PowerShell:
Writing a text file

How to:

PowerShell provides straightforward cmdlets for handling files. The Out-File cmdlet and the redirection operators are primarily used for this purpose. Here are examples illustrating how to write text to files in different scenarios:

Basic text file creation:

To create a text file and write a simple string to it, you can use:

"Hello, World!" | Out-File -FilePath .\example.txt

Or equivalently with redirection operator:

"Hello, World!" > .\example.txt

Appending text to an existing file:

If you want to add text to the end of an existing file without overwriting it:

"Another line." | Out-File -FilePath .\example.txt -Append

Or using the appending redirection operator:

"Another line." >> .\example.txt

Writing multiple lines:

For writing multiple lines, you can use an array of strings:

$lines = "Line 1", "Line 2", "Line 3"
$lines | Out-File -FilePath .\multilines.txt

Specifying the encoding:

To specify a particular text encoding, use the -Encoding parameter:

"Text with UTF8 Encoding" | Out-File -FilePath .\utfexample.txt -Encoding UTF8

Using third-party libraries:

While PowerShell’s built-in cmdlets suffice for basic file operations, more complex tasks might benefit from third-party modules like PowershellGet or tools like SED and AWK ported for Windows. However, for purely writing a text file, these might be overkill and are generally not needed:

# Assuming a more complex scenario justified using an external library
# Install-Module -Name SomeComplexLibrary
# Import-Module -Name SomeComplexLibrary
# More complex operations here

Note: Always consider if the complexity of adding a third-party dependency is justified for your needs.

Sample Output:

After executing the basic file creation command, checking the contents of example.txt shows:

Hello, World!

For appending text and then checking example.txt:

Hello, World!
Another line.