Filter the output of a command as if it was text

Question

I have a simple question, but I am also a beginner in PowerShell. I think it has to do with the fact that the output of the Get-Process command (alias ps) is objects and not text.

I want to get a list of the services running that have the name "sql" in them.

This is what I tried so far, but every attempt returns nothing:

Get-Service | where {$_ -match 'sql'}

Get-Service | where {$_ -like 'sql'}

Get-Service | Select-String sql

I am looking for a pattern that lets me treat the output of every command as searchable text.

Answer 1

Just forget it :o)

Outputs are objects. You are right, and you are going to use this.

So mjolinor has the shortest answer, but for your knowledge just test:

Get-Service | Get-Member

So you will understand that

Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.name -match ".*sql.*" }

also works, and there you've got your text as a property of the object.

Answer 2

Most answers here focus on finding the service name with "sql" in the name, not on filtering the entire output as if it was text. Also, the accepted answer uses a non-PowerShell function, "findstr".

So, granted, what follows is not the most elegant solution, but for sake of completeness I would like to provide the 100% PowerShell solution that takes the question of the OP literally:

(get-Service | Out-String) -split "`r`n" | Select-String sql

• We need Out-String, because using the solutions provided in other answers doesn't provide us the full text output of the Get-Service command, only the Name parameter.
• We need to split on newlines, because Select-String seems to treat the entire text as one long string, and returns it as a whole, if "sql" is found in it.
• I use Select-String instead of findstr, because findstr is not a PowerShell function.

This is a purist answer, and in practice, for this specific use-case, I would not recommend it. But for people coming here through Google Search based on the question title, this is a more accurate answer...