Set-Content

Syntax

Set-Content
   [-Path] <string[]>
   [-Value] <Object[]>
   [-PassThru]
   [-Filter <string>]
   [-Include <string[]>]
   [-Exclude <string[]>]
   [-Force]
   [-Credential <pscredential>]
   [-WhatIf]
   [-Confirm]
   [-NoNewline]
   [-Encoding <Encoding>]
   [-AsByteStream]
   [-Stream <string>]
   [<CommonParameters>]

Set-Content
   [-Value] <Object[]>
   -LiteralPath <string[]>
   [-PassThru]
   [-Filter <string>]
   [-Include <string[]>]
   [-Exclude <string[]>]
   [-Force]
   [-Credential <pscredential>]
   [-WhatIf]
   [-Confirm]
   [-NoNewline]
   [-Encoding <Encoding>]
   [-AsByteStream]
   [-Stream <string>]
   [<CommonParameters>]

Set-Content
   [-Path] <string[]>
   [-Value] <Object[]>
   [-PassThru]
   [-Filter <string>]
   [-Include <string[]>]
   [-Exclude <string[]>]
   [-Force]
   [-Credential <pscredential>]
   [-WhatIf]
   [-Confirm]
   [<CommonParameters>]

Set-Content
   [-Value] <Object[]>
   -LiteralPath <string[]>
   [-PassThru]
   [-Filter <string>]
   [-Include <string[]>]
   [-Exclude <string[]>]
   [-Force]
   [-Credential <pscredential>]
   [-WhatIf]
   [-Confirm]
   [<CommonParameters>]

Description

Set-Content is a string-processing cmdlet that writes new content or replaces the content in a file. Set-Content replaces the existing content and differs from the Add-Content cmdlet that appends content to a file. To send content to Set-Content you can use the Value parameter on the command line or send content through the pipeline.

If you need to create files or directories for the following examples, see New-Item.

Examples

Example 1: Replace the contents of multiple files in a directory

This example replaces the content for multiple files in the current directory.

Get-ChildItem -Path .\Test*.txt

Test1.txt
Test2.txt
Test3.txt

Set-Content -Path .\Test*.txt -Value 'Hello, World'
Get-Content -Path .\Test*.txt

Hello, World
Hello, World
Hello, World

The Get-ChildItem cmdlet uses the Path parameter to list .txt files that begin with Test* in the current directory. The Set-Content cmdlet uses the Path parameter to specify the Test*.txt files. The Value parameter provides the text string Hello, World that replaces the existing content in each file. The Get-Content cmdlet uses the Path parameter to specify the Test*.txt files and displays each file's content in the PowerShell console.

Example 2: Create a new file and write content

This example creates a new file and writes the current date and time to the file.

Set-Content -Path .\DateTime.txt -Value (Get-Date)
Get-Content -Path .\DateTime.txt

1/30/2019 09:55:08

Set-Content uses the Path and Value parameters to create a new file named DateTime.txt in the current directory. The Value parameter uses Get-Date to get the current date and time. Set-Content writes the DateTime object to the file as a string. The Get-Content cmdlet uses the Path parameter to display the content of DateTime.txt in the PowerShell console.

Example 3: Replace text in a file

This command replaces all instances of word within an existing file.

Get-Content -Path .\Notice.txt

Warning
Replace Warning with a new word.
The word Warning was replaced.

(Get-Content -Path .\Notice.txt) |
    ForEach-Object {$_ -Replace 'Warning', 'Caution'} |
        Set-Content -Path .\Notice.txt
Get-Content -Path .\Notice.txt

Caution
Replace Caution with a new word.
The word Caution was replaced.

The Get-Content cmdlet uses the Path parameter to specify the Notice.txt file in the current directory. The Get-Content command is wrapped with parentheses so that the command finishes before being sent down the pipeline.

The contents of the Notice.txt file are sent down the pipeline to the ForEach-Object cmdlet. ForEach-Object uses the automatic variable $_ and replaces each occurrence of Warning with Caution. The objects are sent down the pipeline to the Set-Content cmdlet. Set-Content uses the Path parameter to specify the Notice.txt file and writes the updated content to the file.

The last Get-Content cmdlet displays the updated file content in the PowerShell console.

Example 4: Use Filters with Set-Content

You can specify a filter to the Set-Content cmdlet. When using filters to qualify the Path parameter, you need to include a trailing asterisk (*) to indicate the contents of the path.

The following command set the content all *.txt files in the C:\Temp directory to the Value empty.

Set-Content -Path C:\Temp\* -Filter *.txt -Value "Empty"

Parameters

-AsByteStream

-Confirm

-Credential

-Encoding

-Exclude

-Filter

-Force

-Include

-LiteralPath

-NoNewline

-PassThru

-Path

-Stream

-Value

-WhatIf

Inputs

Object

You can pipe an object that contains the new value for the item to this cmdlet.

Outputs

None

By default, this cmdlet returns no output.

String

When you use the PassThru parameter, this cmdlet returns a string representing the content.

Notes

• Set-Content is designed for string processing. If you pipe non-string objects to Set-Content, it converts the object to a string before writing it. To write objects to files, use Out-File.
• The Set-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.

Related Links

• about_Aliases
• about_Automatic_Variables.md
• about_Providers
• Add-Content
• Clear-Content
• Get-ChildItem
• Get-Content
• ForEach-Object
• New-Item