Skip to main content

How to write a string of text in multiple colors in PowerShell

One of the features about PowerShell that drew my attention away from VBScript many years ago was PowerShell’s ability to output information in multiple colors.  When you use Write-Host to display text on the screen, you also get to use the ForegroundColor and BackgroundColor parameters to change the font colors for that line of text.

What if you wanted to have a line of text with different colors?  To do this you will need to to use several Write-Host lines.  The problem with that is that you will have your text on multiple lines.  In the Help file for Write-Host, I noticed a parameter NoNewLine that will not put a return at the end of the text.  Your next Write-Host statement will appear on the same line.  Take a look at the code below and the output.

Write-host "This is some" -ForegroundColor Green -NoNewline
Write-Host "string" -ForegroundColor Red -BackgroundColor DarkRed -NoNewline
Write-Host "in different" -ForegroundColor Gray -BackgroundColor DarkYellow -NoNewline
Write-Host "Colors"

image

Comments

Unknown said…
Thanks for posting this. -nonewline is what I needed!

Popular posts from this blog

How to list all the AD LDS instances on a server

AD LDS allows you to provide directory services to applications that are free of the confines of Active Directory.  To list all the AD LDS instances on a server, follow this procedure: Log into the server in question Open a command prompt. Type dsdbutil and press Enter Type List Instances and press Enter . You will receive a list of the instance name, both the LDAP and SSL port numbers, the location of the database, and its status.

How to run GPResult on a remote client with PowerShell

In the past, to run the GPResult command, you would need to either physically visit this client, have the user do it, or use and RDP connection.  In all cases, this will disrupt the user.  First, you need PowerShell remoting enabled on the target machine.  You can do this via Group Policy . Open PowerShell and type this command. Invoke-Command –ScriptBlock {GPResult /r} –ComputerName <ComputerName> Replace <ComputerName> with the name of the target.  Remember, the target needs to be online and accessible to you.

Error icon when creating a GPO Preference drive map

You may not have an error at all.  Take a look at the drive mapping below. The red triangle is what threw us off.  It is not an error.  It is simply a color representation of the Replace option of the Action field in the properties of the drive mappings. Create action This give you a green triangle. The Create action creates a new mapped drive for users. Replace Action The Replace action gives you a red triangle.  This action will delete and recreate mapped drives for users. The net result of the Replace action is to overwrite all existing settings associated with the mapped drive. If the drive mapping does not exist, then the Replace action creates a new drive mapping. Update Action The Update action will have a yellow triangle. Update will modify settings of an existing mapped drive for users. This action differs from Replace in that it only updates settings defined within the preference item. All other settings remain as configured on the mapped drive. If the