Search Active Directory for Specific Word or Phrase (string) in a Group

3 Replies to “Search Active Directory for Specific Word or Phrase (string) in a Group”

1. how do you search a list of group in such a way, such as, if you have 20 phrases to search for? I think it need input file and a loop to go through the input file but cant make it work!

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2. I tried following but it doesn’t work 🙁 please help:

   $InputFile=C:\users\ahmenaz-a\documents\GroupList.txt
   $OutputFile=C:\users\ahmenaz-a\documents\grouplist_OUtPut.csv

   $Groups = Get-Content -Path $InputFile

   ForEach ($Group in $Groups)
   {
   $row = $Table.NewRow()

   try {

   $GetADGroup = get-ADGroup -identity {name -like $Group} -Properties *
   $GetAdGroupName = $GetAdGroup.Name
   $GetAdGroupDescription = $GetAdGroup.Description

   $row.GroupName = “$GetAdGroupName”
   $row.GroupDescription = “$GetAdGroupDescription”

   [array]$GetAdGroupMemberOf = $GetAdGroup.MemberOf | Select-Object -First “20”
   $GroupMemberOfCount = $GetAdGroupMemberOf.Length
   For ($i=0; $i -lt $GroupMembersCount; $i++)
   {
   $GetAdGroupMembersName = Get-AdObject -Identity $GetAdGroupMembers[$i] | Select-Object -Property Name
   $DynamicMembersColumnHeader = “Members$i”
   $row.$DynamicMembersColumnHeader = $GetAdGroupMembersName.Name
   }

   }
   # Catch the error if the group in the .txt file does not exist in AD.
   catch [Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADIdentityNotFoundException]{
   $GetAdGroupName = “$Group”
   $GetAdGroupDescription = “Group Not Found”
   $row.GroupName = “$GetAdGroupName”
   $row.GroupDescription = “$GetAdGroupDescription”
   }
   # Commit the new row to the table.
   $Table.Rows.Add($row)

   # Display the table in the PowerShell console.
   Write-Host “Here is a partial view of the table. The CSV file has all of the columns.”
   $Table | Format-Table -AutoSize

   # Export the table to a CSV file.
   $Table | Export-Csv -Path $OutputFile -NoTypeInformation
   }

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   1. Its well beyond what I was trying to post here but here are the basics.

      You can search for multiple words at once by using -or like so:

      Get-ADGroup -Filter {Name -like “*blah*” -or -like “*whatever*”}

      Now if you need to supply that list of words dynamically then you need to use a scriptBlock where you look through your word list essentially building a text string of the entire where clause, then convert it to a scriptBlock and leverage that. Some info on that can be found here:

      https://ramblingcookiemonster.wordpress.com/2014/11/30/quick-hit-dynamic-where-object-calls/

      Reply