Is it possible to output subsequent information to same line - powershell

Question

I have a script that pings an ip address and send that information to a console window. In the case of high ping times or missed pings, it is also written to a log. I would like to keep only the high ping times and missed pings in the console window and allow the good pings to overwrite each other. Is that possible?
For high ping times, this is the output (similar code is used for missed pings).
$out = ("{0}ms at $(get-date -format G)" -f $ping.ResponseTime)
write-host $out -foregroundcolor "yellow"
$out >> .\runningPing$ipAddress.txt
For normal ping times, the output is this.
$out ("{0}ms" -f $ping.ResponseTime)
write-host $out -foregroundcolor "green"
I'd like to make that last line just overwrite itself for normal pings, but let the high and missed pings push up the screen as the program runs. Is that something I can do in PS?
SOLUTION
Thanks to #Mathias R. Jensen, I came up with this solution:
if ($ping.statuscode -eq 0) {
if ($ping.responsetime -gt $waitTime) {
$highPings = $highPings + 1
$out = ("{0}ms at $(get-date -format G)" -f $ping.ResponseTime)
[console]::SetCursorPosition(0,$highPings + $droppedPings + 1)
write-host $out -foregroundcolor "yellow"
$out >> $outFile
}
else {
$out = ("{0}ms $i of $pingCount" -f $ping.ResponseTime)
[console]::SetCursorPosition(0,$highPings + $droppedPings + 2)
write-host $out -foregroundcolor "green"
}
}
else {
$droppedPings = $droppedPings + 1
$out = ("missed ping at $(get-date -format G)")
[console]::SetCursorPosition(0,$highPings + $droppedPings + 1)
write-host $out -foregroundcolor "red"
$out >> $outFile
}

Answer 1

I think you should use Write-Progress for the good pings. You don't need to give a percentage, and you can use the -Status parameter to show just the last good one.
Here's a small example I wrote that might demonstrate how it would look/operate (you can execute this yourself to see, it doesn't ping anything it's just a simulation):
$goods = 0
0..100 | % {
if ((Get-Random -Minimum 0 -Maximum 100) -ge 50) {
$goods += 1
Write-Progress -Activity Test -Status "Last good ping: $_ ($goods total good pings)"
} else {
Write-Warning "Bad ping"
}
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
}
In this case you could have even calculated, for example a percentage of good pings and used that in Write-Progress but I wanted to show that you don't need to use it as a progress bar for it to be useful.

Answer 2

As I mentioned in the comments, the cursor position can be controlled by this method:
[control]::SetCursorPosition([int]$x,[int]$y)
The [console] type accelerator points to the same Console class that enables you to WriteLine() to the console in a C# console application. You can also control colors and other console behavior if you feel like it:
Clear-Host
[console]::ForegroundColor = "Red"
1..10|%{
[console]::SetCursorPosition(2+$_,$_-1)
[console]::WriteLine("Hello World!")
}
[console]::ForegroundColor = "Green"

Answer 3

briantist has the better approach to this but I was playing around and came up with this as well. It will not work in ISE but should do it's job on the PowerShell console. It uses "`b" which is the backspace character so that the text will overwrite itself on the console host write. Might not help you but could be useful to others.
switch($ping.ResponseTime){
{$_ -ge 0 -and $_ -le 100}{
$out = "{0}ms" -f $_
$options = #{ForegroundColor = "Green"; NoNewline = $true}
$backup = "`b" * $out.Length
}
{$_ -ge 500 -and $_ -le 900}{
$out = "{0}ms at $(get-date -format G)" -f $_
$options = #{ForegroundColor = "Yellow"; NoNewline = $false}
$backup = "`n"
}
}
Write-Host "$backup$out" #options
Uses a switch to set the options based on the the range of ping times. Sets a small hash table which is splatted to the write-host. Not perfect but it shows another way to do it.
Again this mostly done for fun.