Format-Table

Format-Table [[-Property] <Object[]>] [-AutoSize] [-DisplayError] [-Expand <string>] [-Force] [-GroupBy <Object>] [-HideTableHeaders] [-InputObject <psobject>] [-ShowError] [-View <string>] [-Wrap] [<CommonParameters>]

C:\PS>get-pssnapin | format-table -auto

This command formats information about Windows PowerShell snap-ins in a table. By default, they are formatted in a list. The Get-PSSnapin cmdlets gets objects representing the snap-ins. The pipeline operator (|) passes the object to the Format-Table command. Format-Table formats the objects in a table. The Autosize parameter adjusts the column widths to minimize truncation.

C:\PS>get-process | sort-object -property basepriority | format-table -groupby basepriority -wrap

This command displays the processes on the computer in groups with the same base priority. 

The Get-Process cmdlet gets objects representing each process on the computer. The pipeline operator (|) passes the object to the Sort-Object cmdlet, which sorts the objects in order of their base priority.


Another pipeline operator passes the results to the Format-Table command. The GroupBy parameter arranges the data about the processes into groups based on the value of their BasePriority property. The Wrap parameter ensures that data is not truncated.

C:\PS>get-process | sort-object starttime | format-table -view starttime

This command displays information about the processes on the computer in group based on the start date of the process. It uses the Get-Process cmdlet to get objects representing the processes on the computer. The pipeline operator (|) sends the output of Get-Process to the Sort-Object cmdlet, which sorts it based on the StartTime property. Another pipeline operator sends the sorted results to Format-Table. 

The View parameter is used to select the StartTime view that is defined in the DotNetTypes.format.ps1xml formatting file for System.Diagnostics.Process objects, such as those returned by Get-Process. This view converts the StartTime of the process to a short date and then groups the processes by start date.

The DotNetTypes.format.ps1xml formatting file also contains a Priority view for processes, and you can create your own format.ps1xml files with customized views.

C:\PS>get-service | format-table -property Name, DependentServices

This command displays all of the services on the computer in a table with two columns, Name and DependentServices. The command uses the Get-Service cmdlet to get all of the services on the computer. The pipeline operator (|) sends the results to the Format-Table cmdlet, which formats the output in a table. The Property parameter specifies the properties that appear in the table as columns. The name of the Property parameter is optional, so you can omit it ("format-table name, dependentservices").

Property and DependentServices are just two of the properties of service objects. To view all of the properties, type "get-service | get-member".

C:\PS>get-process notepad | format-table ProcessName, `
@{Label="TotalRunningTime"; Expression={(get-date) - $_.StartTime}}

This command shows how to use a calculated property in a table. The command displays a table with the process name and total running time of all Notepad processes on the local computer. The total running time is calculated by subtracting the start time of each process from the current time.

The command uses the Get-Process cmdlet to get all processes named "Notepad" on the local computer. The pipeline operator (|) sends the results to Format-Table, which displays a table with two columns: ProcessName, a standard property of processes, and TotalRunningTime, a calculated property.

The TotalRunningTime property is specified by a hash table with two keys, Label and Expression. The name of the property is assigned to the Label key. The calculation is assigned to the Expression key. The expression gets the StartTime property of each process object and subtracts it from the result of a Get-Date command, which gets the current date (and time).

C:\PS>$processes = get-wmiobject -ComputerName Server01 win32_process -filter "name='notepad.exe'"  

C:\PS> $processes | format-table ProcessName, @{ Label = "Total  Running Time"; `
Expression={(get-date) - $_.ConvertToDateTime($_.CreationDate)}}

These commands are similar to the previous command, except that these commands use the Get-WmiObject cmdlet and the Win32_Process class to display information about Notepad processes on a remote computer.

The first command uses the Get-WmiObject cmdlet to get instances of the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Win32_Process class that describes all of the processes on the Server01 computer that are named Notepad.exe. The command stores the process information in the $processes variable. 


The second command uses a pipeline operator (|) to send the process information in the $processes variable to the Format-Table cmdlet, which displays the ProcessName of each process along with a new calculated property. 

The command assigns the name of the new calculated property, Total Running Time, to the Label key. The script block that is assigned to the Expression key calculates how long the process has been running by subtracting the creation date of the process from the current date. The Get-Date cmdlet gets the current date. The ConvertToDateTime method converts the CreationDate property of the Win32_Process object from a WMI CIM_DATETIME object to a Microsoft .NET Framework DateTime object that can be compared with the output of Get-Date. Then, the converted creation date is subtracted from the current date. The result is the value of Total Running Time.

The backtick characters (`) are line continuation characters.