Using Format commands to change output view
PowerShell has a set of cmdlets that allow you to control how properties are displayed for
particular objects. The names of all the cmdlets begin with the verb Format. They let you select
which properties you want to show.
Get-Command -Verb Format -Module Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility
CommandType Name Version Source
----------- ---- ------- ------
Cmdlet Format-Custom 6.1.0.0 Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility
Cmdlet Format-Hex 6.1.0.0 Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility
Cmdlet Format-List 6.1.0.0 Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility
Cmdlet Format-Table 6.1.0.0 Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility
Cmdlet Format-Wide 6.1.0.0 Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility
This article describes the Format-Wide, Format-List, and Format-Table cmdlets.
Each object type in PowerShell has default properties that are used when you don't select the
properties to display. Each cmdlet uses the same Property parameter to specify which properties
you want displayed. Because Format-Wide only shows a single property, its Property parameter
only takes a single value, but the property parameters of Format-List and Format-Table accept a
list of property names.
In this example, the default output of Get-Process cmdlet shows that we've two instances of
Internet Explorer running.
Get-Process -Name iexplore
The default format for Process objects displays the properties shown here:
NPM(K) PM(M) WS(M) CPU(s) Id SI ProcessName
------ ----- ----- ------ -- -- -----------
32 25.52 10.25 13.11 12808 1 iexplore
52 11.46 26.46 3.55 21748 1 iexplore
Using Format-Wide for single-item output
The Format-Wide cmdlet, by default, displays only the default property of an object. The
information associated with each object is displayed in a single column:
Get-Command -Verb Format | Format-Wide
Format-Custom Format-Hex
Format-List Format-Table
Format-Wide
You can also specify a non-default property:
Get-Command -Verb Format | Format-Wide -Property Noun
Custom Hex
List Table
Wide
Controlling Format-Wide display with column
With the Format-Wide cmdlet, you can only display a single property at a time. This makes it
useful for displaying large lists in multiple columns.
Get-Command -Verb Format | Format-Wide -Property Noun -Column 3
Custom Hex List
Table Wide
Using Format-List for a list view
The Format-List cmdlet displays an object in the form of a listing, with each property labeled and
displayed on a separate line:
Get-Process -Name iexplore | Format-List
Id : 12808
Handles : 578
CPU : 13.140625
SI : 1
Name : iexplore
Id : 21748
Handles : 641
CPU : 3.59375
SI : 1
Name : iexplore
You can specify as many properties as you want:
Get-Process -Name iexplore | Format-List -Property ProcessName,FileVersion,StartTime,Id
ProcessName : iexplore
FileVersion : 11.00.18362.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800)
StartTime : 10/22/2019 11:23:58 AM
Id : 12808
ProcessName : iexplore
FileVersion : 11.00.18362.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800)
StartTime : 10/22/2019 11:23:57 AM
Id : 21748
Getting detailed information using Format-List with wildcards
The Format-List cmdlet lets you use a wildcard as the value of its Property parameter. This
lets you display detailed information. Often, objects include more information than you need, which
is why PowerShell doesn't show all property values by default. To show all properties of an object,
use the Format-List -Property * command. The following command generates more than 60 lines of
output for a single process:
Get-Process -Name iexplore | Format-List -Property *
Although the Format-List command is useful for showing detail, if you want an overview of output
that includes many items, a simpler tabular view is often more useful.
Using Format-Table for tabular output
If you use the Format-Table cmdlet with no property names specified to format the output of the
Get-Process command, you get exactly the same output as you do without a Format cmdlet. By
default, PowerShell displays Process objects in a tabular format.
Get-Service -Name win* | Format-Table
Status Name DisplayName
------ ---- -----------
Running WinDefend Windows Defender Antivirus Service
Running WinHttpAutoProx... WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Se...
Running Winmgmt Windows Management Instrumentation
Running WinRM Windows Remote Management (WS-Manag...
Note
Get-Service is only available on Windows platforms.
Improving Format-Table output
Although a tabular view is useful for displaying lots of information, it may be difficult to
interpret if the display is too narrow for the data. In the previous example, the output is
truncated. If you specify the AutoSize parameter when you run the Format-Table command,
PowerShell calculates column widths based on the actual data displayed. This makes the columns
readable.
Get-Service -Name win* | Format-Table -AutoSize
Status Name DisplayName
------ ---- -----------
Running WinDefend Windows Defender Antivirus Service
Running WinHttpAutoProxySvc WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service
Running Winmgmt Windows Management Instrumentation
Running WinRM Windows Remote Management (WS-Management)
The Format-Table cmdlet might still truncate data, but it only truncates at the end of the screen.
Properties, other than the last one displayed, are given as much size as they need for their longest
data element to display correctly.
Get-Service -Name win* |
Format-Table -Property Name, Status, StartType, DisplayName, DependentServices -AutoSize
Name Status StartType DisplayName DependentServi
ces
---- ------ --------- ----------- --------------
WinDefend Running Automatic Windows Defender Antivirus Service {}
WinHttpAutoProxySvc Running Manual WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service {NcaSvc, iphl…
Winmgmt Running Automatic Windows Management Instrumentation {vmms, TPHKLO…
WinRM Running Automatic Windows Remote Management (WS-Management) {}
The Format-Table command assumes that properties are listed in order of importance. The cmdlet
attempts to fully display the properties nearest the beginning. If the Format-Table command can't
display all the properties, it removes some columns from the display. You can see this behavior in
the DependentServices property previous example.
Wrapping Format-Table output in columns
You can force lengthy Format-Table data to wrap within its display column using the Wrap
parameter. Using the Wrap parameter may not do what you expect, since it uses default settings
if you don't also specify AutoSize:
Get-Service -Name win* |
Format-Table -Property Name, Status, StartType, DisplayName, DependentServices -Wrap
Name Status StartType DisplayName DependentServi
ces
---- ------ --------- ----------- --------------
WinDefend Running Automatic Windows Defender Antivirus Service {}
WinHttpAutoProxySvc Running Manual WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service {NcaSvc,
iphlpsvc}
Winmgmt Running Automatic Windows Management Instrumentation {vmms,
TPHKLOAD,
SUService,
smstsmgr…}
WinRM Running Automatic Windows Remote Management (WS-Management) {}
Using the Wrap parameter by itself doesn't slow down processing very much. However, using AutoSize to format a recursive file listing of a large directory structure can take a long time and use lots of memory before displaying the first output items.
If you aren't concerned about system load, then AutoSize works well with the Wrap parameter. The initial columns still use as much width as needed to display items on one line, but the final column is wrapped, if necessary.
Note
Some columns may not be displayed when you specify the widest columns first. For best results, specify the smallest data elements first.
In the following example, we specify the widest properties first.
Get-Process -Name iexplore |
Format-Table -Wrap -AutoSize -Property FileVersion, Path, Name, Id
Even with wrapping, the final Id column is omitted:
FileVersion Path Nam
e
----------- ---- ---
11.00.18362.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE iex
plo
re
11.00.18362.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800) C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe iex
plo
re
Organizing table output
Another useful parameter for tabular output control is GroupBy. Longer tabular listings in particular may be hard to compare. The GroupBy parameter groups output based on a property value. For example, we can group services by StartType for easier inspection, omitting the StartType value from the property listing:
Get-Service -Name win* | Sort-Object StartType | Format-Table -GroupBy StartType
StartType: Automatic
Status Name DisplayName
------ ---- -----------
Running WinDefend Windows Defender Antivirus Service
Running Winmgmt Windows Management Instrumentation
Running WinRM Windows Remote Management (WS-Managem…
StartType: Manual
Status Name DisplayName
------ ---- -----------
Running WinHttpAutoProxyS… WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Serv…
