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Accepted
Carlo
Asked: 2016-09-09 03:11:25 +0800 CST

Store PS command output to variable and Invoke-Command

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I need to store command output to pass it as variable in function later

#This works
[scriptblock]$command = {Get-EventLog system -newest 1  | Format-List}
$command.Invoke()

But when I try to Write-Host it fails

#This works
[scriptblock]$command = {Get-EventLog system -newest 1  | Format-List}
Write-Host $command.Invoke()

with output

Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatStartData Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.GroupStartData Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatEntryData Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.GroupEndData Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatEndData

Line of the script in which I'm trying to use it is

$SMTPMessage = New-Object System.Net.Mail.MailMessage('UserName [email protected]','[email protected]','subjectText',($command.Invoke()) )

Thanks

windows scripting powershell

2 Answers

  1. {ScriptBlock}.Invoke() returns a System.Collections.ObjectModel.Collection<PSObject> which is getting mangled by the Write-Host command.

    If you use InvokeReturnAsIs() you get correct results:

    PS C:\> [scriptblock]$command = {Get-EventLog system -newest 1  | Format-List}
$command.InvokeReturnAsIs()

Index              : 141723
EntryType          : Information
InstanceId         : 1073748860
Message            : The Application Experience service entered the stopped state.
Category           : (0)
CategoryNumber     : 0
ReplacementStrings : {Application Experience, stopped}
Source             : Service Control Manager
TimeGenerated      : 9/8/2016 9:32:02 AM
TimeWritten        : 9/8/2016 9:32:02 AM
UserName           :
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  2. Best Answer

    Format-List return formatting objects. You need Out-String cmdlet to convert them to string:

    $OutputAsString = $command.Invoke() | Out-String

    Then you can pass that string into methods, which expect string as their input.

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