This is the built-in help made by Microsoft for the command 'Format-Table', in PowerShell version 3 - as retrieved from
Windows version 'Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Standard' PowerShell help files on 2016-06-23.
For PowerShell version 3 and up, where you have Update-Help, this command was run just before creating the web pages from the help files.
Formats the output as a table.
Format-Table [[-Property] <Object[]>] [-AutoSize] [-DisplayError] [-Expand <String>] [-Force] [-GroupBy <Object>] [-HideTableHeaders]
[-InputObject <PSObject>] [-ShowError] [-View <String>] [-Wrap] [<CommonParameters>]
The Format-Table cmdlet formats the output of a command as a table with the selected properties of the object in each column. The object type
determines the default layout and properties that are displayed in each column, but you can use the Property parameter to select the
properties that you want to see.
You can also use a hash table to add calculated properties to an object before displaying it and to specify the column headings in the table.
To add a calculated property, use the Property or GroupBy parameters.
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Online Version: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113303
Format-Custom
Format-List
Format-Wide
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-------------------------- EXAMPLE 1 --------------------------
PS C:\>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
T:Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Get-PSSnapin cmdlet 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.
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 2 --------------------------
PS C:\>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 T:Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Get-Process cmdlet gets objects representing each process on the computer. The pipeline operator (|)
passes the object to the T:Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Sort-Object cmdlet, which sorts the objects in order of their base priority.
Another pipeline operator passes the results to the Format-Table cmdlet. 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.
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 3 --------------------------
PS C:\>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
T:Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Get-Process cmdlet to get objects representing the processes on the computer. The pipeline operator (|) sends
the output of Get-Process to the T:Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.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.
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 4 --------------------------
PS C:\>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
T:Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.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".
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 5 --------------------------
PS C:\>get-process notepad | format-table ProcessName, `
@{Label="TotalRunningTime"; Expression={(get-date) - $_.StartTime}}
This command shows how to use a calculated property in a table. The command displays a table with the process name and total running time of
all Notepad processes on the local computer. The total running time is calculated by subtracting the start time of each process from the
current time.
The command uses the T:Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Get-Process cmdlet to get all processes named "Notepad" on the local computer. The
pipeline operator (|) sends the results to Format-Table, which displays a table with two columns: ProcessName, a standard property of
processes, and TotalRunningTime, a calculated property.
The TotalRunningTime property is specified by a hash table with two keys, Label and Expression. The name of the property is assigned to the
Label key. The calculation is assigned to the Expression key. The expression gets the StartTime property of each process object and subtracts
it from the result of a Get-Date command, which gets the current date (and time).
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 6 --------------------------
PS C:\>$processes = get-wmiobject -ComputerName Server01 win32_process -filter "name='notepad.exe'"
PS C:\>$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 T:Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.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.