(powershell) Select-String vs Findstr

Question

This is very simple... why first command working and second no?

Findstr looks to me for best use in "dos"like commands and not in powershell.

Get-AppXProvisionedPackage -online | findstr ^DisplayName

Get-AppXProvisionedPackage -online | Select-String -pattern "DisplayName"

powershell newbie :)

Answer 1

findstr is an operating system executable (findstr.exe actually), which you can see from within PowerShell:

Get-Command findstr

Output:

CommandType     Name                                               Version    Source                                   
-----------     ----                                               -------    ------                                   
Application     findstr.exe                                        10.0.10... C:\WINDOWS\system32\findstr.exe

Select-String is similar but more powerful and is a native PowerShell cmdlet

CommandType     Name                                               Version    Source                                   
-----------     ----                                               -------    ------                                   
Cmdlet          Select-String                                      3.1.0.0    Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility

They don't work exactly the same though or take the same input. Select-String is generally better for use in PowerShell, but check the help to see how it works.

As Mathias pointed out, for what you're doing, you probably want Select-Object:

Get-AppXProvisionPackage -online | Select-Object DisplayName

This would return a new object with a single property DisplayName. To get the value of the property only you can use:

Get-AppXProvisionPackage -online | Select-Object -ExpandProperty DisplayName

(see also CapitanShinChan's answer)

PowerShell cmdlets often return objects with various properties, and the stylized format you see is for display, but you can access properties programmatically without using string parsing. Select-Object is one way, another is to use dot . notation:

$pkg = Get-AppXProvisionPackage -online
$pkg.DisplayName

Answer 2

Both are native ways.

Like briantist said, the regular return of a powershell cmdlet is an object, which is "beautifully" displayed. So findstr will take that output from the console and filter it.

if you use Select-String, you're trying to match the string "DisplayName", but the input to the Cmdlet are objects, not strings.

The proper way to do it, (full powershell) would be:

Get-AppXProvisionedPackage -online | select "DisplayName"

From that command, the output would be a property of the object returned by the first Cmdlet. If you want the plain string, you should use the "-ExpandProperty" parameter to the select (Select-Object) Cmdlet.

Get-AppXProvisionedPackage -online | select -ExpandProperty "DisplayName"