parse string and check for valid date

Question

parse string and check for valid date

Bruin

SSCrazy

Points: 2010
More actions
August 29, 2018 at 8:41 am

#362280

I have a flat file with a bar(|) delimiter. It has no headers, but I want to check columns(11,12,13) for valid dates. If invalid date found in any of the fields display entire record and
fail the process.
Without a header how do validate sample below (Date) as a check for column 11
   if (! ($row.date -as [datetime]) ) {
   Write-Host "Row: $($csvData.indexOf($row)+2): $($row.date) is invalid"
   Write-Output $row
Thanks.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)

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andycadley SSCertifiable Points: 5296 More actions · Answer 1

Something like this should do it:
$badLines = 0 Get-Content .\test.txt | ForEach-Object { $currentLine = $_ $cols = $_.Split('|') Try { # Note columns are 0 based [DateTime]:: ParseExact($cols[10], 'dd/MM/yyyy', $null) | Out-Null [DateTime]:: ParseExact($cols[11], 'dd/MM/yyyy', $null) | Out-Null [DateTime]:: ParseExact($cols[12], 'dd/MM/yyyy', $null) | Out-Null } Catch { Write-Output $currentLine $badLines ++ } } if ($badLines -gt 0) { throw "$($badLines) lines contained invalid dates" }

Bruin SSCrazy Points: 2010 More actions · Answer 2

It throw and error at the end.

+ throw "$($badLines) lines contained invalid dates"
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : OperationStopped: (97 lines contained invalid dates:String) [], RuntimeEx
ception
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : 97 lines contained invalid dates

THanks.

Can it first make sure there is a date to check? if fields are empty\null this maybe not an error I want to trap. Only
if date present does it conform to rules.

Thanks again

Bruin SSCrazy Points: 2010 More actions · Answer 3

Bruin

SSCrazy

Points: 2010

November 15, 2018 at 2:57 pm

#2013746

any idea what caused this error?

Thanks.

andycadley SSCertifiable Points: 5296 More actions · Answer 4

You can wrap calls to ParseExact in If statements to exclude cases you don't want to try and check. What have you tried that isn't working?

Bruin SSCrazy Points: 2010 More actions · Answer 5

Need an example of how to wrap the if statement checking if date exists and conforms to format dd-mm-yyy (null or empty can pass check but maybe log the line number).

When I run script above it throws error:

+ throw "$($badLines) lines contained invalid dates"
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : OperationStopped: (97 lines contained invalid dates:String) [], RuntimeEx
ception
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : 97 lines contained invalid dates

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003863 More actions · Answer 6

Bruin - Wednesday, November 21, 2018 7:00 AM
Need an example of how to wrap the if statement checking if date exists and conforms to format dd-mm-yyy (null or empty can pass check but maybe log the line number).
When I run script above it throws error:
+ throw "$($badLines) lines contained invalid dates"
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : OperationStopped: (97 lines contained invalid dates:String) [], RuntimeEx
ception
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : 97 lines contained invalid dates

To be honest, it sounds like you're trying to rewrite BCP or BULK INSERT in Powershell. Why not just import the data into a table and check the data there?

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Bruin SSCrazy Points: 2010 More actions · Answer 7

I was looking for a generic Insert that would read a csv and dynamically create a SQL table based upon number of columns in csv then do the
ETL in sql table

Lynn Pettis SSC Guru Points: 442467 More actions · Answer 8

Bruin - Friday, November 23, 2018 6:05 AM
I was looking for a generic Insert that would read a csv and dynamically create a SQL table based upon number of columns in csv then do the
ETL in sql table

If you are doing a generic import how would you know what columns to test for conforming to valid dates?

Bruin SSCrazy Points: 2010 More actions · Answer 9

Bruin

SSCrazy

Points: 2010

November 23, 2018 at 5:21 pm

#2014414

I know which fields in csv contain dates

Lynn Pettis SSC Guru Points: 442467 More actions · Answer 10

Bruin - Friday, November 23, 2018 5:21 PM
I know which fields in csv contain dates

For every possible file you will be importing?

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003863 More actions · Answer 11

Bruin - Friday, November 23, 2018 6:05 AM
I was looking for a generic Insert that would read a csv and dynamically create a SQL table based upon number of columns in csv then do the
ETL in sql table

You can do this... have a stored procedure that reads the first row as a blob (the one with the field names) and split it so you get a numbered list of the field names. Use that as a source of dynamic SQL to build your target table and then import the file to that new target table.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Bruin SSCrazy Points: 2010 More actions · Answer 12

How could that be accomplished(example) if no header available.

Thanks.

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003863 More actions · Answer 13

Bruin - Monday, November 26, 2018 9:45 AM
How could that be accomplished(example) if no header available.
Thanks.

Read the first row anyway just to get a count of the columns and then assign generic column names.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Bruin SSCrazy Points: 2010 More actions · Answer 14

I have been trying to use PS to load text files to SQL using the script from article "Import tricky CSV's". The script is very good
but the speed seems to be the issue. Sometimes you have to give up speed for accuracy and field parsing since data is not always
clean which that script addresses nicely.

Issues I have found with script processing ETL

delimiter
header\noheader
error handling
speed
memory consumption

I like the idea of having ETL in a script, but many of the examples I have seen speed always seem to be an issue. I have files
that can range from 50 records to millions, and row size from 10 fields to 200. I have used SSIS, but sometimes not flexible when you have to change
the criteria or add\remove fields.

would like to hear\see other solutions people are using to accomplish file loading to SQL

Thanks again.