Powershell excluding only files

Question

I have the following error when running a script in powershell in version 5.1

Below my simple script to delete files over 180 days, I've tried some solutions but I haven't found what may be the error. (Below error translated from Portuguese to English)

"Out-File: It is not possible to validate the argument in the 'Encoding' parameter. The" files \ DeleteLogFile_21_01_2020.log "argument does not belong to the set" unknown; string; unicode; bigendianunicode; utf8; utf7; utf32; ascii; default; oem "specified by the ValidateSet attribute. Provide an argument that is in the set and try the command again. On the line: 1 character: 36 + $ Log | Out-File -Append D: \ Program files \ DeleteLogFile_ $ LogDate.log + ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CategoryInfo: InvalidData: (:) [Out-File], ParameterBindingValidationException + FullyQualifiedErrorId: ParameterArgumentValidationError, Microsoft .PowerShell.Commands.OutFileCommand "

$logPath = "D:\Program files\NICE Systems\Logs"
$nDays = 10
$startTime = Get-Date
$Extensions = "*.*"
$LogDate = (Get-Date).ToString("dd_MM_yyyy")
$Files = Get-Childitem $LogPath -Include $Extensions -Recurse | Where-Object {$_.LastWriteTime -le (Get-Date).AddDays(-$nDays)}
foreach ($File in $Files) 
{
    if ($NULL -ne $File )
    {
        $Log = "`nData e Hora da Deleção: " + $startTime + ". O arquivo " + $File + " foi deletado do sistema."
        $Log | Out-File -Append D:\Program files\DeleteLogFile_$LogDate.log
        Remove-Item $File.FullName | out-null
    }
}

You will get a better responses if you translate the error to english and format it like you did the code. You may have an encoding issue with the file that Out-File is creating, and this answer may help. — Brandon McClure

CM42 CM42 · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-22T00:52:30

You have no quotes around the path to your log file so it's cutting it off at the first space. You can use double quotes and the variable will still be expanded. Single will not be.

$Log | Out-File -Append "D:\Program files\DeleteLogFile_$LogDate.log"

By default windows will also not allow you to write to the program files folder and this is generally not good practice.

Powershell excluding only files

2 Answers