two columns of text per output line powershell

Question

I want to make my output look something like this:

First line of text Second line of text

Third line of text Fourth line of text ...

I'm having the hardest time figuring out how to do this.

I have an array of strings, and they're pretty close to the same length. Sadly, they're many (in excess of 50), and to display them as a menu is rather ungainly.

I'd also be very happy just splitting it down a third, after a specified number, and displaying the rest in a second and third column.

1 26 51

. . .

25 50 * Thanks for your help.

What have you tried, and how has what you've tried failed? Ideally, you should provide a Minimal, Complete, and Verifiable Example of what you've tried, and include specific information on how it failed, with error messages and/or erroneous output. SO is not a code-writing service; the best questions are those which provide useful information so that those who answer can guide you to devising your own correct answer. See How to Ask a Good Question. — Jeff Zeitlin
– Jeff Zeitlin, Commented Aug 28, 2017 at 18:04
I have no example to give, other than what I gave. I have no error codes, none are given (because there is no error, it's just not done). — groveborn
– groveborn, Commented Aug 28, 2017 at 18:18
No. What I wrote works fine, I want to do it a different way. I just want it in columns. Why is this hard? I want to output into columns. I don't know how to do that, I am asking how to do that. It really doesn't matter what I have, as I will adapt it to how it's done. — groveborn
– groveborn, Commented Aug 28, 2017 at 18:47

Mathias R. Jessen · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-28 19:18:41Z

3

Format-Wide can format your output the way you describe, unfortunately it doesn't accept a raw string array as input.

If you have an array of strings, you can use Select-Object to create pipeline objects you can feed to Format-Wide:

$linesOfText = @(
  "First line of text",
  "Second line of text",
  "Third line of text",
  "Fourth line of text"
)

$linesOfText |Select-Object @{Name='String';Expression={$_}}|Format-Wide String -Column 2

You should see the output in 2 columns, like:

First line of text                             Second line of text
Third line of text                             Fourth line of text

answered Aug 28, 2017 at 19:18

Mathias R. Jessen

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1 Comment

groveborn Over a year ago

Thanks! That's what I needed.

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