I'm trying to understand some weird behaviour with this cmdlet.
If I use "Out-File -append Filename.txt" on a text file that I created and entered text into via the windows context menu, the string will append to the last line in that file as a series of space separated characters.
So:
"This is a test" | out-file -append textfile.txt
Will produce: T h i s i s a t e s t
This wont happen if out-file creates the file, or if the text file has no text in it prior to appending. Why does this happen?
I will also note that repeating the command will just append in the same way to the same line. I guess it doesn't recognise newline or line break terminator or something due to changed encoding?
This question is related to
powershell
powershell-2.0
Out-File defaults to unicode encoding which is why you are seeing the behavior you are. Use -Encoding Ascii to change this behavior. In your case
Out-File -Encoding Ascii -append textfile.txt.
Add-Content uses Ascii and also appends by default.
"This is a test" | Add-Content textfile.txt.
As for the lack of newline: You did not send a newline so it will not write one to file.
Add-Content is default ASCII and add new line however Add-Content brings locked files issues too.
Source: Stackoverflow.com