Powershell script text doesn't format correctly when in a loop but does without loop

Question

I'm working on a simple script but I'm dumbfounded why a certain thing isn't working. My script calculates how long the computer has been on and prints it to the screen. If I have it print just once and then exit, the formatting is fine. However, if I put it in a loop so it is constantly updating, the formatting is off, even if I have the thread sleep. Here is the code:

Print and Exit

    Clear-Host
$Booted = (Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem).LastBootUpTime
$Booted = [Management.ManagementDateTimeConverter]::ToDateTime($Booted)

echo "  ____________"
echo "  Hours Worked"
echo "  ____________"
$now = [datetime]::now 
New-TimeSpan -Start $Booted -End $now | Select-Object -Wait Hours, Minutes

And its output:

  ____________
  Hours Worked
  ____________

Hours Minutes
----- -------
    2      22

Loop

Clear-Host
$Booted = (Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem).LastBootUpTime
$Booted = [Management.ManagementDateTimeConverter]::ToDateTime($Booted)

do {
Clear-Host
echo "  ____________"
echo "  Hours Worked"
echo "  ____________"
$now = [datetime]::now 
New-TimeSpan -Start $Booted -End $now | Select-Object -Wait Hours, Minutes
Start-Sleep -m 1000
} while (1)

and its refreshing output

  ____________
  Hours Worked
  ____________
    2      30

I know this isn't a big deal, but I think understanding this problem will help me understand Powershell scripting a little better.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Bill_Stewart · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-16 15:06:05Z

2

I think this is probably what you are trying to do:

$lastBoot = [Management.ManagementDateTimeConverter]::
  ToDateTime((Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem).LastBootUpTime)

while ( $true ) {
  $timeWorked = (Get-Date) - $lastBoot
  Clear-Host
  [PSCustomObject] @{
    "Hours"   = $timeWorked.Hours
    "Minutes" = $timeWorked.Minutes
  } | Out-String
  Start-Sleep 1
}

answered Jun 16, 2017 at 15:06

Bill_Stewart

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