PowerShell is a powerful scripting language that can automate various tasks, including file manipulation and data processing. In this post, we’ll demonstrate how to count the number of lines in a text file that start with “DE” using a simple PowerShell script. This technique is useful for data validation, log file analysis, and more.

Prerequisites

Make sure you have PowerShell installed on your system. PowerShell is pre-installed on most Windows operating systems.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Define the File Path

First, specify the path to the text file you want to analyze. Replace C:\path\to\your\file.txt with the actual path to your text file.

$filePath = "C:\path\to\your\file.txt"

Step 2: Read the File and Filter Lines

Use the Get-Content cmdlet to read the contents of the file. Then, filter the lines that start with “DE” using Where-Object.

$linesStartingWithDE = Get-Content $filePath | Where-Object { $_ -like "DE*" }

Step 3: Count the Filtered Lines

Count the number of filtered lines using the Measure-Object cmdlet.

$count = $linesStartingWithDE.Count

Step 4: Output the Result

Display the count of lines starting with “DE” using Write-Host.

Write-Host "Number of lines starting with 'DE': $count"

Full Script

Here is the complete script for your convenience:

# Define the path to your file
$filePath = "C:\path\to\your\file.txt"

# Read the file and filter lines starting with "DE"
$linesStartingWithDE = Get-Content $filePath | Where-Object { $_ -like "DE*" }

# Count the filtered lines
$count = $linesStartingWithDE.Count

# Print the count
Write-Host "Number of lines starting with 'DE': $count"

Conclusion

With this straightforward PowerShell script, you can quickly count the number of lines in a text file that start with “DE”. This method is efficient and can be adapted for various patterns or integrated into larger automation tasks. PowerShell’s flexibility makes it an excellent tool for file manipulation and data processing.