Outputting Invoke-WebRequest to a logfile with datetime (oneliner for task scheduler)-CodePudding

I'm trying to run a process that needs to be reviewed in case of failure so I need to log the web content to a file but I'm fighting the Powershell syntax. The following line is what I attempted to write in the task scheduler as :

powershell.exe -noexit -Command "Invoke-WebRequest http://google.com -outfile C:\Users\user_gc$(get-date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm').txt"

Usually powershell or Invoke-WebREquest complains about the get-date command. "The given path format is not supported"

It's very important to me that the date and time are in the file.

CodePudding user response：

Script

Save below in script file TaskName.ps1 Make sure to change the variables to your needs

# Enter Your Path
$path = 'C:\Temp\'

# Enter Website You Want To Reach
$uri = 'https://google.com'

# For File Name
$timeStamp = (Get-Date).ToString('yyyy-MM-dd HHmm')

# Regex To Remove https://
$webSite = $uri -replace '^. ?(//)', '$`'

# Test If $path is Valid. If not, Create $path
switch (Test-Path $path) {
    'false' { mkdir -Path $path }
    Default { continue }
}

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $uri |
    Out-File -FilePath "$path$webSite $timeStamp.txt" -Force

Task Scheduler

Action: Start a program

Settings:
Program/Script: Powershell.exe
Add arguments (optional):
-windowstyle hidden -executionpolicy bypass -File "C:\temp\TaskScheduler.ps1"
Note: This will require admin privileges

Results

File Name:
"C:\temp\google.com 2023-01-05 1341.txt"

CodePudding user response：

The : in the date format makes the path invalid (and the space may cause you problems down the line too). Try 'yyyy-MM-dd-HHmm' or some other "safe" format uses filesystem safe characters that suits you.

See Naming Conventions specifically:

Use any character in the current code page ... except for the following reserved characters:

< (less than)

> (greater than)

: (colon)

" (double quote)

/ (forward slash)

\ (backslash)

| (vertical bar or pipe)

? (question mark)

(asterisk)

You can trigger the same error by trying to create a file with a similar name and it will throw an error:

PS c:\temp> new-item -ItemType File -Path ".\2023-01-05 19:51.txt" -Value "is this file created?"
new-item : The given path's format is not supported.
At line:1 char:1
  new-item -ItemType File -Path ".\2023-01-05 19:51.txt" -Value "is thi ...
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [New-Item], NotSupportedException
      FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.NotSupportedException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.NewItemCommand