Convert Single Line to Multiple Lines - powershell

Question

I am new to this Powershell.
I am trying to learn how to modified output.
When I run "Write-output $result | format-list" I have the following output
userDetails : #{id=AA:BB:CC:DD:11:22; connectionStatus=CONNECTED; hostType=WIRELESS;
authType=WPA2/WPA3+802.1x/FT-802.1x}
connectedDevice : {#{deviceDetails=}}
How do I rewrite this output to below using powershell 7.2 ? I would like to have
userDetails :
connectionStatus= CONNECTED
hostType = WIRELESS
authType = WPA2/WPA3+802.1x/FT-802.1x
connectedDevice :
Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

Note: I'm assuming that you're looking for a friendlier display representation of your data. For programmatic processing, Format-* cmdlets should be avoided, for the reasons explained in this answer.
What you're looking for is for Format-List to work recursively, i.e. to not only list the individual properties and their values for each input object itself, but also for nested objects contained in property values.
Format-List does not support this:
Nested objects are represented by their single-line .ToString() representations.
If they're part of a collection (enumerable), the individual elements' representations are joined with , on a single line, and are enclosed in {...}(!) as a whole. How many elements are shown at most is controlled by the $FormatEnumerationLimit preference variable, which defaults to 4.
However, you can approximate recursive listing behavior with Format-Custom; using a simplified example:
# Nested sample object to format.
[pscustomobject]#{
userDetails = [pscustomobject] #{
id = 'AA:BB:CC:DD:11:22'
connectionStatus= 'CONNECTED'
hostType = 'WIRELESS'
authType = 'WPA2/WPA3+802.1x/FT-802.1x'
}
connectedDevice = '...'
} |
Format-Custom -Depth 1 # use higher -Depth levels for multi-level expansion
Output:
class PSCustomObject
{
userDetails =
[
class PSCustomObject
{
id = AA:BB:CC:DD:11:22
connectionStatus = CONNECTED
hostType = WIRELESS
authType = WPA2/WPA3+802.1x/FT-802.1x
}
]
connectedDevice = ...
}
Note:
Caveat: If a custom view happens to be defined for a given input object's type via associated formatting data, it is that custom view that Format-Custom will invoke, not the structural representation shown above; however, this is rare ([datetime] is a rare example).
Apart from the output showing the structure recursively, the format differs from that of Format-List as follows:
Complex objects are enclosed in class <typeName> { ... }
Elements of collections (enumerables) each render on their own (group of) line(s), enclosed in [ ... ] overall. However, as with Format-List, the number of elements that are shown at most is limited by $FormatEnumerationLimit.
To prevent excessively nested output, Format-Custom stops recursing at a depth of 5 by default; you can control the recursion depth via the -Depth parameter, 1 meaning that only objects in immediate child properties are expanded.
When the recursion depth limit is reached, non-collection objects are represented by their .ToString() representations, as with Format-List.

Answer 2

Here is some code that produces output close to your desired output:
# Create sample data
$result = [pscustomobject] #{
userDetails = [pscustomobject]#{ id="AA:BB:CC:DD:11:22"; connectionStatus="CONNECTED"; hostType="WIRELESS"; authType="WPA2/WPA3+802.1x/FT-802.1x"}
connectedDevice = [pscustomobject]#{ deviceDetails=$null }
}
# Produce output
"userDetails :"
($result.userDetails |
Format-List -Property connectionStatus, hostType, authType |
Out-String).Trim() -replace '(?m)(?<=^[^:]+):', '='
"`nconnectedDevice :"
# TODO: add similar code as for .userDetails
Output:
userDetails :
connectionStatus = CONNECTED
hostType = WIRELESS
authType = WPA2/WPA3+802.1x/FT-802.1x
connectedDevice :
Using member access .userDetails to select a child object (similar to Select-Object -ExpandProperty userDetails).
Using Format-List -Property to output a list of the given properties
Using Out-String to create a string from the formatting data that is produced by Format-List. This string looks exactly like the output you normally see on the console.
Use String method .Trim() to remove whitespace (in this case newlines) from the beginning and end.
Use the -replace operator to replace the first : of each line by =. See this regex101 demo for more information.