In this blog post, I’ll take a closer look at how to search for strings in PowerShell. I’ll walk you through several examples that demonstrate how to find specific text and how to use the Select-String cmdlet effectively.

Whether you’re analyzing log files, scanning configuration files, or simply looking for patterns in text, PowerShell provides powerful tools to help you get the job done.

Let’s dive in!

Example 1

Note: Select-String distinguishes between uppercase and lowercase letters!

'Hello', 'HELLO' | Select-String -Pattern 'HELLO' -CaseSensitive 

Example 2

Select-String can be helpful when searching event logs.

Events = Get-WinEvent -LogName Application -MaxEvents 100
$Events | Select-String -InputObject {$_.Message} -Pattern 'Stopped' 
$Events | Where-Object {$_.Message -like "*Stopped*"} 

Example 3

Select-String also helps to retrieve strings from text files.

Select-String -Path C:\Windows\Panther\setupact.log -Pattern 'First Boot'
Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Windows\Panther\*.log -Recurse | Select-String -Pattern 'FirstBootPhase' -CaseSensitive

I hope you found these examples helpful.