# Tables and Lists: Format-Table and Format-List PowerShell shows each kind of object with a saved view of a few properties, Format-Table and Format-List show the ones you choose as a table or a list, Format-List \* shows every one, and a Format- command goes last because what comes out of it is for the screen, not for other commands. Apprentice · PowerShell · Updated November 10, 2026 ## After this lesson you can - Show objects as a table or a list with Format-Table and Format-List, and every property with Format-List \* - Choose between Get-Member, a dot, Select-Object and a Format- command for a job, putting a Format- command last ## Key takeaways - PowerShell keeps a saved view for each kind of object, which shows a few of its properties. The object still has all the others. - `Format-Table` shows the properties you name as columns, and `Format-List` shows them one per line. - `Format-List *` shows every property an object has: the whole card. - A Format- command turns objects into instructions for drawing the screen, so it goes last. Only `>` or `Out-File` may follow it. - To pick properties and keep working with the objects, use Select-Object instead. `Get-Member` says a file knows 17 things and a running program more than 50, yet `Get-ChildItem` shows four columns and `Get-Process` seven. Who chose those? And when a help-desk tech on the phone asks "what's the full path of the program that's misbehaving?", or a friend wants every detail about one photo, how do you see more? In File Explorer you'd switch the view between Details and Large icons, or open **Properties**. PowerShell has the same choice in two commands, plus one rule that saves a lot of confusion. This lesson uses the `vacation-photos` folder from *What an Object Is: Get-Member*. If you don't have it, run that lesson's practice-folder lines first. ## Why you see some properties and not others Search a library's catalog and the results page shows a short entry for each book: the title, the author, whether it's in. Click one, and you get the full record. The book didn't change; the page chose how much to show you. PowerShell does the same. For each kind of object it keeps a saved **view**, a layout that names a few useful properties. The object still carries every property `Get-Member` lists; the view picks what fits on the screen. A date shows one line, but it knows much more, and `Format-List *` shows all of it: ```powershell Get-Date Get-Date | Format-List * ``` ```text Monday, November 9, 2026 4:50:46 AM DisplayHint : DateTime DateTime : Monday, November 9, 2026 4:50:46 AM Date : 11/9/2026 12:00:00 AM Day : 9 DayOfWeek : Monday DayOfYear : 313 Hour : 4 Kind : Local Millisecond : 802 Microsecond : 654 Nanosecond : 600 Minute : 50 Month : 11 Second : 46 Ticks : 639297966468026546 TimeOfDay : 04:50:46.8026546 Year : 2026 ``` `*` (read "star") means every property. Your date and time will be your own. Views are why the same objects can look different. **On a Mac or Linux**, `Get-ChildItem` shows `UnixMode`, `User`, `Group` and a `Size` column, though the property behind it is still `Length`. **In Windows PowerShell 5.1**, `Get-Process` starts with a `Handles` column and shows memory in kilobytes. Same objects, different saved views. ## Lists: Format-List `Format-List` shows each object as a block, one property per line, which suits a few objects with many facts. Name the properties you want: ```powershell Get-Process -Id $PID | Format-List Name, Id, StartTime, Path ``` ```text Name : pwsh Id : 68044 StartTime : 11/9/2026 4:50:45 AM Path : C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe ``` `Path` is where the program lives on the disk: the answer to the help-desk question. With no names, `Format-List` uses the list view's own short set, and with `*`, every property, the way **Properties** in File Explorer shows a file's whole card. ## Tables: Format-Table `Format-Table` shows the properties you name as columns, one row per object, which suits many objects with a few facts each: ```powershell Get-ChildItem | Format-Table Name, Length, LastWriteTime ``` ```text Name Length LastWriteTime ---- ------ ------------- captions.txt 94 7/18/2026 9:40:00 PM clock-tower.jpg 4210 7/18/2026 9:40:00 PM falls.jpg 5180 7/18/2026 9:40:00 PM sandcastle.jpg 2875 7/18/2026 9:40:00 PM summit.jpg 3620 7/18/2026 9:40:00 PM sunset.jpg 3150 7/18/2026 9:40:00 PM ``` That looks like `Select-Object Name, Length, LastWriteTime` from *Picking Columns: Select-Object*, and on the screen it is. The difference shows up as soon as anything comes after it. ## Format last Say you want those names and sizes in a file. Here's a reasonable first try, with `Set-Content`: ```powershell Get-ChildItem | Format-Table Name, Length | Set-Content ..\sizes.txt Get-Content ..\sizes.txt ``` ```text Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatStartData Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.GroupStartData Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatEntryData Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatEntryData Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatEntryData Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatEntryData Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatEntryData Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatEntryData Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.GroupEndData Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Internal.Format.FormatEndData ``` No names, no sizes. A `Format-` command doesn't pass the files on. It turns them into instructions for drawing a table on the screen (where a heading goes, what goes in each row), and those instructions are all that comes out of it. The files' properties are gone. `Set-Content` wrote down the names of the instructions. ![Two pipelines side by side: on the left, Select-Object hands small file cards holding Name and Length on to the next command, which can still read them; on the right, Format-Table hands on only a drawing of a table, and the next command finds no names or sizes in it](https://fsdtrainingmedia.blob.core.windows.net/public/images/2026/11/28d25c573cff49f08283e1f896effa42.webp) So the rule is **format last**. A `Format-` command is the end of the line, and only one thing may follow it: `>` or `Out-File`, which save exactly what the screen would show (*Writing to Files: Set-Content, Add-Content and >* met them). This version works: ```powershell Get-ChildItem | Format-Table Name, Length > ..\sizes.txt Get-Content ..\sizes.txt ``` ```text Name Length ---- ------ captions.txt 94 clock-tower.jpg 4210 falls.jpg 5180 sandcastle.jpg 2875 summit.jpg 3620 sunset.jpg 3150 ``` When the objects need to go on to another command (to be sorted, counted, or saved as a plain list), pick the properties with `Select-Object` instead. It hands on real objects, so everything after it still works. That gives you four tools from this chapter, each for its own job: - `Get-Member` to find out what an object knows: the names of its properties and methods. - A dot, as in `(Get-Item sunset.jpg).Length`, for one fact about one object. - `Select-Object` to keep some facts, or some objects, and pass them on. - `Format-Table` or `Format-List` to choose how the result looks on the screen, always last. **Try it.** Run `Get-Item sunset.jpg | Format-List *`. Find `FullName`, `BaseName` and `Directory`. Then try `Get-Process -Id $PID | Format-List *`: how long is that card? ## Check yourself 2 questions to try on the lesson page. ## So what The screen shows a view, never the whole object. `Format-Table` and `Format-List` choose the view for your eyes, at the very end; `Select-Object` chooses the facts that travel on. ## Key terms - [Format-Table](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/format-table) - [Format-List](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/format-list) - [Select-Object](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/select-object) ## Cheat sheets - [Tables and Lists: Format-Table and Format-List](https://www.ask-codey.com/cheat-sheets/powershell-format-output-cheat-sheet) ## Related - [Picking Columns: Select-Object](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-select-object) - [What an Object Is: Get-Member](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-what-is-an-object) Source: https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-format-output