Powershell - Write-Host printing in wrong place - powershell

Question

My code has the following function:
function status{
if ($args[0] -eq "Stopped"){
Write-Host -NoNewline "Stopped" -fore red
.....
}
}
and the function is used as:
...
Write-Host "$($count)) $($i.DisplayName) STATUS: $(status $i.State)"
...
The result after script execution is:
Stopped 1) XXXXXX STATUS:
Why "Stopped" is in the beginning of the line? can someone help me?
The function is only to change the text color. As the example -fore red is to Stopped value.

Answer 1

You could use ANSI Escape sequences for this but it wouldn't work in old terminals. I'm not convinced if this is possible combining outputs from Write-Host and, if it is, I'll assume is an extremely tedious task.
function status {
$ansi = switch($args[0]) {
Stopped { "$([char] 27)[91m" }
Running { "$([char] 27)[32m" }
}
$ansi + $args[0]
}
foreach($state in 'Running', 'Stopped') {
$count++
$i = [pscustomobject]#{ state = $state; displayname = 'Hello!' }
Write-Host "$($count)) $($i.DisplayName) STATUS: $(status $i.State)"
}
Which would produce the following output:

Answer 2

Santiago Squarzon's helpful answer provides an effective solution; let me complement it with an explanation of what you tried:
Why "Stopped" is in the beginning of the line?
The reason is that Write-Host doesn't write to PowerShell's success output stream and therefore doesn't "return" a value from your status function.
Instead, Write-Host instantly prints to the host (display; in PSv5+ via the information stream), before exiting the function, and your function produces no success-stream output.
Since subexpressions (via $(...)) are evaluated first in an expandable string (or command in general):
the Write-Host call inside your status function executes right away and prints at the start of the line.
only then does the outer Write-Host call execute, which - due to the inner call's -NoNewLine switch - prints on the same line, after what the function printed, and $(status $i.State), due to the status call producing no success output, evaluates to the empty string.
A simple example can illustrate the problem:
Write-Host "foo: >>$(Write-Host bar)<<"
Output:
bar # The inner Write-Host printed right away.
foo >><< # $(Write-Host bar) produced no success output
Santiago's solution avoids this problem by replacing the Write-Host call inside the function with sending a string (implicitly) to the success output stream, so that it becomes the function's "return value" that subexpression $(status $i.State) expands to, and to make this string colored, ANSI / VT escape sequences are needed.
Note that while "$([char] 27)" is required in Windows PowerShell to embed an ESC character in an expanable string, PowerShell (Core) 7+ now offers escape sequence "`e"
Also, PowerShell (Core) 7.2+ offers the automatic $PSStyle variable, which, while more verbose, offers a more descriptive way to embed ANSI / VT escape sequences; e.g.:
# Prints only the word "green" in green.
"It ain't easy being $($PSStyle.Foreground.Green)green$($PSStyle.Reset)."
Note:
If you send strings with ANSI / VT sequences to the success output stream, as in the example above, colors are not automatically reset; $PSStyle.Reset is needed for a manual reset.
By contrast, if Write-Host prints a string, it resets colors automatically.