Remove blank (lines) from an array

Article
2016-03-07

Question

_{Monday, March 7, 2016 11:51 AM}

I've tried everyting it just down't seem to work:

#Combine both result arrays
$result

$lines = (($result -replace '((udp|tcp) \d{3})', "`$1`n") -split "`n")

foreach($line in $lines){if ([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($line)) {$lines =-$line}}

Any ideas? The array is $lines, it has already been split into lines from the origina $results array.

Alter De Ruine

All replies (14)

_{Monday, March 7, 2016 1:04 PM ✅Answered}

No quite sure why it wasn't working. Anyway I worked out that the blank lines are 1 char in length, who knows what that char is? :-)

$result

$linearray =@()

$lines = (($result -replace '((udp|tcp) \d{3})', "`$1`n") -split "`n")

$lines = $lines | select -last 10
foreach ($line in $lines){if ($line.length -gt 1){ $Linearray += $line }}
$linearray

Alter De Ruine

_{Monday, March 7, 2016 12:02 PM | 1 vote}

What is in your results array? You could try something like this -

$lines = $lines | ? {$_ -ne ""}

[string](0..21 | % {([char][int](22+
("5275778524449275827587
42505554247789249585").Substring(($_*2),2)))})`
-replace " "

LinkedIn:

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_{Monday, March 7, 2016 12:08 PM}

Hi,

Thanks, I tried it again but still no luck. IT is an output from my firewall, pulled from a webpage

705: 11:58:02.735740 1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060: udp 437

706: 11:59:02.745948 4.5.6.7.5060 > 1.2.3.4.5060: udp 861

707: 11:59:02.754050 1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060: udp 437

708: 12:00:02.762076 4.5.6.7.5060 > 1.2.3.4.5060: udp 861

709: 12:00:02.770178 1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060: udp 437

710: 12:01:02.778569 4.5.6.7.5060 > 1.2.3.4.5060: udp 861

711: 12:01:02.786778 1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060: udp 437

712: 12:02:02.795124 4.5.6.7.5060 > 1.2.3.4.5060: udp 861

713: 12:02:02.802936 1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060: udp 437

714: 12:03:02.811100 4.5.6.7.5060 > 1.2.3.4.5060: udp 861

715: 12:03:02.819476 1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060: udp 437

Alter De Ruine

_{Monday, March 7, 2016 12:32 PM}

Ok, how about?

$lines = $lines | ? {$_ -ne "^\s+"}

[string](0..21 | % {([char][int](22+
("5275778524449275827587
42505554247789249585").Substring(($_*2),2)))})`
-replace " "

LinkedIn:

_{Monday, March 7, 2016 12:49 PM}

Braham's first suggestion should work without issue:

PS C:\Scripts\PowerShell Scripts\Misc Testing\3-07-2016> Get-Content .\inputFile.txt
 705: 11:58:02.735740       1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060:  udp 437

 706: 11:59:02.745948       4.5.6.7.5060 > 1.2.3.4.5060:  udp 861

 707: 11:59:02.754050       1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060:  udp 437

 708: 12:00:02.762076       4.5.6.7.5060 > 1.2.3.4.5060:  udp 861

 709: 12:00:02.770178       1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060:  udp 437

 710: 12:01:02.778569       4.5.6.7.5060 > 1.2.3.4.5060:  udp 861

 711: 12:01:02.786778       1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060:  udp 437

 712: 12:02:02.795124       4.5.6.7.5060 > 1.2.3.4.5060:  udp 861

 713: 12:02:02.802936       1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060:  udp 437

 714: 12:03:02.811100       4.5.6.7.5060 > 1.2.3.4.5060:  udp 861

 715: 12:03:02.819476       1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060:  udp 437

PS C:\Scripts\PowerShell Scripts\Misc Testing\3-07-2016> Get-Content .\inputFile.txt | Where { $_ -ne ''}
 705: 11:58:02.735740       1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060:  udp 437
 706: 11:59:02.745948       4.5.6.7.5060 > 1.2.3.4.5060:  udp 861
 707: 11:59:02.754050       1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060:  udp 437
 708: 12:00:02.762076       4.5.6.7.5060 > 1.2.3.4.5060:  udp 861
 709: 12:00:02.770178       1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060:  udp 437
 710: 12:01:02.778569       4.5.6.7.5060 > 1.2.3.4.5060:  udp 861
 711: 12:01:02.786778       1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060:  udp 437
 712: 12:02:02.795124       4.5.6.7.5060 > 1.2.3.4.5060:  udp 861
 713: 12:02:02.802936       1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060:  udp 437
 714: 12:03:02.811100       4.5.6.7.5060 > 1.2.3.4.5060:  udp 861
 715: 12:03:02.819476       1.2.3.4.5060 > 4.5.6.7.5060:  udp 437

_{Monday, March 7, 2016 1:12 PM}

You can have a look on the char-number by

$a.ToCharArray() | foreach{[char][byte]$_}

if $a is your string. Then you can look in the unicode table.

_{Monday, March 7, 2016 2:07 PM}

You could also just do a match on anything longer than 1 character

$arr = $arr | ?{$_ -match ".."}

[string](0..21 | % {([char][int](22+
("5275778524449275827587
42505554247789249585").Substring(($_*2),2)))})`
-replace " "

LinkedIn:

_{Monday, March 7, 2016 4:14 PM}

gc .\spaces.txt | ? {$_}

Dan

_{Monday, March 7, 2016 7:29 PM}

gc .\spaces.txt | ? {$_}

Dan

gc .\spaces.txt | ?{$_.trim()}

_{Monday, March 7, 2016 7:37 PM}

gc .\spaces.txt | ? {$_}

Dan

gc .\spaces.txt | ?{$_.trim()}

I don't see the difference.

Dan

_{Monday, March 7, 2016 8:04 PM}

No quite sure why it wasn't working. Anyway I worked out that the blank lines are 1 char in length, who knows what that char is? :-)

$result

$linearray =@()

$lines = (($result -replace '((udp|tcp) \d{3})', "`$1`n") -split "`n")

$lines = $lines | select -last 10
foreach ($line in $lines){if ($line.length -gt 1){ $Linearray += $line }}
$linearray

Alter De Ruine

seriously?

Dan

_{Monday, March 7, 2016 9:39 PM}

Mine will remove lines that contain all spaces as well as truly empty lines.
The original request was to remove blank lines, and in my mind a line composed of all spaces is a blank line.

_{Wednesday, March 9, 2016 10:39 PM}

Mine will remove lines that contain all spaces as well as truly empty lines.
The original request was to remove blank lines, and in my mind a line composed of all spaces is a blank line.

Gotcha. I didn't think of trying it. I would assume the logfile would contain only empty lines plus lines with characters. Who knows?:-)

The "answer" to this question is the most hideous I've ever seen on these forums.

Dan

_{Thursday, March 10, 2016 7:37 AM}

I could contribute another one that returns all lines containing an alphanumeric sign:

$lines = $lines | where{$_ -match "\w"}

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Remove blank (lines) from an array

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