Command console output -- to file . Get { Windows Filtering Platform / Windows Firewall } rules

Question

Output of this doesn't fit into the window

get-netFirewallRule | where { $_.Action -eq 'Block' -and $_.Enabled -eq 'True' }

read-host -prompt "Press Enter to continue..."

When i try

Remove-Item -Path ($env:userprofile + "\Desktop\enabledBlockRules_WindowsFilteringPlatform.txt")

get-netFirewallRule | where { $_.Action -eq 'Block' -and $_.Enabled -eq 'True' } | forEach {
    $_ | Add-Content -Path ($env:userprofile + "\Desktop\enabledBlockRules_WindowsFilteringPlatform.txt") -Encoding "utf8"
}

read-host -prompt "Exported to desktop ."

I get nonsense results . How could i do this ?

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 11 '21 at 23:47

To streamline your answer and add some context:

Get-NetFirewallRule | 
  Where-Object { $_.Action -eq 'Block' -and $_.Enabled } | 
    Out-File -Encoding utf8 -FilePath "$env:userprofile\Desktop\enabledBlockRules_WindowsFilteringPlatform.txt"

Note how Out-File is directly piped to, which obviates the need for removing the output file first and the inefficient loop with -Append.

As for why switching from Add-Content to Out-File made the difference:

Set-Content / Add-Content perform simple .ToString() stringification of its input objects, which for complex objects more often than not results in unhelpful string representations.
By contrast, Out-File (>) / Out-File -Append (>>) use the usual for-display output-formatting system, yielding the same rich formatting you'd see when outputting to the console.
- Do note, however, that these representations are for the human observer, and therefore not generally suited to programmatic processing; for the latter, use a structured text format, such as CSV or JSON.

See this answer for more information, including about the different default character encodings between the cmdlets in Windows PowerShell.

I was worrying about any size-per-operation limitations, thats why used foreach — irvnriir, Dec 12 '21 at 00:01
@irvnriir, the pipeline _streams_ output objects, so that `Out-File` writes them to the file _one by one_, _as they're being received_, so there should be no concern about the overall size of the input. I assume that's what you meant, right? Also note that with per-object `Out-File` calls that result in _tabular_ formatting (not in your case), you'll get a header for each and every object. — mklement0, Dec 12 '21 at 00:13

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 11 '21 at 19:31

0

damn

Remove-Item -Path ($env:userprofile + "\Desktop\enabledBlockRules_WindowsFilteringPlatform.txt")

get-netFirewallRule | where { $_.Action -eq 'Block' -and $_.Enabled -eq 'True' } | forEach {
    $_ | Out-File -FilePath ($env:userprofile + "\Desktop\enabledBlockRules_WindowsFilteringPlatform.txt") -Encoding "utf8" -Append
}

read-host -prompt "Exported to desktop ."

answered Dec 11 '21 at 19:31

irvnriir

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You can use `Write-Host` instead of `Read-Host`. You also should be evaluating a against a boolean value so use `$true` instead of `'true'`. – Abraham Zinala Dec 11 '21 at 19:35
@Abraham Zinala `Write-Host` doesn't pause the script . – irvnriir Dec 23 '21 at 14:50

Command console output -- to file . Get { Windows Filtering Platform / Windows Firewall } rules

2 Answers2