Invoke-PathShortener.ps1

function Invoke-PathShortener {
    <#
        .SYNOPSIS
            Path Shortener
        .NOTES
            Author: Øyvind Kallstad
            Date: 05.04.2016
            Version: 2
    #>
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param (
        # Path to shorten.
        [Parameter(Position = 0)]
        [ValidateNotNullorEmpty()]
        [string] $Path,

        # Number of parts to keep before truncating. Default value is 2.
        [Parameter()]
        [ValidateRange(0, [int32]::MaxValue)]
        [int] $KeepBefore = 2,

        # Number of parts to keep after truncating. Default value is 1.
        [Parameter()]
        [ValidateRange(1, [int32]::MaxValue)]
        [int] $KeepAfter = 1,
        
        # Path separator character.                
        [Parameter()]
        [string] $Separator = [System.IO.Path]::DirectorySeparatorChar,
        
        # Truncate character(s). Default is '...'
        # Use '[char]8230' to use the horizontal ellipsis character instead.
        [Parameter()]
        [string] $TruncateChar = '...'
    )
    
    $splitPath = $Path.Split($Separator, [System.StringSplitOptions]::RemoveEmptyEntries)
        
    if ($splitPath.Count -gt ($KeepBefore + $KeepAfter)) {
      $outPath = [string]::Empty
      
      for ($i = 0; $i -lt $KeepBefore; $i++) {
        $outPath += $splitPath[$i] + $Separator
      }
      
      $outPath += "$($TruncateChar)$($Separator)"
      
      for ($i = ($splitPath.Count - $KeepAfter); $i -lt $splitPath.Count; $i++) {
        if ($i -eq ($splitPath.Count - 1)) {
          $outPath += $splitPath[$i]
        }
        else {
          $outPath += $splitPath[$i] + $Separator
        }
      }
    }
    
    
    else {
      $outPath = $splitPath -join $Separator
      if ($splitPath.Count -eq 1) {
        $outPath += $Separator
      }
    }
        
    Write-Output $outPath
}

$pathStrings = @(
  'C:\',
  'c:',
  'C:\Users\ojk\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Projects',
  'c:\windows',
  'c:\windows\',
  'C:\Dell\Drivers',
  'C:\Dell\Drivers\2K0JJ',
  '\\server01\rootshare\subfolder1',
  '\\server01\rootshare\subfolder1\subfolder2',
  '\\server01\rootshare\subfolder1\subfolder2\subfolder3',
  'HKLM:',
  'HKLM:\SOFTWARE',
  'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft',
  'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT',
  'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion',
  'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Console',
  '\\server02\c$\users\user01\subfolder1'
)

foreach ($pathString in $pathStrings) {
  #$pathString
  Invoke-PathShortener -Path $pathString -Verbose -KeepBefore 2 -KeepAfter 2 -TruncateChar '...'
}