Get-Content with -AsByteStream -ReadCount X -Raw should return byte arrays

[rhubarb-geek-nz]

Prerequisites

• Write a descriptive title.
• Make sure you are able to repro it on the latest released version
• Search the existing issues.
• Refer to the FAQ.
• Refer to Differences between Windows PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell.

Steps to reproduce

Get-Content with -AsByteStream, -Raw and -ReadCount should return list of byte []

Simple script below

Set-Content -LiteralPath 'foo.bar' -Value 'foobar' -NoNewLine

Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath 'foo.bar'

$foo = Get-Content -LiteralPath 'foo.bar' -AsByteStream

$foo.GetType().Name
$foo[0].GetType().Name
$foo.Count
$foo[0].Count

$foo = Get-Content -LiteralPath 'foo.bar' -AsByteStream -ReadCount 3

$foo.GetType().Name
$foo[0].GetType().Name
$foo.Count
$foo[0].Count
$foo[1].Count

$foo = Get-Content -LiteralPath 'foo.bar' -AsByteStream -ReadCount 3 -Raw

$foo.GetType().Name
$foo[0].GetType().Name
$foo.Count
$foo[0].Count
$foo[1].Count

Expected behavior

Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
-a---          21/04/2024    03:03              6 foo.bar
Object[]
Byte
6
1
Object[]
Object[]
2
3
3
Object[]
Byte[]
2
3
3

Actual behavior

Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
-a---          21/04/2024    03:03              6 foo.bar
Object[]
Byte
6
1
Object[]
Object[]
2
3
3
Object[]
Byte[]
1
6
0

Error details

no errors

Environment data

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      7.4.2
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    7.4.2
OS                             Microsoft Windows 10.0.22631
Platform                       Win32NT
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0…}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0

Visuals

just the above text will suffice

[rhubarb-geek-nz]

Compare with proof of concept Split-Content

$foo = Split-Content -LiteralPath 'foo.bar' -AsByteStream -ReadCount 3

$foo.GetType().Name
$foo[0].GetType().Name
$foo.Count
$foo[0].Count
$foo[1].Count

Gives list of byte arrays

Object[]
Byte[]
2
3
3

[mklement0]

I support this feature request, but let me add some context:

• If -ReadCount is specified, -Raw is ignored (which is unfortunate, and arguably a bug).

• -Raw in combination with -AsByteStream - but without -ReadCount - does emit a [byte[]] array, but it invariably means reading the whole input file into memory.

• -ReadCount - wich currently emits [object[]] arrays - should:

  • emit [string[]] arrays by default
  • if -AsByteStream is also specified, should emit [byte[]] arrays

In other words: when "chunking" is requested via -ReadCount a strongly typed array should be returned, which helps performance, especially in v7.4+ with -AsByeStream, which then allows directly outputting chunked byte data to an external (native) program (which only works with [byte[]] arrays, not with [object[]] arrays).

This is technically a breaking change, but most likely one that falls into bucket 3.