# Find text in file and copy to another file

**URL:** <https://forums.powershell.org/t/find-text-in-file-and-copy-to-another-file/11199>\
**Category:** PowerShell Help\
**Created:** [August 24, 2018, 12:23pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/find-text-in-file-and-copy-to-another-file/11199 "2018-08-24T12:23:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tim-nicenortonhealth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47c2d/32.png) [@tim-nicenortonhealth](https://forums.powershell.org/u/tim-nicenortonhealth)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 12:23pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/find-text-in-file-and-copy-to-another-file/11199/1 "2018-08-24T12:23:26Z")

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Hello everybody,

I am new to PowerShell, so please bear with me…

From a .CSV file, I am trying to copy selected data/columns into another file.

After several hours spent googling and experimenting, I thought I would ask the experts.

The furthest I have got is to copy the content of the .CSV into a variable and now I am stuck with finding the text I need and copying it to another file.

I have attempted using the substring command, but cannot find a practical example of how to use it - it might be because I am new to this, if so, I apologize!

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**Author:** ![stephenmbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@stephenmbell](https://forums.powershell.org/u/stephenmbell)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 12:31pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/find-text-in-file-and-copy-to-another-file/11199/2 "2018-08-24T12:31:35Z")

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Hi Tim,

Could you provide a sample of what you’ve got already? Along with maybe some sample data from the file to further explain what you are trying to accomplish?

SB

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**Author:** ![john-mongelluzzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@john-mongelluzzo](https://forums.powershell.org/u/john-mongelluzzo)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/find-text-in-file-and-copy-to-another-file/11199/3 "2018-08-24T15:32:10Z")

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```
field1,field2,field3
Test,zero,0
Test1,one,1
Test2,two,2
Test3,Three,3
```

you can import the fields based off criteria

$result = import-csv c:\temp\mylist.csv | Where {$\_.Field3 -gt 1}

$result will only have the last two lines.

```
PS > $result = Import-Csv .\test.csv |where {$_.Field3 -gt 1}

PS > $result

 

field1 field2 field3
------ ------ ------
Test2 two 2
Test3 Three 3
```

Or

```
PS > $result = Import-Csv .\test.csv |where {$_.Field2 -like 'two'}

PS > $result

field1 field2 field3
------ ------ ------
Test2 two 2
```

Then you could pipe it to Export-CSV and have a brand new file with just the entries you need. Add more steps or more criteria as necessary to get the right items. Good Luck!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tim-nicenortonhealth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47c2d/32.png) [@tim-nicenortonhealth](https://forums.powershell.org/u/tim-nicenortonhealth)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 8:43am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/find-text-in-file-and-copy-to-another-file/11199/4 "2018-08-27T08:43:02Z")

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Thanks Stephen, here’s some more information - I hope you can read it ok 🙂

![]()

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tim-nicenortonhealth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47c2d/32.png) [@tim-nicenortonhealth](https://forums.powershell.org/u/tim-nicenortonhealth)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 8:44am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/find-text-in-file-and-copy-to-another-file/11199/5 "2018-08-27T08:44:45Z")

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Well…even I cant read it, so I’m gonna try again!

I have a .ZIP file that I need to process as follows:

1. Extract all files

2. Copy .ZIP file to backup folder

3. Open .CSV file in H:\Powershell\ABC\123456\<strong\>20180827\outputs\i1 and copy data from field 1, field 2, field 3 etc to a new .csv/text file

- the subfolder “ **20180827** ” will change every day, otherwise this would be easy - I could tell the script to look in the same folder if this sub-folder was always the same

1. and 2) are working ok

I just need help with 3) 🙂

**Field 1**  
**Field 2**  
**Field 3**  
**Field 4**  
**Field 5**  
**Field 6**  
**Field 7**  
**Field 8**  
**Field 9**  
**Field 10**

Data 1  
Data 2  
Data 3  
Data 4  
Data 5  
Data 6  
Data 7  
Data 8  
Data 9  
Data 10

**Field 11**  
**Field 12**  
**Field 13**  
**Field 14**  
**Field 15**  
**Field 16**  
**Field 17**  
**Field 18**  
**Field 19**  
**Field 20**  
**Field 21**  
**Field 22**  
**Field 23**

Data 11  
Data 12  
Data 13  
Data 14  
Data 15  
Data 16  
Data 17  
Data 18  
Data 19  
Data 20  
Data 21  
Data 22  
Data 23

Data 43  
Data 44  
Data 45  
Data 46  
Data 47  
Data 48  
Data 49  
Data 50  
Data 51  
Data 52  
Data 53  
Data 54  
Data 55

Data 75  
Data 76  
Data 77  
Data 78  
Data 79  
Data 80  
Data 81  
Data 82  
Data 83  
Data 84  
Data 85  
Data 86  
Data 87

Data 107  
Data 108  
Data 109  
Data 110  
Data 111  
Data 112  
Data 113  
Data 114  
Data 115  
Data 116  
Data 117  
Data 118  
Data 119

Data 139  
Data 140  
Data 141  
Data 142  
Data 143  
Data 144  
Data 145  
Data 146  
Data 147  
Data 148  
Data 149  
Data 150  
Data 151

Data 171  
Data 172  
Data 173  
Data 174  
Data 175  
Data 176  
Data 177  
Data 178  
Data 179  
Data 180  
Data 181  
Data 182  
Data 183

Data 203  
Data 204  
Data 205  
Data 206  
Data 207  
Data 208  
Data 209  
Data 210  
Data 211  
Data 212  
Data 213  
Data 214  
Data 215

Data 235  
Data 236  
Data 237  
Data 238  
Data 239  
Data 240  
Data 241  
Data 242  
Data 243  
Data 244  
Data 245  
Data 246  
Data 247

Data 267  
Data 268  
Data 269  
Data 270  
Data 271  
Data 272  
Data 273  
Data 274  
Data 275  
Data 276  
Data 277  
Data 278  
Data 279

Data 299  
Data 300  
Data 301  
Data 302  
Data 303  
Data 304  
Data 305  
Data 306  
Data 307  
Data 308  
Data 309  
Data 310  
Data 311

Data 331  
Data 332  
Data 333  
Data 334  
Data 335  
Data 336  
Data 337  
Data 338  
Data 339  
Data 340  
Data 341  
Data 342  
Data 343

&nbsp;

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tim-nicenortonhealth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47c2d/32.png) [@tim-nicenortonhealth](https://forums.powershell.org/u/tim-nicenortonhealth)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 8:46am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/find-text-in-file-and-copy-to-another-file/11199/6 "2018-08-27T08:46:17Z")

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Thank you very much John, I’m going to try your suggestions!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rob-simmers](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/rob-simmers/32/1010_2.png) [@rob-simmers](https://forums.powershell.org/u/rob-simmers)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 9:52am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/find-text-in-file-and-copy-to-another-file/11199/7 "2018-08-27T09:52:28Z")

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Tim,

What have you tried? You’ve posted an example of logic, but no examples of code, errors, etc. that you’ve tried. You can look at cmdlets Import-CSV, Select-Object and Export-CSV (in that order) to build a solution.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![john-mongelluzzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@john-mongelluzzo](https://forums.powershell.org/u/john-mongelluzzo)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 1:12pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/find-text-in-file-and-copy-to-another-file/11199/8 "2018-08-27T13:12:27Z")

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Date manipulation can be hard, try this for the date string. Maybe someone else has a better idea you can use.

```
PS > $variabledate = "{0}" -f (get-date -Format yyyyMMdd) #must use MM for two digit months
PS > $variabledate #this is a string variable.
20180827
```

You can also specify the date to use by just adding

```
Get-Date("01/01/1999") to produce "19990101"

#Yesterday
#date addition/subtraction:
PS > $variabledate = "{0}" -f (get-date((get-date).adddays(-1)) -Format yyyymmdd)
PS > $variabledate
20184026
```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tim-nicenortonhealth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47c2d/32.png) [@tim-nicenortonhealth](https://forums.powershell.org/u/tim-nicenortonhealth)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 2:14pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/find-text-in-file-and-copy-to-another-file/11199/9 "2018-08-27T14:14:33Z")

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Perfect, this was exactly what I was looking for, thank you!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dotnVo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@dotnVo](https://forums.powershell.org/u/dotnVo)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 8:34pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/find-text-in-file-and-copy-to-another-file/11199/10 "2024-05-16T20:34:29Z")

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