Output text from PowerShell, read into Python

Question

I am trying to pull a variety of system metrics from a PowerShell Script into Python for further processing. I have picked the data that I need and used echo to place it into a txt file which I am attempting to read with Python, but when I look at the Python data, I just get gibberish. Does Powershell use some strange encoding when it outputs to txt files? If so, is there a way to either get PowerShell to output in a format Python can read or instruct Python to read the format PowerShell uses?

The PowerShell Code looks like this:

$Make = Get-CimInstance CIM_ComputerSystem | Select Manufacturer
echo $Make.manufacturer > c:\Mike\Output\SysConfig.txt
$Model = Get-CimInstance CIM_ComputerSystem | Select Model
echo $Model.model >> c:\Mike\Output\SysConfig.txt
$Os = Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem | Select-Object  Caption
echo $Os.caption >> c:\Mike\Output\SysConfig.txt
$CPU = Get-WmiObject Win32_Processor | Select * 
echo $CPU.Name >> c:\Mike\Output\SysConfig.txt
echo $CPU.NumberOfCores >> c:\Mike\Output\SysConfig.txt
echo $CPU.NumberOfLogicalProcessors >> c:\Mike\Output\SysConfig.txt
echo $CPU.ThreadCount >> c:\Mike\Output\SysConfig.txt
echo $CPU.MaxClockSpeed >> c:\Mike\Output\SysConfig.txt
echo $CPU.CurrentClockSpeed >> c:\Mike\Output\SysConfig.txt

The text output looks like this:

Hewlett-Packard
HP EliteBook 2570p
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3520M CPU @ 2.90GHz
2
4
4
2901
2901

And the Python Code looks like this:

with open('c:\mike\output\SysConfig.txt', mode='r') as f:
    Manufacturer = f.readlines(1)
    Make = f.readlines(2)
    OS = f.readlines(3)
    CPU_Name = f.readlines(4)
    CPU_Phys_Cores = f.readlines(5)
    CPU_Log_Cores = f.readlines(6)
    CPU_Threads = f.readlines(7)
    CPU_Max_Clock = f.readlines(8)
    CPU_Curr_Clock = f.readlines(9)

print(Manufacturer)
print(Make)
print(OS)
print(CPU_Name)
print(CPU_Phys_Cores)
print(CPU_Log_Cores)
print(CPU_Threads)
print(CPU_Max_Clock)
print(CPU_Curr_Clock)

Use | Out-File -FilePath C:\Mike\Output\SysConfig.txt -Encoding UTF8 -Append, not a redirect operator >>. Also, what's the point of using Python when you're already using PowerShell? — Maximilian Burszley
– Maximilian Burszley, Commented Dec 22, 2017 at 16:34
I'm creating a much larger program that cannot be run in powershell but have found that Python does not produce reliable system metrics on my machines. — M. Workman
– M. Workman, Commented Dec 22, 2017 at 16:43
You're using readlines() incorrectly. The argument tells it the maximum number of lines to read, it's not the index of a line in file. I suggest you use readline() instead and just put f.readline() everywhere. — martineau
– martineau, Commented Dec 22, 2017 at 16:46

Maximilian Burszley · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-28 19:24:28Z

Your problem is the encoding of the redirect operators is unicode (UTF16-LE).

$CS = Get-CimInstance -ClassName CIM_ComputerSystem
$OS = (Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_OperatingSystem).Caption
$CPU = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_Processor

@"
$($CS.Manufacturer)
$($CS.Model)
$OS
$($CPU.Name)
$($CPU.NumberOfCores)
$($CPU.NumberOfLogicalProcessors)
$($CPU.ThreadCount)
$($CPU.MaxClockSpeed)
$($CPU.CurrentClockSpeed)
"@ | Out-File -FilePath C:\Mike\Output\SysConfig.txt -Encoding UTF8

Cleaned up:

$CS = Get-CimInstance -ClassName CIM_ComputerSystem
$OS = (Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_OperatingSystem).Caption
$CPU = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_Processor

"{0}`n{1}`n{2}`n{3}`n{4}`n{5}`n{6}`n{7}`n{8}" -f @( $CS.Manufacturer
                                                    $CS.Model
                                                    $OS
                                                    $CPU.Name
                                                    $CPU.NumberOfCores
                                                    $CPU.NumberOfLogicalProcessors
                                                    $CPU.ThreadCount
                                                    $CPU.MaxClockSpeed
                                                    $CPU.CurrentClockSpeed
                                                  ) |
    Out-File -FilePath C:\Mike\Output\SysConfig.txt -Encoding UTF8

Bill Bell · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-22 17:05:53Z

No problem reading what you have in Python.

Define some labels, for use in presenting output. Read the entire input file a as a byte arrays, decode the bytes appropriately to form a string, and discard a line-end, if present. Split the string on line-ends and print each resulting string with the appropriate label.

vars = ["Manufacturer", "Make", "OS", "CPU_Name", "CPU_Phys_Cores", "CPU_Log_Cores", "CPU_Threads", "CPU_Max_Clock", "CPU_Curr_Clock"]

with open('SysConfig.txt', 'rb') as f:
    content = f.read().decode(encoding='UTF16').rstrip() 

for var, line in zip(vars, content.split('\n')):
    print (var, line.strip())

Output:

Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard
Make HP Compaq Elite 8300 SFF
OS Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
CPU_Name Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3470 CPU @ 3.20GHz
CPU_Phys_Cores 4
CPU_Log_Cores 4
CPU_Threads 4
CPU_Max_Clock 3201
CPU_Curr_Clock 2700

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