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PowerShell Commands

Add-Content

Add-Content [-Value*] <Object[]> [-Confirm] [-Credential <PSCredential>] [-Encoding {Unknown | String | Unicode |Byte | BigEndianUnicode | UTF8 | UTF7 | UTF32 | Ascii | Default | Oem | BigEndianUTF32}] [-Exclude <String[]>][-Filter <String>] [-Force] [-Include <String[]>] -LiteralPath* <String[]> [-NoNewline] [-PassThru] [-Stream<String>] [-UseTransaction] [-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]
Add-Content [-Path*] <String[]> [-Value*] <Object[]> [-Confirm] [-Credential <PSCredential>] [-Encoding {Unknown |String | Unicode | Byte | BigEndianUnicode | UTF8 | UTF7 | UTF32 | Ascii | Default | Oem | BigEndianUTF32}][-Exclude <String[]>] [-Filter <String>] [-Force] [-Include <String[]>] [-NoNewline] [-PassThru] [-Stream<String>] [-UseTransaction] [-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]
Add-Content [-Encoding {Unknown | String | Unicode | Byte | BigEndianUnicode | UTF8 | UTF7 | UTF32 | Ascii |Default | Oem}] [-Force] [-Stream <string>] [-Confirm] [-WhatIf] [-UseTransaction] [<CommonParameters>]

The Add-Content cmdlet appends content to a specified item or file. You can specify the content by typing the content in the command or by specifying an object that contains the content.In file system drives, the Add-Content cmdlet appends the content you specify to the end of a file. This cmdlet is not valid on folders.

Note: This custom cmdlet help file explains how the Add-Content cmdlet works in a file system drive. For information about the Add-Content cmdlet in all drives, type "Get-Help Add-Content -Path $null" or see Add-Content at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113278.

Parameters

-Encoding <FileSystemCmdletProviderEncoding>

  • Default value is ASCII

Specifies the file encoding. The default is ASCII.

Valid values are:

-- ASCII: Uses the encoding for the ASCII (7-bit) character set.-- BigEndianUnicode: Encodes in UTF-16 format using the big-endian byte order.-- Byte: Encodes a set of characters into a sequence of bytes.-- String: Uses the encoding type for a string.-- Unicode: Encodes in UTF-16 format using the little-endian byte order.-- UTF7: Encodes in UTF-7 format.-- UTF8: Encodes in UTF-8 format.-- Unknown: The encoding type is unknown or invalid. The data can be treated as binary.

Encoding is a dynamic parameter that the FileSystem provider adds to the Add-Content cmdlet. This parameter works only in file system drives.

-Force [<SwitchParameter>]

  • Default value is False

Adds contents to files even if they are read-only. Without this parameter, read-only files are not affected.

-Stream <string>

Adds the content to the specified alternate data stream. If the stream does not yet, exist, Add-Content creates it. Enter the stream name. Wildcards are not supported.

Stream is a dynamic parameter that the FileSystem provider adds to the Add-Content cmdlet. This parameter works only in file system drives.

This parameter is introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

-Confirm [<SwitchParameter>]

Prompts you for confirmation before executing the command.

-WhatIf [<SwitchParameter>]

Describes what would happen if you executed the command without actually executing the command.

-UseTransaction [<SwitchParameter>]

Includes the command in the active transaction. This parameter is valid only when a transaction is in progress.

-Credential <PSCredential>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input ByPropertyName

Specifies a user account that has permission to perform this action. The default is the current user.

Type a user name, such as "User01" or "Domain01\User01", or enter a PSCredential object, such as one generated by the Get-Credential cmdlet. If you type a user name, you will be prompted for a password.

This parameter is not supported by any providers installed with Windows PowerShell.

-Exclude <String[]>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Specifies, as a string array, items that this cmdlet omits. The value of this parameter qualifies the Path parameter. Enter a path element or pattern, such as "*.txt". Wildcards are permitted.

-Filter <String>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Specifies a filter in the provider's format or language. The value of this parameter qualifies the Path parameter. The syntax of the filter, including the use of wildcards, depends on the provider. Filters are more efficient than other parameters, because the provider applies them when retrieving the objects, rather than having Windows PowerShell filter the objects after they are retrieved.

-Include <String[]>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Specifies, as a string array, items that this cmdlet includes. The value of this parameter qualifies the Path parameter. Enter a path element or pattern, such as "*.txt". Wildcards are permitted.

-LiteralPath <String[]>

  • This value is required
  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input ByPropertyName

Specifies the path to the items that receive the additional content. Unlike the Path parameter, the value of the LiteralPath parameter is used exactly as it is typed. No characters are interpreted as wildcards. If the path includes escape characters, enclose it in single quotation marks. Single quotation marks tell Windows PowerShell not to interpret any characters as escape sequences.

-NoNewline [<SwitchParameter>]

  • Default value is False
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Indicates that this cmdlet does not add a new line/carriage return to the content.

Type a user name, such as "User01" or "Domain01\User01", or enter a PSCredential object, such as one generated by the Get-Credential cmdlet. If you type a user name, you will be prompted for a password.

This parameter is not supported by any providers installed with Windows PowerShell.

-PassThru [<SwitchParameter>]

  • Default value is False
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Returns an object representing the item with which you are working. By default, this cmdlet does not generate any output.

-Path <String[]>

  • This value is required
  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input ByPropertyName

Specifies the path to the items that receive the additional content. Wildcards are permitted. If you specify multiple paths, use commas to separate the paths.

-Value <Object[]>

  • This value is required
  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input ByPropertyName

Specifies the content to be added. Type a quoted string, such as "This data is for internal use only", or specify an object that contains content, such as the DateTime object that Get-Date generates.

You cannot specify the contents of a file by typing its path, because the path is just a string, but you can use a Get-Content command to get the content and pass it to the Value parameter.

<CommonParameters>

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug,ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, WarningAction, WarningVariable,OutBuffer, PipelineVariable, and OutVariable.

Inputs
Sytem.Object[], System.String[], System.Management.Automation.PSCredential
You can pipe the value (object), a path, or a credential object to Add-Contnet.
Outputs
None or System.String
When you use the Passthru parameter, Add-Content generates a System.String object representing the content. Otherwise, this cmdlet does not generate any output.
Examples
  1. This command adds "END" to all text files in the current directory, except for those with file names that begin with "help." : 
    C:\PS> Add-Content -Path *.txt -Exclude help* -Value "END"

    This command adds "END" to all text files in the current directory, except for those with file names that begin with "help."

  2. This command adds the date to the end of the File1.log and File2.log files and then displays the date at the command line: 
    C:\PS> Add-Content -Path file1.log, file2.log -Value (get-date) -PassThru

    The command uses the Get-Date cmdlet to get the date, and it uses the Value parameter to pass the date to Add-Content. The PassThru parameter sends the added content through the pipeline. Because there is no other cmdlet to receive the passed content, it is displayed at the command line.

  3. This command adds the contents of the Weekly.txt file to the end of the Monthly.txt file: 
    C:\PS> Add-Content -Path monthly.txt -Value (Get-Content c:\rec1\weekly.txt)

    It uses the Get-Content cmdlet to get the contents of the Weekly.txt file, and it uses the Value parameter to pass the content of weekly.txt to Add-Content. The parentheses ensure that the Get-Content command is complete before the Add-Content command begins.

    You can also copy the content of Weekly.txt to a variable, such as $w, and then use the Value parameter to pass the variable to Add-Content. In that case, the command would be "add-content -path monthly.txt -value $w".

  4. This command creates a new directory and file and copies the content of an existing file to the newly created file: 
    C:\PS> Add-Content -Value (Get-Content test.log) -Path C:\tests\test134\logs\test134.log

    This command uses the Add-Content cmdlet to add the content. The value of the Value parameter is a Get-Content command that gets content from an existing file, Test.log.

    The value of the path parameter is a path that does not exist when the command runs. In this example, only the C:\Tests directories exist. The command creates the remaining directories and the Test134.log file.

    The Force parameter is not required for this command. Add-Content creates directories to complete a path even without the Force parameter.

  5. This command appends the contents of the final.xml file to the contents of the test.xml file: 
    C:\PS> Get-Content test.xml | Add-Content final.xml -Force -Encoding UTF8

    The command uses the Force parameter so that the command is successful even if the Final.xml file is read-only. It uses the Encoding parameter to specify an encoding of UTF-8.

Additional Notes
 When you pipe an object to Add-Content *, the object is converted to a string before it is added to the item. 
 The object type determines the string format, but the format might be different than the default display of 
 the object. To control the string format, use the formatting parameters of the sending cmdlet.

 You can also refer to Add-Content by its built-in alias, "ac". For more information, see about_Aliases.

 The Add-Content cmdlet is designed to work with the data exposed by any provider. To list the providers 
 available in your session, type `Get-PsProvider`. For more information, see about_Providers.

 *

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. It is attributed to Microsoft Corporation and can be found here.

PowerShell Commands