Viewing Truncated PowerShell Output!

/in , /by

Sometimes PowerShell truncates output, and if you don’t realize what’s going on, you’ll never get it to show. Where you’re expecting potentially lots more text, PowerShell replaces it with a single lousy ellipsis, cruelly taunting you.

Column Width: If it’s just a column width problem, the fix is simple enough: just pipe to out-string and add the width parameter.

BEFORE:

PS > Get-CsAnalogDevice | ft Identity,RegistrarPool

Identity Registrar Pool
——– ————-
CN=Public Telephone,OU=RTC Special Accounts,DC=vision,D… lync.vision.org
CN=Linksys ATA,OU=RTC Special Accounts,DC=vision,DC=org lync.vision.org
CN=HOTLINE,OU=RTC Special Accounts,DC=vision,DC=org lync.vision.org
CN=Paging Speaker, OU=RTC Special Accounts,DC=contoso,DC=… lync.vision.org

AFTER:
PS > Get-CsAnalogDevice | ft Identity,RegistrarPool | out-string -Width 160

Identity RegistrarPool
——– ————-
CN=Public Telephone,OU=RTC Special Accounts,DC=vision,DC=org lync.vision.org
CN=Linksys ATA,OU=RTC Special Accounts,DC=vision,DC=org lync.vision.org
CN=HOTLINE,OU=RTC Special Accounts,DC=vision,DC=org lync.vision.org
CN=Paging Speaker,OU=RTC Special Accounts,DC=vision,DC=org lync.vision.org

Collections / Arrays: It might be that the object you’re looking at is an array (a “collection”), and PowerShell is only showing the first few entries in that array, rather than the lot.

Here, the fix is to change the $FormatEnumerationLimit value. If you type it on its own into PowerShell the current value – probably 3 – will be returned. If you set a new value of -1, it’ll output ALL entries in your collection.

PS > $FormatEnumerationLimit
3
PS > $FormatEnumerationLimit=-1

BEFORE:

PS > Get-CsCertificate

Issuer : CN=vision-CA, DC=vision, DC=org
NotAfter : 6/07/2013 5:09:37 PM
NotBefore : 17/02/2012 7:04:52 PM
SerialNumber : 1234567890ABCDEF
Subject : CN=lync.vision.org, OU=IT, O=vision, L=Sydney, S=NSW, C=AU
AlternativeNames : {sip.contoso.net, lync2010.contoso.net, lync.vision.org…}
Thumbprint : 1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF
Use : Default

AFTER:

PS > Get-CsCertificate

Issuer : CN=vision-CA, DC=vision, DC=org
NotAfter : 6/07/2013 5:09:37 PM
NotBefore : 17/02/2012 7:04:52 PM
SerialNumber : 1234567890ABCDEF
Subject : CN=lync.vision.org, OU=IT, O=vision, L=Sydney, S=NSW, C=AU
AlternativeNames : {sip.contoso.net, lync2010.contoso.net, lync.vision.org…}
Thumbprint : 1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF
Use : Default