Formatting Select-Object Output

Article
2016-12-12

Question

_{Monday, December 12, 2016 12:03 AM}

Hello,

I'm a fairly new user to powershell and seem to be stuck.

I am trying to format a field of "Select-Object" data but can seem to work out how:

$os | select @{Name = "Status";Expression = {$Status}},
             @{Name = "Mem%Free"; Expression = {$pctFree}},
             @{Name = "FreeMem(GB)";Expression = {[math]::Round($_.FreePhysicalMemory/1mb,2)}},
             @{Name = "TotalMem(GB)";Expression = {[math]::Round($_.TotalVisibleMemorySize/1mb)}}

Essentially I am trying to format $Status one of three colors. Red for $Status "Critical", Yellow for $Status "Warning", and "Green" for $Status . $Status is determined by a previous If statement.

I've been trying to accomplish this by piping the above data through various things such as write-host, string-out etc. I feel I'm going about this wrong. My core goal of data output has been achieved, but this one visual indicator I am trying to implement is driving me nuts!

Currently my script produces the following un-formatted:

Status Mem%Free FreeMem(GB) TotalMem(GB)
   
OK        53.17        3.95            7

Thanks so much!

All replies (12)

_{Monday, December 12, 2016 8:22 PM ✅Answered | 1 vote}

Here is a hint as to how to do this without so much extra code.

function test-output{
    Write-Host ('{0,-10}{1,-20}{2,-20}{3,-20}' -f 'Status', 'Mem%Free', 'FreeMem(GB)', 'TotalMem(GB)') -fore yellow
    Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem |
    ForEach-Object{
        $color = if($_.Status -eq 'Ok'){'green'}else{'red'}
        $line = "{0,-10}{1,-20:N2}{2,-20:N2}{3,-20:N2}" -f $_.Status,(100 * $_.FreePhysicalMemory/$_.TotalVisibleMemorySize),($_.FreePhysicalMemory/1mb),
        ($_.TotalVisibleMemorySize/1mb)
        Write-Host $line -fore $color
    }
}
test-output

No idea where you are getting $stat and $freepct from. Restart PowerShell and run that statement again and you will see what I am saying.

\(ツ)_/

_{Monday, December 12, 2016 1:22 AM | 1 vote}

Powershell is not made for being colorful by default. Select-Object is not able to produce colored Output. So if you really need this, you would have to make it a kind of by yourself. You would have to parse the output and colorize it with Write-Host "something" -ForegroundColor Red or Green or Yelow or .... but in my opinion it's not worth it and it breaks the pipeline. So it really has to be the last step in your pipeline.

You also could create an HTML report and colorize this. There are several ways to do this. Here you can learn some: Creating HTML Reports in Powershell.

For me most of the time it's enough to sort the output by status. Or if you want to have it a little more manager compatible you can use Out-GridView.

Grüße - Best regards

PS:> (79,108,97,102|%{[char]$_})-join''

_{Monday, December 12, 2016 1:26 AM}

The single most important thing here is that you need to learn PowerShell. You cannot do this by guessing and posting really lame guesses and begging for help. It just won't work.

\(ツ)_/

_{Monday, December 12, 2016 7:02 AM}

Agreed,

Creating a HTML Report does seem like the best way to achieve this!

_{Monday, December 12, 2016 4:14 PM}

The single most important thing here is that you need to learn PowerShell. You cannot do this by guessing and posting really lame guesses and begging for help. It just won't work.

\(ツ)_/

Again, my script works. Simply was looking for a cosmetic improvement at this point.

_{Monday, December 12, 2016 4:16 PM}

Powershell is not made for being colorful by default. Select-Object is not able to produce colored Output. So if you really need this, you would have to make it a kind of by yourself. You would have to parse the output and colorize it with Write-Host "something" -ForegroundColor Red or Green or Yelow or .... but in my opinion it's not worth it and it breaks the pipeline. So it really has to be the last step in your pipeline.

You also could create an HTML report and colorize this. There are several ways to do this. Here you can learn some: Creating HTML Reports in Powershell.

For me most of the time it's enough to sort the output by status. Or if you want to have it a little more manager compatible you can use Out-GridView.

Grüße - Best regards

PS:> (79,108,97,102|%{[char]$_})-join''

I've done a lot of looking on the topic. I think the easiest, most comprehensible way to achieve this is indeed converting the output to HTML.

_{Monday, December 12, 2016 7:50 PM}

$os | select <yourOwnCodeMindingThePropertiesNames> | %{

write-host ' status free% free(GB) total(GB)' -fore darkyellow

}{

$s=$_.status

write-host ('{0,10}' -f $s) -back (if($s -eq 'OK'){'green'}elseif($s -eq 'Warning'){'yellow'}else{'red'}) -nonew

write-host (' {0,10} {1,10} {2,10}' -f $_.${free%},$_.${free(GB)},$_.${total(GB)})

}

Simple.

▪

Hmmm not quite:

$pc = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $ComputerName

$pc | select @{Name = "Status";Expression = {$Stat}},
             @{Name = "Mem%Free"; Expression = {$Freepct}},
             @{Name = "FreeMem(GB)";Expression = {[math]::Round($_.FreePhysicalMemory/1mb,2)}},
             @{Name = "TotalMem(GB)";Expression = {[math]::Round($_.TotalVisibleMemorySize/1mb)}}| %{
             write-host '   Status      Mem%Free   FreeMem(GB)  TotalMem(GB)' -fore darkyellow
             }{
             $s=$_.status
             write-host ('{0,10}' -f $s) -back (if($s -eq 'OK'){'green'}elseif($s -eq 'Warning'){'yellow'}else{'red'}) -nonew
             write-host (' {0,10} {1,10} {2,10}' -f $_.${Mem%Free},$_.${FreeMem(GB)},$_.${TotalMem(GB)})

Doesn't appear to like that If statement:

PS Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::\\shcsd\sharp\soc\Users\dobth\My Documents\WindowsPowerShell> Get-MemoryUsage -ComputerName IS1607747
   Status      Mem%Free   FreeMem(GB)  TotalMem(GB)
if : The term 'if' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check 
the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At line:25 char:49
+              write-host ('{0,10}' -f $s) -back (if($s -eq 'OK'){'gree ...
+                                                 ~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (if:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

_{Monday, December 12, 2016 7:56 PM}

You cannot mix Write-Host statements into a computed select-object statement. I t will not work in any kind of meaningful way.

Your computed statement is also badly broken. Start by getting the computed statement to work correctly before attempting to add color.

\(ツ)_/

_{Monday, December 12, 2016 8:02 PM}

You cannot mix Write-Host statements into a computed select-object statement. I t will not work in any kind of meaningful way.

Your computed statement is also badly broken. Start by getting the computed statement to work correctly before attempting to add color.

\(ツ)_/

Could you elaborate?

$pc = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $ComputerName

$pc | select @{Name = "Status";Expression = {$Stat}},
             @{Name = "Mem%Free"; Expression = {$Freepct}},
             @{Name = "FreeMem(GB)";Expression = {[math]::Round($_.FreePhysicalMemory/1mb,2)}},
             @{Name = "TotalMem(GB)";Expression = {[math]::Round($_.TotalVisibleMemorySize/1mb)}}

Yields the expected output:

Status Mem%Free FreeMem(GB) TotalMem(GB)
   
OK        47.05        3.49            7

_{Tuesday, December 13, 2016 12:06 AM}

Thank you jrv. Excellent uses of ForEach-Object and formatting operator. Thanks for your assistance and example!

Here is the final function:

Function Get-MemoryUsage {
[cmdletbinding()]
Param($ComputerName)

$pc = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $ComputerName
$Freepct = [math]::Round(($pc.FreePhysicalMemory/$pc.TotalVisibleMemorySize)*100,2)

if ($Freepct -ge 45) {
$Stat = "OK"
}
elseif ($Freepct -ge 15 ) {
$Stat = "Warning"
}
else {
$Stat = "Critical"
}

Write-Host ('{0,-10}{1,-10}{2,-15}{3,-10}' -f "`nStatus", 'Mem%Free', 'FreeMem(GB)', 'TotalMem(GB)')
Write-Host ('{0,-10}{1,-10}{2,-15}{3,-10}' -f '', '', '', '')
    
$pc | ForEach-Object{
            $color = if($Stat -eq 'Ok'){'green'}elseif($Stat -eq 'Warning'){'Yellow'}else{'red'}
            $line = "{0,-10}{1,-10:N2}{2,-15:N2}{3,-10:N2}" -f $Stat,(100 * $_.FreePhysicalMemory/$_.TotalVisibleMemorySize),($_.FreePhysicalMemory/1mb),
            ($_.TotalVisibleMemorySize/1mb)
            Write-Host $line -fore $color
            If ($color -eq 'red') {
            Write-Host "`nInsufficent Ram" -fore $color
            }
            else {
            Write-Host "`nMemory Check - OK" -fore $color
            }
    }

}

The resulting output: