Using PowerShell, is it possible to overwrite a line with "Write-Host"

Question

I have a simple file munging utility, and I would like to provide some progress feedback without creating a "scroll storm" on the console. I tried this:

param([string] $input = "", [string] $output = "")

$source = $PSBoundParameters["input"] 
$destination = $PSBoundParameters["output"]

if (!$source) 
    {exit}

if (!$destination) 
    { 
        $destination = [System.IO.Path]::GetDirectoryName($source) `
        + "\fmt_" `
        + [System.IO.Path]::GetFileName($source)

    }

$reader = [System.IO.File]::OpenText($source)
$writer = [System.IO.file]::CreateText($destination)

$lineNo = 0
try {
    for(;;) {
        $line = $reader.ReadLine()
        if ($line -eq $null) { break }
        $lineNo++
        Write-Host "Processing line #:" $lineNo -NoNewline "`r"
        #process the line...
        $writer.Writeline($line)
    }
}
finally {
    $reader.Close()
    $writer.Close()
}

I get output which looks like this:

Processing line #:  1 Processing line #:  2 Processing line #:  3 ...

It appears that the carriage return is not recognized or is stripped out. Is there any way to get around this with Write-Host?

If not, what would a PowerShell newbie do to overwrite the last line written to the console?

This is only a problem in PowerShell ISE. When I ran the program using powershell from the command line, the carriage return was processed as expected. — David Rogers
– David Rogers, Commented Jan 28, 2014 at 19:08

mjolinor · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-28 19:13:00Z

1

Try this:

gci *.txt |% {write-host "`r$($_.name)" -NoNewline; Start-Sleep -Seconds 1}

answered Jan 28, 2014 at 19:13

mjolinor

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1 Comment

David Rogers Over a year ago

No, I get pretty much the same results as my original solution in ISE. I'm thinking it just can't be done.

Boluwade Kujero · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-05 22:26:42Z

1

Modify the Write-Host line as follows:

Write-Host "`rProcessing line #: $lineNo" -NoNewline

answered Aug 5, 2015 at 22:26

Boluwade Kujero

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