TOPIC
about_Redirection
SHORT DESCRIPTION
Describes how to redirect output from Windows PowerShell to text files.
LONG DESCRIPTION
By default, Windows PowerShell sends its command output to the Windows
PowerShell console. However, you can direct the output to a text
file, and you can redirect error output to the regular output stream.
You can use the following methods to redirect output:
- Use the Out-File cmdlet, which sends command output to a text file.
Typically, you use the Out-File cmdlet when you need to use its
parameters, such as the Encoding, Force, Width, or NoClobber
parameters.
- Use the Tee-Object cmdlet, which sends command output to a text file
and then sends it to the pipeline.
- Use the Windows PowerShell redirection operators.
The Windows PowerShell redirection operators are as follows.
Operator Description Example
-------- ---------------------- ------------------------------
> Sends output to the get-process > process.txt
specified file.
>> Appends the output to dir *.ps1 >> scripts.txt
the contents of the
specified file.
2> Sends errors to the get-process none 2> errors.txt
specified file.
2>> Appends the errors to get-process none 2>> save-errors.txt
the contents of the
specified file.
2>&1 Sends errors to the get-process none, powershell 2>&1
success output stream.
The syntax of the redirection operators is as follows:
<input> <operator> [<path>\]<file>
If the specified file already exists, the redirection operators that do not
append data (> and 2>) overwrite the current contents of the file without
warning. However, if the file is a read-only, hidden, or system file, the
redirection fails. The append redirection operators (>> and 2>>) do not
write to a read-only file, but they append content to a system or hidden
file.
To force the redirection of content to a read-only, hidden, or system file,
use the Out-File cmdlet with its Force parameter. When you are writing to
files, the redirection operators use Unicode encoding. If the file has a
different encoding, the output might not be formatted correctly. To
redirect content to non-Unicode files, use the Out-File cmdlet with its
Encoding parameter.
SEE ALSO
Out-File
Tee-Object
about_Operators
about_Command_Syntax
about_Path_Syntax