Question:
If I have a .properties file that contains directories (which contain colons):
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some_dir=f:\some\dir\etc another_dir=d:\dir\some\bin |
and then use ConvertFrom-StringData to convert Key=Value pairs from said properties file to a hash table:
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$props_file = Get-Content "F:\dir\etc\props.properties" $props = ConvertFrom-StringData ($props_file) $the_dir = $props.'some_dir' Write-Host $the_dir |
Powershell throws an error (doesn’t like colons):
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ConvertFrom-StringData : Cannot convert 'System.Object[]' to the type 'System.String' required by parameter 'StringData'. Specified method is not supported. At line:3 char:32 + $props = ConvertFrom-StringData <<<< ($props_file) + CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [ConvertFrom-StringData], ParameterBindingException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CannotConvertArgument,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ConvertFromStringDataCommand |
How do you get round this? I’d like to be able to just refer to the directories using the . notation:
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$props.'some_dir' |
Answer:
Colons have nothing to do with the error you get. And yes, it can be achieved using ConvertFrom-StringData but, as already mentioned, you’re feeding it an array instead of a string. Moreover, you need paths with double backslashes in your file because single backslashes are interpreted as escape characters.
Here’s how to fix your code:
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# Reading file as a single string: $sRawString = Get-Content "F:\dir\etc\props.properties" | Out-String # The following line of code makes no sense at first glance # but it's only because the first '\\' is a regex pattern and the second isn't. ) $sStringToConvert = $sRawString -replace '\\', '\\' # And now conversion works. $htProperties = ConvertFrom-StringData $sStringToConvert $the_dir = $htProperties.'some_dir' Write-Host $the_dir |