PowerShell cmdLet out-string

out-string converts the input to a string:

PS C:\> (get-process | out-string).GetType().FullName System.String

-stream

With -stream, out-string returns an array of strings, each of which corresponds to a line from the input:

PS C:\> (get-process | out-string -stream).GetType().FullName
System.Object[]

out-string -stream can be used in a pipeline to «grep» for certain strings in the emitted output of a cmdLet:

PS C:\Users\Rene> get-alias | out-string -stream | select-string Job

Alias           gjb -> Get-Job
Alias           rcjb -> Receive-Job
Alias           rjb -> Remove-Job
Alias           rujb -> Resume-Job
Alias           sajb -> Start-Job
Alias           spjb -> Stop-Job
Alias           sujb -> Suspend-Job
Alias           wjb -> Wait-Job

PowerShell cmdLet out-string

-stream

See also