Adjust spacing for columns in Write-Output

Question

_{Tuesday, August 9, 2011 3:24 PM}

I'm diving into using Add-Member and Write-Output to display some tables. However, the columns are spaced fairly far apart (especially when there are only a couple of columns). Is there a way to adjust the spacing, similar to using ft -auto?

All replies (6)

_{Tuesday, August 9, 2011 3:56 PM ✅Answered | 3 votes}

You can use the -f format operator:

gci c:\testfiles |% {write-output $("{0,20} {1,30} {2,20}" -f $_.name,$_.lastwritetime,$_.length)}

and control the column widths and justification (left/right) in each column with the format specifiers.

[string](0..33|%{[char][int](46+("686552495351636652556262185355647068516270555358646562655775 0645570").substring(($_*2),2))})-replace " "

_{Tuesday, August 9, 2011 3:32 PM | 2 votes}

I figured it out. Instead of doing

Write-Output $obj

I use

$obj | ft -auto

Didn't realize you could do that.

_{Tuesday, August 9, 2011 3:37 PM | 2 votes}

There's one catch though. When you pipe to ft each object is displayed as it's processed, one at a time. When you add the -Auto switch the formatter must calculate ALL objects before the result is displayed. Shay Levy [MVP]
PowerShay.com
PowerShell Toolbar

_{Tuesday, August 9, 2011 4:07 PM}

...also, watch out if using format-table within a script; Output formatting can get messed up (in a most bizzarre way sometimes!)  Format-Table and the other format-* cmdlets aren't really intended for use in scripts (scripts should return objects:-) but if you need to use them then you should follow them with an Out-String

$obj|ft|out-string

HTH
Chris

_{Tuesday, August 9, 2011 4:55 PM}

So what I'm doing is

foreach ($key in $clientHash.keys) {
$value = $clientHash.$key
 $CV = New-Object PSObject
 $CV | Add-Member NoteProperty "Client Version" $first 
 $CV | Add-Member NoteProperty "Agent" $second
 $CV | Add-Member NoteProperty "Connections" $value 
 $CV
}

The other problem I'm having is that after the above runs, I have another section

foreach ($key in $serverHash.keys) {
 $value = $serverHash.$key
 $obj = new-object PSObject
 $obj | Add-Member NoteProperty "FrontEnd Server" $key
 $obj | Add-Member NoteProperty "Connections" $value
 $obj
 # "{0, -22} {1, 5}" -f $key, $value
}

The first gives me a table, albeit with columns far apart. The second only gives me the last column ("Connections"), and it's lined up with the Connections column of the first table. No headers. So I think the second foreach is thinking it's part of the first. The two should be completely separate tables.

What am I missing?

_{Saturday, August 13, 2011 6:39 AM}

Hi Pat,

Please feel free to let us know if the information was helpful to you.

Regards,

Tiger Li

TechNet Subscriber Support in forum
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