Import CSV file with 3 columns into three separate arrays

PowerShell Help
1

I have a simple CSV file with 3 columns, and a header for row#1 (Name, Department, Region). I run the following command in Powershell but am not getting the values for each column into their respective arrays. I was hoping to import all cell values under Name column into a $name array, $department array and $region array. So far no luck.

$csv = Import-CSV ‘c:\users\myname\documents\resultdata.csv’

$name = $csv.Name

$department = $csv.Department

$region = $csv.Region

When i run the command $csv[2], it shows me the header and then the 3 values for Name, department and region. Something like this below. But if i run just $name, it does not show me anything, i was expecting a list of all names one line at a time. What am i doing wrong please? Thanks a bunch

Name Department Region

James Engineering Arizona

2

What version of Powershell are you running? $csv.Name is an implicit loop, which was introduced in version 3. Another simple method that should work regardless of the version is -ExpandProperty:

$obj = @()
$obj += [pscustomobject]@{
    Name = 'Rob'
    Department = 'IT'
    Region = 'Florida'
}

$obj += [pscustomobject]@{
    Name = 'James'
    Department = 'Engineering'
    Region = 'Arizona'
}

#Version 3 or higher
$obj.Name

#All versions
$obj | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name

#Another option is an explicit loop
$obj | foreach{$_.Name}

Output:

PS C:\Users\Rob> $obj.Name

Rob
James

PS C:\Users\Rob> $obj | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name
Rob
James

PS C:\Users\Rob> $obj | foreach{$_.Name}

Rob
James
3

Hi Rob. Thanks for your reply. I’m running PS version 5.1. I’m a bit confused from your reply. I have all the data already in the CSV file and would just like to import the 3 columns into 3 unique arrays in Powershell. Your code seems to show them being manually added one row at a time? Please correct me if i’m wrong. Can you tell me what i’m doing wrong not to get the 3 columns into 3 arrays? Thank you again sir.

4

Nevermind :slight_smile: I figured out what you did. I entered $csv | select -expandproperty Name and it worked. Thank you Rob

 

[quote quote=120603]Hi Rob. Thanks for your reply. I’m running PS version 5.1. I’m a bit confused from your reply. I have all the data already in the CSV file and would just like to import the 3 columns into 3 unique arrays in Powershell. Your code seems to show them being manually added one row at a time? Please correct me if i’m wrong. Can you tell me what i’m doing wrong not to get the 3 columns into 3 arrays? Thank you again sir.

[/quote]

5

Powershell does a lot of things implicitly for you without asking for. :wink:
If you import some data from a CSV file you actually already have three single arrays:

$Source = @’

Name,Department,Region

James,Engineering,Arizona

Paul,Marketing,Florida

Ann,Human Ressources,New York

Chuck,CEO,San Francisko

'@

$CSV = $Source | ConvertFrom-Csv

That code created some structured data in form of a table with 3 columns and 4 data sets. (looks like this)
PS:>$CSV


Name  Department       Region




James Engineering      Arizona

Paul  Marketing        Florida

Ann   Human Ressources New York

Chuck CEO              San Francisko

You can access each single data set by addressing it with its index like this:
$CSV[2]
Result will be the third data set (index starts with 0)
PS:>$CSV[2]


Name Department       Region




Ann  Human Ressources New York

And … like you already did you can access each single column by its name like this:
$CSV.Name
… and the result would be this:
PS:>$CSV.Name

James

Paul

Ann

Chuck

6

Thanks much for your reply as well Olaf!