Powershell script to search through a directory of excel files to find a string only searching through 1 file - excel

Question

I have found this script on https://shuaiber.medium.com/
I want to use it to find a certain string in a folder full of excel files.
the problem I am encountering is that it basically only searches through 1 file and then stops...
here is the script
Function Search-Excel {
[cmdletbinding()]
Param (
[parameter(Mandatory, ValueFromPipeline)]
[ValidateScript({
Try {
If (Test-Path -Path $_) {$True}
Else {Throw "$($_) is not a valid path!"}
}
Catch {
Throw $_
}
})]
[string]$Source,
[parameter(Mandatory)]
[string]$SearchText
#You can specify wildcard characters (*, ?)
)
$Excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
Try {
$Source = Convert-Path $Source
}
Catch {
Write-Warning "Unable locate full path of $($Source)"
BREAK
}
$Workbook = $Excel.Workbooks.Open($Source)
ForEach ($Worksheet in #($Workbook.Sheets)) {
$Found = $WorkSheet.Cells.Find($SearchText) #What
If ($Found) {
$BeginAddress = $Found.Address(0,0,1,1)
#Initial Found Cell
[pscustomobject]#{
WorkSheet = $Worksheet.Name
Column = $Found.Column
Row =$Found.Row
Text = $Found.Text
Address = $BeginAddress
}
Do {
$Found = $WorkSheet.Cells.FindNext($Found)
$Address = $Found.Address(0,0,1,1)
If ($Address -eq $BeginAddress) {
BREAK
}
[pscustomobject]#{
WorkSheet = $Worksheet.Name
Column = $Found.Column
Row =$Found.Row
Text = $Found.Text
Address = $Address
}
} Until ($False)
}
Else {
Write-Warning "[$($WorkSheet.Name)] Nothing Found!"
}
}
$workbook.close($false)
[void][System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject([System.__ComObject]$excel)
[gc]::Collect()
[gc]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()
Remove-Variable excel -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}
And then I would use
Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\excelfiles" -Recurse -Include *.xls, *.xlsx, *.xlsm | Select-Object -Property Directory, Name | ForEach-Object { "{0}{1}" -f $.Directory, $.Name } | Search-Excel -SearchText MyText
I know its only searching through 1 file because I looked at another file and tried to get it to send me back to confirm yet it doesnt work.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

You're going to need to include a loop within your function, or put the function within a ForEach-Object loop. For the function change you could do:
Function Search-Excel {
[cmdletbinding()]
Param (
[parameter(Mandatory, ValueFromPipeline)]
[ValidateScript({
Try {
If (Test-Path -Path $_) {$True}
Else {Throw "$($_) is not a valid path!"}
}
Catch {
Throw $_
}
})]
[string]$Source,
[parameter(Mandatory)]
[string]$SearchText
#You can specify wildcard characters (*, ?)
)
$Excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
ForEach($Path in $Source){
### <the rest of your existing code here, adjusted to work with $Path instead of $Source>
}
[void][System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject([System.__ComObject]$excel)
[gc]::Collect()
[gc]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()
Remove-Variable excel -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}
Or, to work with your existing function you could just do:
Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\excelfiles" -Recurse -Include *.xls, *.xlsx, *.xlsm |
ForEach-Object { Search-Excel -Source $_.FullName -SearchText MyText }

Answer 2

So let's talk about a couple of things with your command.
Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\excelfiles" -Recurse -Include *.xls, *.xlsx, *.xlsm | Select-Object -Property Directory, Name | ForEach-Object { "{0}{1}" -f $.Directory, $.Name } | Search-Excel -SearchText MyText
If we break this up into the individual pieces (separated by pipes), we might be able to figure out what's wrong. The first part, Get-ChildItem, is only looking for files matching *.xls, *.xlsx, and *.xlsm, so already directories are excluded. Well, what exactly does this function return? If you were to look at the object types, you'll see System.IO.FileInfo, which has a bunch of properties built in. One of which is the full file path needed, .FullName.
Currently, Search-Excel is setup to only search one file. If you want to search multiple files at once, you'll need a loop somewhere. In my opinion, the easiest place to do that will be outside of the function, like this:
Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\excelfiles" -Recurse -Include *.xls, *.xlsx, *.xlsm | Foreach-Object { Search-Excel -Source $_.FullName -SearchText MyText }