Get-Content .csv and use that as a variable for a path name

Question

I am trying to use Get-Content and create a variable that will fill out a directory pathname based on each line of my file.

I have a long list of users in a .csv file and I want to check each of their usernames to get directory size.

The script works if I remove the $username variable and type the username manually at the end of $startdirectory.

$username = Get-Content 'C:\Scripts\AvayaUsers.csv'
$startDirectory = '\\xx\xxxx\xxxxxxxxxxx\users\$username'
 
$directoryItems = Get-ChildItem $startDirectory | Where-Object {$_.PSIsContainer -eq $true} | Sort-Object
 
foreach ($i in $directoryItems)
{
    $subFolderItems = Get-ChildItem $i.FullName -recurse -force | Where-Object {$_.PSIsContainer -eq $false} | Measure-Object -property Length -sum | Select-Object Sum
    $i.FullName + " -- " + "{0:N2}" -f ($subFolderItems.sum / 1GB) + " GB"
}

if it really is a CSV file ... why don't you use `Import-CSV`? — Lee_Dailey, Apr 12 '21 at 22:58
I agree with @Lee_Dailey. In addition, if this works if you hardcode the username at the end of your `$startDirectory` var then the solution to your issue is an outer `foreach` loop using the `$userName` array. — Santiago Squarzon, Apr 13 '21 at 00:02

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 13 '21 at 00:08

You're telling the script to basically assign the entire $username as a variable and you don't loop through it.

This means the entire variable with all users is assigned to $startDirectory. I'm quite sure the script will work with only one user in the CSV.

You need to loop with a foreach each user included in the CSV and then get the file size as you sum.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 13 '21 at 01:21

As others have pointed out, you are assigning all users to the end of the path, instead of each user one by one. You need another loop for each user. In addition to that there are a few other things that need attention.

$startDirectory = '\\xx\xxxx\xxxxxxxxxxx\users\$username'

Variables do not expand in single quotes, those should be double quotes.

$i.FullName + " -- " + "{0:N2}" -f ($subFolderItems.sum / 1GB) + " GB"

Seems you couldn't decide between concatenation or interpolation. Some will argue one way and vice versa. I recommend just picking one and staying consistent.

With these issues addressed you could end up with something like this.

$username = Get-Content 'C:\Scripts\AvayaUsers.csv'

foreach ($user in $username)
{
    $startDirectory = "\\xx\xxxx\xxxxxxxxxxx\users\$user"

    $directoryItems = Get-ChildItem $startDirectory -Directory | Sort-Object

    foreach ($i in $directoryItems)
    {
        $subFolderItems = Get-ChildItem $i.FullName -File -Recurse -Force | Measure-Object -property Length -sum | Select-Object Sum

        "{0} -- {1:N2}" -f $i.FullName,"$($subFolderItems.sum / 1GB) GB"
    }
}

Also, if it is a CSV it may be preferable to treat it as such. If it's a single list you can still use it as CSV by specifying the header.

$username = Import-Csv -Path \path\to.csv -Header UserName

Thank you Doug! You are always so helpful. – izz Apr 13 '21 at 15:39 — izz, Apr 13 '21 at 15:39
You are welcome. Thanks for the kind words. – Doug Maurer Apr 13 '21 at 15:48 — Doug Maurer, Apr 13 '21 at 15:48

Get-Content .csv and use that as a variable for a path name

2 Answers2