Powershell Out-File Doesn't Work For CSV

Question

I have the following code: ``` $databaseContents = "col1,col2,col3,col4" $theDatabaseFile = "C:\NewFolder\Database.csv $databaseContents | Out-File $theDatabaseFile ``` However when I open the csv file in Excel, it has col1,col2,col3,col4 in cell A1 rather than col1 in cell A1, col2 in cell B1 etc. Something strange I've noticed: If I open the file in Notepad and copy the text into another Notepad instance and save it as Database1.csv, then open it in Excel, it displays as expected. How can I get the `Out-File` commandlet to save it as a .csv file with the contents in 4 columns as expected? EDIT: I've noticed if I use `Set-Content` rather than `Out-File`, the csv file is then displayed correctly in Excel. Does anyone know why this is?

Accepted Answer

Why it makes a difference to Excel I am unclear, but it comes down to the encoding of the resulting output file - Unicode (in the cases that do not work) vs. ASCII (in the cases that do).

@JPBlanc's alternate approach works because it sets the encoding of the output file to ASCII where your original example (implicitly) set the encoding of the output file to Unicode.

Just adding `-Encoding ascii` to your original example works fine too:

```
$databaseContents = "col1,col2,col3,col4"
$theDatabaseFile = "C:\NewFolder\Database.csv
$databaseContents | Out-File $theDatabaseFile -Encoding ascii
```

And adding an explicit `-Encoding unicode` to your original example yields the same broken result you encountered:

```
$databaseContents = "col1,col2,col3,col4"
$theDatabaseFile = "C:\NewFolder\Database.csv
$databaseContents | Out-File $theDatabaseFile -Encoding unicode
```

This is basically what was happening implicitly.

Powershell Out-File Doesn't Work For CSV

Solution

Problem