Send output to a file. When you wish to specify parameters, use Out-File instead of the redirection operator (>).
Syntax
Out-File [-filePath] string [[-encoding] string]
[-append] [-width int] [-inputObject psobject]
[-force] [-noClobber] [-whatIf]
[-confirm] [CommonParameters]
Key
-filePath path
The path to the output file.
-encoding string
The character encoding used in the file.
"Unicode", "UTF7", "UTF8", "UTF32", "ASCII", "BigEndianUnicode",
"Default", or "OEM". The default is Unicode.
Default=system ANSI code page.
OEM=OEM code page identifier for the OS.
-append
Add the output to the end of an existing file, instead of replacing
the file contents.
-width int
The number of characters in each line of output. Any additional
characters are truncated, not wrapped. If you omit this parameter,
the width is determined by the characteristics of the host. The default
for the PowerShell.exe host is 80 (characters).
-inputObject psobject
The object to be written to file. {may be piped}
A command, expression or variable that contains the objects.
-force
Override restrictions that prevent the command from succeeding, apart
from security settings. e.g. Force will create file path directories
or override a files read-only attribute, but will not change file permissions.
-noClobber
Do not overwrite (replace the contents) of an existing file.
By default Out-File will overwrite an existing file without warning.
If both -Append and -NoClobber are specified, the output is appended.
-whatIf
Describe what would happen if you executed the command without
actually executing the command.
-confirm
Prompt for confirmation before executing the command.
CommonParameters:
-Verbose, -Debug, -ErrorAction, -ErrorVariable, -WarningAction, -WarningVariable,
-OutBuffer -OutVariable.
If the current location is a registry key, then -filepath must either be specified as filesystem::yourfilename.txt or use a full path C:\docs\yourfile.txt
The final part of displaying output is a hidden background call to an Output cmdlet, by default as the last part of the execution process PowerShell calls the default output cmdlet which is typically Out-Host.
Examples
Send a list of processes to process.txt:
PS C:\> get-process | out-file -filepath C:\docs\process.txt
PS C:\> get-process | out-file C:\docs\process.txt
The same thing, but storing the list of processes in a variable first and truncating the output at 50 characters:
PS C:\> $a = get-process
out-file -filepath C:\docs\process.txt -inputobject $a -width 50
Save a registry key to file :
PS C:\> set-location hklm:\software
PS HKLM:\software> get-acl ODBC | out-file c:\docs\acl.txt -width 200
"Imagine sitting at your computer and, in less than a second, searching the full text of every book ever written" ~ Eric Schmidt
Related PowerShell Cmdlets:
Out-Default - Send output to default.
Out-GridView - Send output to an interactive table.
Out-Host - Send the pipelined output to the host.
Out-Null - Send output to null.
Out-Printer - Send the output to a printer.
Out-String - Send output to the pipleline as strings.
Tee-Object - Send input objects to two places.
Equivalent bash commands: redirection - Redirection and Process Substitution, cat > file2.txt – Redirect standard input into a file.