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Exercise - Format your output

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In this unit, you use Azure Cloud Shell to format your PowerShell output. Azure Cloud Shell is a shell that you can access through the Azure portal. You don't have to install anything on your PC or laptop to use it.

Compare formatting approaches

Different output formats make sense for different scenarios. For example, depending on the type of data that you want to display, a table might make more sense than a list.

Some cmdlets use a certain type of formatting by default. You can override the default formatting by using a formatting cmdlet.

1. Type pwsh in a terminal window to start a PowerShell session:

   pwsh
   

2. In your PowerShell shell, run the Get-Member command:

   "a string" | Get-Member
   

   The output is a table that lists all the members. Here are the first few lines of the output:

    Name                 MemberType            Definition
    ----                 ----------            ----------
    Clone                Method                System.Object Clone(), System.Object ICloneable.Clone()
    CompareTo            Method                int CompareTo(System.Object value), int CompareTo(string strB), int IComparable.CompareTo(…
   

   Next, you override the default formatting by using the Format-List cmdlet.

3. Run the Format-List command, as shown here:

   "a string" | Get-Member | Format-List
   

   The resulting output is different from the preceding output. The first few lines now appear as a list, as shown here:

    TypeName   : System.String
    Name       : Clone
    MemberType : Method
    Definition : System.Object Clone(), System.Object ICloneable.Clone()
   
    TypeName   : System.String
    Name       : CompareTo
    MemberType : Method
    Definition : int CompareTo(System.Object value), int CompareTo(string strB), int IComparable.CompareTo(System.Object obj), int 
                 IComparable[string].CompareTo(string other)
   

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