Formatting

Formatting in PowerShell encompasses the use of the Format- and Out- commands from the built-in Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility module.

PowerShell includes a complex formatting system that allows command authors to dictate the default appearance of objects in the console. Objects shown in the console almost always have more properties available than are displayed by default.

Formatting and exporting

It is important to note that format commands shown in this section should not be used alongside commands like Export-Csv. Formatting commands completely change the objects they receive into a set of formatting instructions.

This can be seen by combining Format-Table and ConvertTo-Csv in the example pipeline below:

Get-Process |
    Select-Object Name, ID, WorkingSet -First 2 |
    Format-Table |
    ConvertTo-Csv

This example will generate output like that shown below:

"ClassId2e4f51ef21dd47e99d3c952918aff9cd","pageHeaderEntry",...