How to catch full invoke text from powershell class in C#

Question

I want to catch the output exactly as I get it when I run commands in PowerShell.

For instance when I type LS, I get:

Yet when I use this code:

        Runspace runspace = RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace();
        runspace.Open();

        PowerShell ps = PowerShell.Create(); // Create a new PowerShell instance
        ps.Runspace = runspace; // Add the instance to the runspace
        ps.Commands.AddScript("ls"); // Add a script

        Collection<PSObject> results = ps.Invoke();

        runspace.Close();


        StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
        foreach (PSObject obj in results)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(obj.ToString());
        }

I get the following output:

Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure.dll
System.Management.Automation.dll
System.Management.Automation.xml
WpfApp1.exe
WpfApp1.exe.config
WpfApp1.pdb

Although this output may come in handy, with an other application I dont get the right output in return, so I would prefer the exact output as I see it in PowerShell itself.

Is there a way to read the output as I get it in PowerShell, line for line?

Answer 1

If you want the exact text that powershell produces you then you can use Out-String in the powershell command:

ps.Commands.AddScript("ls | Out-String");

---

You can also read the values by accessing the Properties of the PSObject:

foreach (PSObject obj in results)
{
    var name = obj.Properties["Name"]?.Value.ToString()
    var mode = obj.Properties["Mode"]?.Value.ToString();
    var length = obj.Properties["Length"]?.Value.ToString();
    var lastMod = (DateTime?)obj.Properties["LastWriteTime"]?.Value;

    Console.WriteLine(string.Format("{0} {1} {2} {3}", mode, lastMod, length, name));
}

_{Note, as mentioned in mklement0's answer, you don't need to use Runspace to execute this powershell. Consider using Get-ChildItem rather than ls.}