Over the years I've posted variations on this technique and discuss it often in my training classes. The idea is to take your PowerShell transcript and transform it into a PowerShell script. Remember that there is very little difference between running commands in the shell and in a script. Thus, any commands that have been captured by a transcript should be able to be executed in a script.<\/p>\n
First you'll need a transcript. At your PowerShell prompt run Start-Transcript. Actually, first look at cmdlet help. I prefer giving my transcript a name.<\/p>\n
Start-Transcript c:\\work\\fridayfun.txt<\/pre>\nNow run all the commands that you think you'd like to use in your script. Don't worry if you get errors. Keep working until you get the commands you want. You're going to clean up your script file anyway. If you are done, you can run Stop-Transcript. Or if you close your PowerShell session the transcript will automatically be closed.<\/p>\n
Now you're going to need my Export-Transcript function.<\/p>\n
Function Export-Transcript {\r\n\r\n[cmdletbinding(SupportsShouldProcess=$True)]\r\n\r\nParam (\r\n[Parameter(Position=0,Mandatory=$True,HelpMessage=\"Enter the path and filename to a PowerShell transcript.\")]\r\n[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]\r\n[string]$Transcript,\r\n[Parameter(Position=1,Mandatory=$True,HelpMessage=\"Enter the path and filename for the script.\")]\r\n[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]\r\n[string]$Script,\r\n[switch]$NoClobber\r\n)\r\n\r\n#verify transcript file can be found\r\nif (! (test-path $Transcript)) {\r\nWrite-Error \"$Transcript can't be found!\"\r\nReturn\r\n}\r\n\r\n#define an array for the script content\r\n$content=@()\r\n\r\n#define a script header\r\n$header=@\"\r\n#Requires -version 2.0\r\n\r\n<#\r\n$(\"#\"*100)\r\nName : $(Split-Path -Path $Script -Leaf)\r\nCreated: $(Get-Date)\r\nSource : $Transcript\r\nAuthor : $env:username\r\nCompany: $env:userdomain\r\n\r\nPSVersionTable\r\n$(($PSVersionTable | Out-String).Trim())\r\n\r\nCurrent Host\r\n$(($host | format-list Name,Version,*Culture | out-String).Trim())\r\n$(\"#\"*100)\r\n#>\r\n\r\nSet-StrictMode -Version Latest\r\n\r\n\"@\r\n\r\n#add the header to content\r\n$content+=$header\r\n\r\nWrite-Verbose \"Filtering content from $Transcript\"\r\n$filteredLog=Get-Content $Transcript | Select-String \"> \"\r\n\r\nWrite-Verbose \"Processing $($filteredLog.count) command lines\"\r\n\r\n# drop the last line which is likely a stop-transcript command\r\nfor ($i=0;$i -lt $filteredLog.length-1;$i++)\r\n{\r\n#each item in $filteredlog is actually a MatchInfo object which\r\n#we need to treat as a string\r\n$line=$filteredLog[$i].ToString()\r\nWrite-Verbose $line\r\n#find the first > in the line\r\n$idx=$line.IndexOf(\">\")\r\n#get everything after the first >\r\n$cmd=$line.Substring($idx+1)\r\n#add the line to the new content, trimming off any spaces\r\n$content+=$cmd.Trim()\r\n}\r\n\r\nWrite-Verbose \"Creating script file\"\r\nIf ( (Test-Path -Path $Script) -AND ($NoClobber)) {\r\nWrite-Verbose \"NoClobber specified and file exists.\"\r\nWrite-Warning \"NoClobber specified and $script exists.\"\r\n}\r\nelse {\r\n$content | Out-File -FilePath $Script\r\nWrite-Verbose (\"Finished exporting {0}. See {1} for your script.\" -f $Transcript,$script)\r\nGet-Item -Path $Script\r\n}\r\n\r\n} #end function<\/pre>\nOnce the function is loaded into your PowerShell session, run it specifying the transcript and the name of your new script file.<\/p>\n
PS C:\\> Export-Transcript c:\\work\\fridayfun.txt c:\\scripts\\MyNewScript.ps1<\/pre>\nThe function creates a new script file, overwriting any previous versions unless you use -NoClobber.<\/span><\/p>\n
Write-Verbose \"Creating script file\"\r\nIf ( (Test-Path -Path $Script) -AND ($NoClobber)) {\r\nWrite-Verbose \"NoClobber specified and file exists.\"\r\nWrite-Warning \"NoClobber specified and $script exists.\"\r\n}\r\nelse {\r\n$content | Out-File -FilePath $Script\r\nWrite-Verbose (\"Finished exporting {0}. See {1} for your script.\" -f $Transcript,$script)\r\nGet-Item -Path $Script\r\n}\r\n[<\/pre>\nThe contents of the script consist of a header that includes a variety of metadata I thought you most likely would want.<\/p>\n
#define a script header\r\n$header=@\"\r\n#Requires -version 2.0\r\n\r\n<#\r\n$(\"#\"*100)\r\nName : $(Split-Path -Path $Script -Leaf)\r\nCreated: $(Get-Date)\r\nSource : $Transcript\r\nAuthor : $env:username\r\nCompany: $env:userdomain\r\n\r\nPSVersionTable\r\n$(($PSVersionTable | Out-String).Trim())\r\n\r\nCurrent Host\r\n$(($host | format-list Name,Version,*Culture | out-String).Trim())\r\n$(\"#\"*100)\r\n#>\r\n\r\nSet-StrictMode -Version Latest\r\n\r\n\"@\r\n\r\n#add the header to content\r\n$content+=$header<\/pre>\nThe main part of the function gets the transcript content where the line contains the \">\" character.<\/p>\n
Write-Verbose \"Filtering content from $Transcript\"\r\n$filteredLog=Get-Content $Transcript | Select-String \"> \"<\/pre>\n