Is there a way to specify a font color when using write-output

Question

I have a powershell script that gives some status output via write-output. I am intentionally not using write-host because the output may be captured and writt

Answer 1

I had the same problem, so I share my solution which I think works quite well:

Write-ColorOutput "Hello" Green Black -NoNewLine
Write-ColorOutput " World" Red

This is the Cmdlet to use it

function Write-ColorOutput
{
    [CmdletBinding()]
    Param(
         [Parameter(Mandatory=$False,Position=1,ValueFromPipeline=$True,ValueFromPipelinebyPropertyName=$True)][Object] $Object,
         [Parameter(Mandatory=$False,Position=2,ValueFromPipeline=$True,ValueFromPipelinebyPropertyName=$True)][ConsoleColor] $ForegroundColor,
         [Parameter(Mandatory=$False,Position=3,ValueFromPipeline=$True,ValueFromPipelinebyPropertyName=$True)][ConsoleColor] $BackgroundColor,
         [Switch]$NoNewline
    )    

    # Save previous colors
    $previousForegroundColor = $host.UI.RawUI.ForegroundColor
    $previousBackgroundColor = $host.UI.RawUI.BackgroundColor

    # Set BackgroundColor if available
    if($BackgroundColor -ne $null)
    { 
       $host.UI.RawUI.BackgroundColor = $BackgroundColor
    }

    # Set $ForegroundColor if available
    if($ForegroundColor -ne $null)
    {
        $host.UI.RawUI.ForegroundColor = $ForegroundColor
    }

    # Always write (if we want just a NewLine)
    if($Object -eq $null)
    {
        $Object = ""
    }

    if($NoNewline)
    {
        [Console]::Write($Object)
    }
    else
    {
        Write-Output $Object
    }

    # Restore previous colors
    $host.UI.RawUI.ForegroundColor = $previousForegroundColor
    $host.UI.RawUI.BackgroundColor = $previousBackgroundColor
}