Get-FormatView
SYNOPSIS
Get defined format views.
SYNTAX
Get-FormatView [[-TypeName] <String>] [[-PowerShellVersion] <Version>] [<CommonParameters>]
DESCRIPTION
PowerShell's formatting system includes custom views that display objects in different ways. Unfortunately, this information is not readily available to a typical PowerShell user. Get-FormatView displays the available views for a given object type. You might get additional views when importing modules such as the PSScriptTools module. The result is there might be different views depending on if you use Format-Table, or Format-List. If you only see a single defined view, that is the default for that type of control.
EXAMPLES
Example 1
PS C:\> Get-FormatView system.diagnostics.process
Type: System.Diagnostics.Process
Format Name
------ ----
Table process
Table Priority
Table StartTime
Wide process
Table WS
The default view should be the first one listed for each format type. With this information, you can now run a command like `Get-Process | Format-Table -view Priority`. The WS view is added when you import the PSScriptTools module.
Example 2
PS C:\> (Get-Service bits).gettype() | Get-FormatView
Type: System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController
Format Name
------ ----
Table service
List System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController
Table service
Table Ansi
You can pipe a type name to the command.
Example 3
PS C:\> Get-FormatView | Where-Object Format -eq Table |
Group-Object typename | Where-Object count -gt 1 | Select-Object Name,
@{Name="Names";Expression = {$_.group.name}}
Name Names
---- -----
FolderSizeInfo {default, MB, GB, KB...}
gitsize {mb, default}
ModuleCommand {default, verb}
System.Diagnostics.Process {process, Priority, StartTime..
System.IO.DirectoryInfo {children, ansi}
System.IO.FileInfo {children, ansi}
System.Management.Automation.AliasInfo {CommandInfo, AliasInfo, opti..
System.Management.Automation.ApplicationInfo {CommandInfo, ApplicationInfo}
System.Management.Automation.ExternalScriptInfo {CommandInfo, ExternalScriptI..
System.Management.Automation.FilterInfo {CommandInfo, FilterInfo}
System.Management.Automation.FunctionInfo {CommandInfo, FunctionInfo}
System.Management.Automation.ScriptInfo {CommandInfo, ScriptInfo}
System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController {service, service, Ansi}
This example expression is getting all Table format views for types that have more than 1 defined. If a type only has a single view, that is the default which you are seeing already. The output you see here shows additional table views for different object types.
PARAMETERS
-TypeName
Specify a typename such as System.Diagnostics.Process.
Type: System.String
Parameter Sets: (All)
Aliases:
Required: False
Position: 0
Default value: *
Accept pipeline input: True (ByValue)
Accept wildcard characters: False
-PowerShellVersion
Specify the version of PowerShell this cmdlet gets for the formatting data. Enter a two-digit number separated by a period.
Type: System.Version
Parameter Sets: (All)
Aliases:
Required: False
Position: 1
Default value: Your current PowerShell version
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
CommonParameters
This cmdlet supports the common parameters: -Debug, -ErrorAction, -ErrorVariable, -InformationAction, -InformationVariable, -OutVariable, -OutBuffer, -PipelineVariable, -Verbose, -WarningAction, and -WarningVariable. For more information, see about_CommonParameters.
INPUTS
None
OUTPUTS
PSFormatView
NOTES
This command relies on data provided by Get-FormatData. Some object types might be stored in PowerShell in unexpected ways. This command should have an alias of gfv.
Learn more about PowerShell: http://jdhitsolutions.com/blog/essential-powershell-resources/