As shown in the previous tip, the secret $FormatEnumerationLimit variable determines how many array elements are shown in output before the output is truncated. Here is an example illustrating the difference again:
$default = $FormatEnumerationLimit Get-Process | Select-Object -Property Name, Threads -First 5 | Out-Default $FormatEnumerationLimit = 1 Get-Process | Select-Object -Property Name, Threads -First 5 | Out-Default $FormatEnumerationLimit = -1 Get-Process | Select-Object -Property Name, Threads -First 5 | Out-Default $FormatEnumerationLimit = $default
The output looks similar to this:
Name Threads
---- -------
acrotray {3160}
AERTSr64 {1952, 1968, 1972, 8188}
AGSService {1980, 1988, 1992, 2000...}
armsvc {1920, 1940, 1944, 7896}
ccSvcHst {2584, 2644, 2656, 2400...}
Name Threads
---- -------
acrotray {3160}
AERTSr64 {1952...}
AGSService {1980...}
armsvc {1920...}
ccSvcHst {2584...}
Name Threads
---- -------
acrotray {3160}
AERTSr64 {1952, 1968, 1972, 8188}
AGSService {1980, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2024, 7932}
armsvc {1920, 1940, 1944, 7896}
ccSvcHst {2584, 2644, 2656, 2400, 3080, 3120, 3124, 3128, 3132, 3136, 3140,...
However, this seems to fail when used in functions (or script blocks altogether, for that matter):
function Test-Formatting { $FormatEnumerationLimit = 1 Get-Process | Select-Object -Property Name, Threads -First 5 } Test-Formatting
Despite setting $FormatEnumerationLimit to 1, arrays continue to display the default 4 elements. This is because $FormatEnumerationLimit is honored only on a global scale. You must change the variable in global scope to take effect. A function would therefore need to use an approach like this:
function Test-Formatting { # remember the current setting $default = $global:FormatEnumerationLimit # change on global scope $global:FormatEnumerationLimit = 1 Get-Process | Select-Object -Property Name, Threads -First 5 # at the end, clean up and revert to old value $global:FormatEnumerationLimit = $default } Test-Formatting
