PowerShell: Piping and Formatting - Paiet/Tech-Journal-for-Everything GitHub Wiki

Piping and Formatting

• Output of one command becomes input for the next
• Referred to as a command pipeline
• Examples
  • command-1 | command-2 | command-3
  • Get-Service | Sort-Object -property status
• Creates a new variable called $_
• $_ represents the results of the previous command
• Can be used to run one command multiple times
  • Needed when command-1 generates multiple results but command-2 only accepts one result at a time
  • For example, Get-Process outputs multiple results and you want to pull details about each
    • Get-Process | Write-Host $_.name
      • Fails when executed because Write-Host expects one value
    • Get-Process | ForEach-Object { Write-Host $_.name }
      • Executes successfully
• Format cmdlets
  • Each format cmdlet has default properties
    • Get-Service to show default formatting
  • -Property to specify which properties to display
  • Format-Wide
    • Only shows a single property
    • Get-Service | Format-Wide
    • Get-Service | Format-Wide -Property DisplayName
    • Get-Service | Format-Wide -Column 1
  • Format-List
    • Accept list of properties
    • Get-Service | Format-List
    • Get-Service | Format-List -Property *
    • Get-Service | Format-List -Property DisplayName, StartType
  • Format-Table
    • Accept list of properties
    • Get-Service | Format-Table
    • Get-Service | Format-Table -Property *
    • Get-Service | Format-Table -Property DisplayName, StartType, Status
    • Autosize and wrap
      • Autosize
        • Calculate column widths based on the actual data
        • Assumes that the nearer a property is to the
          beginning of the property list, the more important
          it is
      • Wrap
        • Data will wrap within its display column
      • Results vary, experiment
      • Specify the smallest data first
    • Grouping and sorting output
      • Get-Service | Format-Table -Property DisplayName, StartType, Status -GroupBy StartType
      • Get-Service | Sort-Object -Property StartType | Format-Table -Property DisplayName, StartType, Status -GroupBy StartType
      • Get-Service | Sort-Object -Property StartType, DisplayName | Format-Table -Property DisplayName, StartType, Status -GroupBy StartType

Piping and Formatting Pt2

• Output of one command becomes input for the next
• Referred to as a command pipeline
• Examples
  • command-1 | command-2 | command-3
  • Get-Service | Sort-Object -property status
• Creates a new variable called $_
• $_ represents the results of the previous command
• Can be used to run one command multiple times
  • Needed when command-1 generates multiple results but command-2 only accepts one result at a time
  • For example, Get-Process outputs multiple results and you want to pull details about each
    • Get-Process | Write-Host $_.name
      • Fails when executed because Write-Host expects one value
    • Get-Process | ForEach-Object { Write-Host $_.name }
      • Executes successfully
• Format cmdlets
  • Each format cmdlet has default properties
    • Get-Service to show default formatting
  • -Property to specify which properties to display
  • Format-Wide
    • Only shows a single property
    • Get-Service | Format-Wide
    • Get-Service | Format-Wide -Property DisplayName
    • Get-Service | Format-Wide -Column 1
  • Format-List
    • Accept list of properties
    • Get-Service | Format-List
    • Get-Service | Format-List -Property *
    • Get-Service | Format-List -Property DisplayName, StartType
  • Format-Table
    • Accept list of properties
    • Get-Service | Format-Table
    • Get-Service | Format-Table -Property *
    • Get-Service | Format-Table -Property DisplayName, StartType, Status
    • Autosize and wrap
      • Autosize
        • Calculate column widths based on the actual data
        • Assumes that the nearer a property is to the
          beginning of the property list, the more important
          it is
      • Wrap
        • Data will wrap within its display column
      • Results vary, experiment
      • Specify the smallest data first
    • Grouping and sorting output
      • Get-Service | Format-Table -Property DisplayName, StartType, Status -GroupBy StartType
      • Get-Service | Sort-Object -Property StartType | Format-Table -Property DisplayName, StartType, Status -GroupBy StartType
      • Get-Service | Sort-Object -Property StartType, DisplayName | Format-Table -Property DisplayName, StartType, Status -GroupBy StartType