ini["second_section"]
Write-Host "=second_section.second_section"
$ini["second_section"]["second_section"]
Write-Host "=third_section"
$ini["third_section"]
Write-Host "=third_section.phpversion"
$ini["third_section"]["phpversion"]
The output :
PS C:\Users\itesant> .\my_script.ps1
Name Value
---- -----
=readme
Comment1 ; This is a sample configuration file
Comment2 ; Comments start with ';', as in php.ini
=asset
Comment1 ; Allows you to select assets based on custom fields
environnement_field "Environnement"
environnement_values {0}
decommissioned_field "Deco"
decommissioned_values {0, 1, 2, 3}
=form
second_section {one, two, 0, 1...}
=form.second_section
one "1 associated"
two "2 associated"
three 3
four 4,4
0 "1 unassociated"
1 "2 unassociated"
2 1
3 2,2
=second_section
path "/usr/local/bin"
URL "http://www.example.com/~username"
second_section {one, two, three, four...}
=second_section.second_section
one "1 associated"
two "2 associated"
three 3
four 4,4
0 "1 unassociated"
1 "2 unassociated"
2 1
3 2,2
=third_section
phpversion {0, 1, 2, 3}
=third_section.phpversion
0 "5.0"
1 "5.1"
2 "5.2"
3 "5.3"
You can see some regex here :
Section: https://regex101.com/r/maYLKE/3
Comment: https://regex101.com/r/IE5FJH/2
Array Integer: https://regex101.com/r/AuuOi3/2
Array Decimal: https://regex101.com/r/Erjjym/2
Array Everything else: https://regex101.com/r/guC1Yd/2
Array associated Integer: https://regex101.com/r/Us56SL/2
Array associated Decimal: https://regex101.com/r/MrCZ9n/2
Array associated Everything else: https://regex101.com/r/TbYcyf/4
Integer: https://regex101.com/r/ZVdB2z/1
Decimal: https://regex101.com/r/TzHNb9/1
Everything else: https://regex101.com/r/S0o1Bj/1
