PowerShell Commands

Select-Xml

Select-Xml [-XPath*] <String> -Content* <String[]> [-Namespace <Hashtable>] [<CommonParameters>]
Select-Xml [-XPath*] <String> -LiteralPath* <String[]> [-Namespace <Hashtable>] [<CommonParameters>]
Select-Xml [-XPath*] <String> [-Path*] <String[]> [-Namespace <Hashtable>] [<CommonParameters>]
Select-Xml [-XPath*] <String> [-Xml*] <XmlNode[]> [-Namespace <Hashtable>] [<CommonParameters>]

The Select-Xml cmdlet lets you use XPath queries to search for text in XML strings and documents. Enter an XPath query, and use the Content , Path , or Xml parameter to specify the XML to be searched.

Parameters

-Content <String[]>

  • This value is required
  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input ByValue

Specifies a string that contains the XML to search. You can also pipe strings to Select-Xml .

-LiteralPath <String[]>

  • This value is required
  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input ByPropertyName

Specifies the paths and file names of the XML files to search. Unlike Path , the value of the LiteralPath parameter is used exactly as it is typed. No characters are interpreted as wildcards. If the path includes escape characters, enclose it in single quotation marks. Single quotation marks tell Windows PowerShell not to interpret any characters as escape sequences.

-Namespace <Hashtable>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Specifies a hash table of the namespaces used in the XML. Use the format @{<namespaceName> = <namespaceValue>}.

When the XML uses the default namespace, which begins with xmlns, use an arbitrary key for the namespace name. You cannot use xmlns. In the XPath statement, prefix each node name with the namespace name and a colon, such as //namespaceName:Node.

-Path <String[]>

  • This value is required
  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input ByPropertyName

Specifies the path and file names of the XML files to search. Wildcard characters are permitted.

-XPath <String>

  • This value is required
  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Specifies an XPath search query. The query language is case-sensitive. This parameter is required.

-Xml <XmlNode[]>

  • This value is required
  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input ByPropertyName

Specifies one or more XML nodes.

An XML document will be processed as a collection of XML nodes. If you pipe an XML document to Select-Xml , each document node will be searched separately as it comes through the pipeline.

<CommonParameters>

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug,ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, WarningAction, WarningVariable,OutBuffer, PipelineVariable, and OutVariable.

Inputs
System.String or System.Xml.XmlNode
You can pipe a path or XML node to this cmdlet.
Outputs
Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.SelectXmlInfo
Examples
  1. Select AliasProperty nodes:
    PS C:\>  $Path = "$Pshome\Types.ps1xml"
    PS C:\> $XPath = "/Types/Type/Members/AliasProperty"
    PS C:\> Select-Xml -Path $Path -XPath $Xpath | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Node
    
       Name                 ReferencedMemberName
       ----                 --------------------
       Count                Length
       Name                 Key
       Name                 ServiceName
       RequiredServices     ServicesDependedOn
       ProcessName          Name
       Handles              Handlecount
       VM                   VirtualSize
       WS                   WorkingSetSize
       Name                 ProcessName
       Handles              Handlecount
       VM                   VirtualMemorySize
       WS                   WorkingSet
       PM                   PagedMemorySize
       NPM                  NonpagedSystemMemorySize
       Name                 __Class
       Namespace            ModuleName

    This example gets the alias properties in the Types.ps1xml. (For information about this file, see about_Types.ps1xml.)

    The first command saves the path to the Types.ps1xml file in the $Path variable.

    The second command saves the XML path to the AliasProperty node in the $XPath variable.

    The third command uses the Select-Xml cmdlet to get the AliasProperty nodes that are identified by the XPath statement from the Types.ps1xml file. The command uses a pipeline operator to send the AliasProperty nodes to the Select-Object cmdlet. The ExpandProperty parameter expands the Node object and returns its Name and ReferencedMemberName properties.

    The result shows the Name and ReferencedMemberName of each alias property in the Types.ps1xml file. For example, there is a Count property that is an alias of the Length property.

  2. Input an XML document:
    PS C:\> [xml]$Types = Get-Content $Pshome\Types.ps1xml
    PS C:\> Select-Xml -Xml $Types -XPath "//MethodName"
    

    This example shows how to use the XML parameter to provide an XML document to the Select-Xml cmdlet.

    The first command uses the Get-Content cmdlet to get the content of the Types.ps1xml file and save it in the $Types variable. The [xml] casts the variable as an XML object.

    The second command uses the Select-Xml cmdlet to get the MethodName nodes in the Types.ps1xml file. The command uses the Xml parameter to specify the XML content in the $Types variable and the XPath parameter to specify the path to the MethodName node.

  3. Search PowerShell Help files:
    1. The second command saves the path to the help files in the $Path variable.If there are no help files in this path on your computer, use the Update-Help cmdlet to download the help files:
      PS C:\> $Namespace = @{command = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/maml/dev/command/2004/10"; maml = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/maml/2004/10"; dev = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/maml/dev/2004/10"}
      
      PS C:\> $Path = "$Pshome\en-us\*dll-Help.xml"
      

      For more information about Updatable Help, see about_Updatable_Help (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=235801).

    2. The third command uses the **Select-Xml** cmdlet to search the XML for cmdlet names by finding Command:Name element anywhere in the files:
      PS C:\> $Xml = Select-Xml -Path $Path -Namespace $Namespace -XPath "//command:name"
      

      It saves the results in the $Xml variable.**Select-Xml** returns a **SelectXmlInfo** object that has a Node property, which is a **System.Xml.XmlElement** object. The Node property has an InnerXML property, which contains the actual XML that is retrieved.

    3. The fourth command sends the XML in the $Xml variable to the Format-Table cmdlet:
      PS C:\> $Xml | Format-Table @{Label="Name"; Expression= {($_.node.innerxml).trim()}}, Path -AutoSize
      
         Name                    Path
         ----                    ----
         Export-Counter          
         C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\en-us\Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Diagnostics.dll-Help.xml
         Get-Counter             
         C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\en-us\Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Diagnostics.dll-Help.xml
         Get-WinEvent            
         C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\en-us\Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Diagnostics.dll-Help.xml
         Import-Counter          
         C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\en-us\Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Diagnostics.dll-Help.xml
         Add-Computer            
         C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\en-us\Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Management.dll-Help.xml
         Add-Content             
         C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\en-us\Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Management.dll-Help.xml
         Checkpoint-Computer     
         C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\en-us\Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Management.dll-Help.xml
         ...

      The **Format-Table** command uses a calculated property to get the Node.InnerXML property of each object in the $Xml variable, trim the white space before and after the text, and display it in the table, along with the path to the source file.This example shows how to use the Select-Xml cmdlet to search the Windows PowerShell XML-based cmdlet help files. In this example, we'll search for the cmdlet name that serves as a title for each help file and the path to the help file.

      The first command creates a hash table that represents the XML namespace that is used for the help files and saves it in the $Namespace variable.

  4. Different ways to input XML:
    1. The second command uses the *Content* parameter of **Select-Xml** to specify the XML in the $Xml variable.:
      PS C:\> $Xml = @"
      <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
      <Book>
      
           <projects>
             <project name="Book1" date="2009-01-20">
               <editions>
                 <edition language="English">En.Book1.com</edition>
                 <edition language="German">Ge.Book1.Com</edition>
                 <edition language="French">Fr.Book1.com</edition>
                 <edition language="Polish">Pl.Book1.com</edition>
               </editions>
             </project>
           </projects>
         </Book>
         "@
      PS C:\> Select-Xml -Content $Xml -XPath "//edition" | foreach {$_.node.InnerXML}
      
         En.Book1.com
         Ge.Book1.Com
         Fr.Book1.com
         Pl.Book1.com

      The second command uses the *Content* parameter of **Select-Xml** to specify the XML in the $Xml variable.

    2. The third command is equivalent to the second:
      PS C:\> $Xml | Select-Xml -XPath "//edition" | foreach {$_.node.InnerXML}
      
         En.Book1.com
         Ge.Book1.Com
         Fr.Book1.com
         Pl.Book1.com

      It uses a pipeline operator (|) to send the XML in the $Xml variable to the **Select-Xml** cmdlet.This example shows two different ways to send XML to the Select-Xml cmdlet.

      The first command saves a here-string that contains XML in the $Xml variable. (For more information about here-strings, see about_Quoting_Rules.)

  5. Use the default xmlns namespace:
    PS C:\> $SnippetNamespace = @{snip = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/PowerShell/Snippets"}
    
    PS C:\> Select-Xml -Path $Home\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Snippets -Namespace $SnippetNamespace -XPath "//snip:Title" | foreach {$_.Node.Innerxml}
    

    The second command uses the **Select-Xml** cmdlet to get the content of the Title element of each snippet. It uses the *Path* parameter to specify the Snippets directory and the *Namespace* parameter to specify the namespace in the $SnippetNamespace variable. The value of the *XPath* parameter is the "snip" namespace key, a colon (:), and the name of the Title element.The command uses a pipeline operator (|) to send each **Node** property that **Select-Xml** returns to the ForEach-Object cmdlet, which gets the title in the value of the **InnerXml** property of the node.This example shows how to use the Select-Xml cmdlet with XML documents that use the default xmlns namespace. The example gets the titles of Windows PowerShell ISE user-created snippet files. For information about snippets, see New-IseSnippet.

    The first command creates a hash table for the default namespace that snippet XML files use and assigns it to the $SnippetNamespace variable. The hash table value is the XMLNS schema URI in the snippet XML. The hash table key name, snip, is arbitrary. You can use any name that is not reserved, but you cannot use xmlns.

Additional Notes
 * XPath is a standard language that is designed to identify parts of an XML document. For more information 
 about the XPath language, see the Selection Filters section of the Event 
 Selectionhttp://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=143608 topic in the MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) library 
 at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=143608. And, see the XPath 
 Referencehttp://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=143609 in the MSDN library at 
 http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=143609.

 *

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. It is attributed to Microsoft Corporation and can be found here.

PowerShell Commands