Export-CSV

Applies To: Windows PowerShell 2.0

Converts objects into a series of comma-separated (CSV) strings and saves the strings in a CSV file.

Syntax

Export-CSV [-Path] <string> [[-Delimiter] <char>] -InputObject <psobject> [-Encoding <string>] [-Force] [-NoClobber] [-NoTypeInformation] [-Confirm] [-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]

Export-CSV [-Path] <string> -InputObject <psobject> [-Encoding <string>] [-Force] [-NoClobber] [-NoTypeInformation] [-UseCulture] [-Confirm] [-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The Export-CSV cmdlet creates a CSV file of the objects that you submit. Each object is represented as a line or row of the CSV. The row consists of a comma-separated list of the values of object properties. You can use this cmdlet to create spreadsheets and share data with programs that take CSV files as input.

NOTE: Do not format objects before sending them to the Export-CSV cmdlet. If you do, the format properties are represented in the CSV file, instead of the properties of the original objects. To export only selected properties of an object, use the Select-Object cmdlet.

Parameters

-Delimiter <char>

Specifies a delimiter to separate the property values. The default is a comma (,). Enter a character, such as a colon (:). To specify a semicolon (;), enclose it in quotation marks.

-Encoding <string>

Specifies the encoding for the exported CSV file. Valid values are Unicode, UTF7, UTF8, ASCII, UTF32, BigEndianUnicode, Default, and OEM. The default is ASCII.

-Force

Overwrites the file specified in path without prompting.

-InputObject <psobject>

Specifies the objects to export as CSV strings. Enter a variable that contains the objects or type a command or expression that gets the objects. You can also pipe objects to Export-CSV.

-NoClobber

Do not overwrite (replace the contents) of an existing file. By default, if a file exists in the specified path, Export-CSV overwrites the file without warning.

-NoTypeInformation

Omits the type information from the CSV file. By default, the first line of the CSV file contains "#TYPE " followed by the fully-qualified name of the object type.

-Path <string>

Specifies the path to the CSV output file. The parameter is required.

-UseCulture

Use the list separator for the current culture as the item delimiter. The default is a comma (,).

This parameter is very useful in scripts that are being distributed to users worldwide. To find the list separator for a culture, use the following command: (Get-Culture).TextInfo.ListSeparator.

-Confirm

Prompts you for confirmation before executing the command.

-WhatIf

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

<CommonParameters>

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: -Debug, -ErrorAction, -ErrorVariable, -OutBuffer, -OutVariable, -Verbose, -WarningAction, and -WarningVariable. For more information, see about_CommonParameters.

Inputs and Outputs

The input type is the type of the objects that you can pipe to the cmdlet. The return type is the type of the objects that the cmdlet returns.

Notes

-- The Export-CSV cmdlet converts the objects that you submit into a series of CSV variable-length strings and saves them in the specified text file. You can use Export-CSV to save objects in a CSV file and then use the Import-CSV cmdlet to create objects from the text in the CSV file.

-- In the CSV file, each object is represented by a comma-separated list of the property values of the object. The property values are converted to strings (by using the ToString() method of the object), so they are generally represented by the name of the property value. Export-CSV does not export the methods of the object.

-- The format of an exported file is as follows:

---- The first line of the CSV file contains the string '#TYPE ' followed by the fully qualified name of the object, such as #TYPE System.Diagnostics.Process. To suppress this line, use the NoTypeInformation parameter.

---- The next line of the CSV file represents the column headers. It contains a comma-separated list of the names of all the properties of the first object.

---- Additional lines of the file consist of comma-separated lists of the property values of each object.

-- When you submit multiple objects to Export-CSV, Export-CSV organizes the file based on the properties of the first object that you submit. If the remaining objects do not have one of the specified properties, the property value of that object is null, as represented by two consecutive commas. If the remaining objects have additional properties, those property values are not included in the file.

-- You can use the Import-Csv cmdlet to re-create objects from the CSV strings in the files. The resulting objects are CSV versions of the original objects that consist of string representations of the property values and no methods.

-- The ConvertTo-Csv and ConvertFrom-Csv cmdlets to convert objects to CSV strings (and back). Export-CSV is the same as ConvertTo-CSV, except that it saves the CSV strings in a file.

Example 1

C:\PS>get-process wmiprvse | select-object basePriority,ID,SessionID,WorkingSet | export-csv -path data.csv

Description
-----------
This command selects a few properties of the wmiprvse process and exports them to a CSV format file named data.csv.

Example 2

C:\PS>get-process | export-csv processes.csv 

C:\PS> get-process | export-csv processes.csv 

# In processes.csv

#TYPE System.Diagnostics.Process
__NounName,Name,Handles,VM,WS,PM,NPM,Path,Company,CPU,FileVersion,...
Process,powershell,626,201666560,76058624,61943808,11960,C:\WINDOWS...
Process,powershell,257,151920640,38322176,37052416,7836,C:\WINDOWS\...

Description
-----------
This command exports objects representing the processes on the computer to the Processes.csv file in the current directory. Because it does not specify a delimiter, a comma (,) is used to separate the fields in the file.

Example 3

C:\PS>get-process | export-csv processes.csv -Delimiter ";" 

# In processes.csv

#TYPE System.Diagnostics.Process
__NounName;Name;Handles;VM;WS;PM;NPM;Path;Company;CPU;FileVersion;...
Process;powershell;626;201666560;76058624;61943808;11960;C:\WINDOWS...
Process;powershell;257;151920640;38322176;37052416;7836;C:\WINDOWS\...

Description
-----------
This command exports objects representing the processes on the computer to the Processes.csv file in the current directory. It uses the Delimiter parameter to specify the semicolon (;). As a result, the fields in the file are separated by semicolons.

Example 4

C:\PS>get-process | export-csv processes.csv -UseCulture

Description
-----------
This command exports objects representing the processes on the computer to the Processes.csv file in the current directory. It uses the UseCulture parameter to direct Export-CSV to use the delimiter specified by the ListSeparator property of the current culture.

Example 5

C:\PS>get-process | export-csv processes.csv -NoTypeInformation

C:\PS> get-process | export-csv processes.csv -NoTypeInformation

# In processes.csv

__NounName,Name,Handles,VM,WS,PM,NPM,Path,Company,CPU,FileVersion,...
Process,powershell,626,201666560,76058624,61943808,11960,C:\WINDOWS...
Process,powershell,257,151920640,38322176,37052416,7836,C:\WINDOWS\...

Description
-----------
This command exports objects representing the processes on the computer to the Processes.csv file in the current directory. It uses the NoTypeInformation parameter to suppress the type information in the file.

Example 6

C:\PS>get-date | select-object -property DateTime, Day, DayOfWeek, DayOfYear | export-csv -path Date.csv

#In Date.csv:
"DateTime","Day","DayOfWeek","DayOfYear"
"Tuesday, October 05, 2010 2:45:13 PM","5","Tuesday","278"

C:\PS> get-date | format-table -property DateTime, Day, DayOfWeek, DayOfYear | export-csv -path Date.csv

#In Date.csv: 
"ClassId2e4f51ef21dd47e99d3c952918aff9cd","pageHeaderEntry","pageFooterEntry","autosizeInfo","shapeInfo","groupingEntry"
"033ecb2bc07a4d43b5ef94ed5a35d280",,,,"Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.TableHeaderInfo",
"9e210fe47d09416682b841769c78b8a3",,,,,
"27c87ef9bbda4f709f6b4002fa4af63c",,,,,
"4ec4f0187cb04f4cb6973460dfe252df",,,,,
"cf522b78d86c486691226b40aa69e95c",,,,,

Description
-----------
This example demonstrates one of most common problems that users encounter when using the Export-CSV cmdlet. It explains how to recognize and avoid this error.

Because a CSV file has a table format, it might seem natural to use the Format-Table cmdlet to format the  data in a table to prepare it for export as a CSV file. Also, the Format-Table cmdlet allows you to select object properties easily.

However, when you format the data in a table and then export it, you are exporting a table object, not your original data object. The resulting CSV file is not useful.

This example shows how to select object properties by using the Select-Object cmdlet, and it shows the Export-CSV formats the data correctly in a CSV file without any preparatory formatting by another cmdlet.

The first command shows how to select properties of an object and export them to a CSV file. This command uses the Get-Date cmdlet to get the current date and time. It uses the Select-Object cmdlet to select the desired properties, and the Export-CSV cmdlet to export the object and its properties to the Date.csv file. The output shows the expected content in the Date.csv file.

The second command shows that when you use the Format-Table cmdlet to format your data before exporting it, the output is not useful.

See Also

Concepts

Import-CSV
ConvertTo-CSV
ConvertFrom-CSV