ConvertTo-Csv Output without quotes

Question

I am using ConvertTo-Csv to get comma separated output

 get-process | convertto-csv -NoTypeInformation -Delimiter \",\"

It out

Answer 1

I found that Kory's answer didn't work for the case where the original string included more than one blank field in a row. I.e. "ABC",,"0" was fine but "ABC",,,"0" wasn't handled properly. It stopped replacing quotes after the ",,,". I fixed it by adding "|(?<output>)" near the end of the first parameter, like this:

% {$_ -replace  `
    '\G(?<start>^|,)(("(?<output>[^,"]*?)"(?=,|$))|(?<output>".*?(?<!")("")*?"(?=,|$))|(?<output>))', `
    '${start}${output}'}

Answer 2

Here's another approach:

Get-Process | ConvertTo-Csv -NoTypeInformation -Delimiter "," | 
    foreach { $_ -replace '^"|"$|"(?=,)|(?<=,)"','' }

This replaces matches with the empty string, in each line. Breaking down the regex above:

• | is like an OR, used to unite the following 4 sub-regexes
• ^" matches quotes in the beginning of the line
• "$ matches quotes in the end of the line
• "(?=,) matches quotes that are immediately followed by a comma
• (?<=,)" matches quotes that are immediately preceded by a comma

Answer 3

Hmm, I have Powershell 7 preview 1 on my mac, and Export-Csv has a -UseQuotes option that you can set to Never. :)

Answer 4

I was working on a table today and thought about this very question as I was previewing the CSV file in notepad and decided to see what others had come up with. It seems many have over-complicated the solution.
Here's a real simple way to remove the quote marks from a CSV file generated by the Export-Csv cmdlet in PowerShell.

Create a TEST.csv file with the following data.

"ID","Name","State"
"5","Stephanie","Arizona"
"4","Melanie","Oregon"
"2","Katie","Texas"
"8","Steve","Idaho"
"9","Dolly","Tennessee"

Save As: TEST.csv

Store file contents in a $Test variable
$Test = Get-Content .\TEST.csv

Load $Test variable to see results of the get-content cmdlet
$Test

Load $Test variable again and replace all ( "," ) with a comma, then trim start and end by removing each quote mark

$Test.Replace('","',",").TrimStart('"').TrimEnd('"')

Save/Replace TEST.csv file

$Test.Replace('","',",").TrimStart('"').TrimEnd('"') | Out-File .\TEST.csv -Force -Confirm:$false

Test new file Output with Import-Csv and Get-Content:

Import-Csv .\TEST.csv
Get-Content .\TEST.csv

To Sum it all up, the work can be done with 2 lines of code

$Test = Get-Content .\TEST.csv
$Test.Replace('","',",").TrimStart('"').TrimEnd('"') | Out-File .\TEST.csv -Force -Confirm:$false

Answer 5

Couldn't find an answer to a similar question so I'm posting what I've found here...

For exporting as Pipe Delimited with No Quotes for string qualifiers, use the following:

$objtable | convertto-csv -Delimiter "|" -notypeinformation | select -Skip $headers | % { $_ -replace '"\|"', "|"} | % { $_ -replace '""', '"'} | % { $_ -replace "^`"",''} | % { $_ -replace "`"$",''} | out-file "$OutputPath$filename" -fo -en ascii

This was the only thing I could come up with that could handle quotes and commas within the text; especially things like a quote and comma next to each other at the beginning or ending of a text field.

Answer 6

I ran into this issue, found this question, but was not satisfied with the answers because they all seem to suffer if the data you are using contains a delimiter, which should remain quoted. Getting rid of the unneeded double quotes is a good thing.

The solution below appears to solve this issue for a general case, and for all variants that would cause issues.

I found this answer elsewhere, Removing quotes from CSV created by PowerShell, and have used it to code up an example answer for the SO community.

Attribution: Credit for the regex, goes 100% to Russ Loski.

Code in a Function, Remove-DoubleQuotesFromCsv

function Remove-DoubleQuotesFromCsv
{
    param (
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [string]
        $InputFile,

        [string]
        $OutputFile
    )

    if (-not $OutputFile)
    {
        $OutputFile = $InputFile
    }

    $inputCsv = Import-Csv $InputFile

    $quotedData = $inputCsv | ConvertTo-Csv -NoTypeInformation

    $outputCsv = $quotedData | % {$_ -replace  `
        '\G(?<start>^|,)(("(?<output>[^,"]*?)"(?=,|$))|(?<output>".*?(?<!")("")*?"(?=,|$)))' `
        ,'${start}${output}'}

    $outputCsv | Out-File $OutputFile -Encoding utf8 -Force
}

Test Code

$csvData = @"
id,string,notes,number
1,hello world.,classic,123
2,"a comma, is in here","test data 1",345
3,",a comma, is in here","test data 2",346
4,"a comma, is in here,","test data 3",347
5,"a comma, is in here,","test data 4`r`nwith a newline",347
6,hello world2.,classic,123
"@

$data = $csvData | ConvertFrom-Csv
"`r`n---- data ---"
$data

$quotedData = $data | ConvertTo-Csv -NoTypeInformation
"`r`n---- quotedData ---"
$quotedData

# this regular expression comes from:
# http://www.sqlmovers.com/removing-quotes-from-csv-created-by-powershell/
$fixedData = $quotedData | % {$_ -replace  `
  '\G(?<start>^|,)(("(?<output>[^,"\n]*?)"(?=,|$))|(?<output>".*?(?<!")("")*?"(?=,|$)))' `
  ,'${start}${output}'}
"`r`n---- fixedData ---"
$fixedData

$fixedData | Out-File e:\test.csv -Encoding ascii -Force
"`r`n---- e:\test.csv ---"
Get-Content e:\test.csv

Test Output

---- data ---

id string               notes                       number
-- ------               -----                       ------
1  hello world.         classic                     123   
2  a comma, is in here  test data 1                 345   
3  ,a comma, is in here test data 2                 346   
4  a comma, is in here, test data 3                 347   
5  a comma, is in here, test data 4...              347   
6  hello world2.        classic                     123   

---- quotedData ---
"id","string","notes","number"
"1","hello world.","classic","123"
"2","a comma, is in here","test data 1","345"
"3",",a comma, is in here","test data 2","346"
"4","a comma, is in here,","test data 3","347"
"5","a comma, is in here,","test data 4
with a newline","347"
"6","hello world2.","classic","123"

---- fixedData ---
id,string,notes,number
1,hello world.,classic,123
2,"a comma, is in here",test data 1,345
3,",a comma, is in here",test data 2,346
4,"a comma, is in here,",test data 3,347
5,"a comma, is in here,","test data 4
with a newline","347"
6,hello world2.,classic,123

---- e:\test.csv ---
id,string,notes,number
1,hello world.,classic,123
2,"a comma, is in here",test data 1,345
3,",a comma, is in here",test data 2,346
4,"a comma, is in here,",test data 3,347
5,"a comma, is in here,","test data 4
with a newline","347"
6,hello world2.,classic,123