Stumped by variable substitution

What did I do wrong here? Why does the "\microsoft[1].txt" gets ignored?

PS C:\>
$CookieFile=$env:UserProfile.ToString()+"\"+$Env:username.ToString()+"\microsoft[1].txt"
PS C:\> $CookieFile
C:\Documents and Settings\kingkong\kingkong\microsoft[1].txt
PS C:\> get-content $CookieFile
Get-Content : Cannot find path 'C:\Documents and Settings\kingkong\kingkong'
because it does not exist.
At line:1 char:12
+ get-content <<<< $CookieFile
PS C:\>

Thanks in advance.

On May 14, 9:21 am, K Kong <K...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> What did I do wrong here? Why does the "\microsoft[1].txt" gets ignored?
>
> PS C:\>
> $CookieFile=$env:UserProfile.ToString()+"\"+$Env:username.ToString()+"\microsoft[1].txt"
> PS C:\> $CookieFile
> C:\Documents and Settings\kingkong\kingkong\microsoft[1].txt
> PS C:\> get-content $CookieFile
> Get-Content : Cannot find path 'C:\Documents and Settings\kingkong\kingkong'
> because it does not exist.
> At line:1 char:12
> + get-content <<<< $CookieFile
> PS C:\>
>
> Thanks in advance.

try that:
$env:UserProfile.ToString()+"\"+$Env:username.ToString()+"\" +
$microsoft[1].txt

Why? "\microsoft[1].txt" is a string literal.

Anyway, what you suggested produced an error as $microsoft is a null array.

"Shafik" wrote:

> try that:
> $env:UserProfile.ToString()+"\"+$Env:username.ToString()+"\" +
> $microsoft[1].txt

> PS C:\> get-content $CookieFile
The []s are getting you in trouble as they look like a wildcard. Try:
PS C:\> get-content -LiteralPath $CookieFile

Jeffrey Snover [MSFT]
Windows Management Partner Architect
Visit the Windows PowerShell Team blog at: Windows PowerShell
Visit the Windows PowerShell ScriptCenter at: Scripting with Windows PowerShell

K Kong wrote:
> What did I do wrong here? Why does the "\microsoft[1].txt" gets ignored?
>
> PS C:\>
> $CookieFile=$env:UserProfile.ToString()+"\"+$Env:username.ToString()+"\microsoft[1].txt"
> PS C:\> $CookieFile
> C:\Documents and Settings\kingkong\kingkong\microsoft[1].txt
> PS C:\> get-content $CookieFile
> Get-Content : Cannot find path 'C:\Documents and Settings\kingkong\kingkong'
> because it does not exist.
> At line:1 char:12
> + get-content <<<< $CookieFile
> PS C:\>
>
> Thanks in advance.

Seems Keith Hill mentions an issue with "[" and "]" in this thread
"Scripting / Logging Gripe Summary" from May 12th. (I did not read it
in detail though.)

Marco

You are right! Thanks.

"Marco Shaw" wrote:
>
> Seems Keith Hill mentions an issue with "[" and "]" in this thread
> "Scripting / Logging Gripe Summary" from May 12th. (I did not read it
> in detail though.)
>
> Marco
>

"Marco Shaw" <marco.shaw@_NO_SPAM_gmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23XXCohilHHA.3704@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>K Kong wrote:
>> What did I do wrong here? Why does the "\microsoft[1].txt" gets ignored?
>>
>> PS C:\>
>> $CookieFile=$env:UserProfile.ToString()+"\"+$Env:username.ToString()+"\microsoft[1].txt"
>> PS C:\> $CookieFile
>> C:\Documents and Settings\kingkong\kingkong\microsoft[1].txt
>> PS C:\> get-content $CookieFile
>> Get-Content : Cannot find path 'C:\Documents and
>> Settings\kingkong\kingkong' because it does not exist.
>> At line:1 char:12
>> + get-content <<<< $CookieFile
>> PS C:\>
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>
> Seems Keith Hill mentions an issue with "[" and "]" in this thread
> "Scripting / Logging Gripe Summary" from May 12th. (I did not read it in
> detail though.)

Yeah the square braces can be a PITA if you don't want their wildcarding
behavior. In this case it should be enough to specify the last part of path
like so:

.... + 'microsoft[1].txt'

BTW to get the path to your Cookies folder I would use:

PS> [Environment]::GetFolderPath([Environment+SpecialFolder]::Cookies)

--
Keith

I ran into this last night (while backup up MP3's)

If you use the -literalPath argument (rather than -Path), it doesn't
try to interpret the wildcards:

get-content -literalPath $CookieFile


See "help -detailed get-content:"

Right. Should have thought of this earlier. BTW, do you know of the syntax
of the contents of the cookie files? I Googled but can't seem to find any
information. I suppose this is specific and proprietary to IE. I can guess
on the key/value pairs. But I can't decipher the expiry date. Is there an
API to read the cookies?

Thanks.

"Keith Hill" wrote:

> BTW to get the path to your Cookies folder I would use:
>
> PS> [Environment]::GetFolderPath([Environment+SpecialFolder]::Cookies)
>
> --
> Keith
>
>