Log Parsing w PowerShell: A Beginner's Guide

Learn how to stop drowning in log files and start extracting answers — this beginner-friendly session covers the essential PowerShell cmdlets for searching, filtering, and making sense of text and CSV logs.

Meeting Overview:
Whether you're troubleshooting an outage, auditing user activity, or chasing down an application error, the answer is almost always buried somewhere in a log file. The challenge is knowing how to find it quickly. This session focuses on giving beginners the foundational PowerShell skills to do exactly that.

We'll work hands-on with real log file scenarios, covering how to search plain text logs with Select-String, import structured CSV logs with Import-Csv, and use cmdlets like Group-Object and Where-Object to slice and count data. You'll also see how to transform raw text into PowerShell objects — the key skill that unlocks everything else.

This session is aimed at those new to PowerShell and system administration. Come ready to follow along, and leave with techniques you can apply to your own environment the same day.

TimeZone Info:
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About RTPSUG:
RTPSUG is a friendly cadre of PowerShell fans from different walks of life, all coming together to share our love for ideas and knowledge. Our meetups are open to everyone, whether you're a seasoned pro or just getting started with PowerShell. So, if PowerShell is your jam, come hang out with us and see how our group can level up your PowerShell journey.

Recording Notice:
Get ready to shine in the spotlight! We love capturing the magic of our meetings and sharing it with the world on our YouTube channel a few days later. By showing up, you're giving us the green light to use any recordings that might have your star appearance in them. We might even make you famous on YouTube and Reddit!