Powershell: Properly coloring Get-Childitem output once and for all

Question

Edit: Original solution at the bottom of this post. For a more up-to-date solution, see the accepted answer, posted by Thraka.

Colorizing Get-Childit

Answer 1

Modifying Out-Default is definitely the way to go. Below a - granted, sloppy - example. I'm using New-CommandWrapper from the PowerShell Cookbook.

New-CommandWrapper Out-Default `
    -Process {
        if(($_ -is [System.IO.DirectoryInfo]) -or ($_ -is [System.IO.FileInfo]))
        {if(-not ($notfirst)) {
           Write-Host "    Directory: $(pwd)`n"           
           Write-Host "Mode                LastWriteTime     Length Name"
           Write-Host "----                -------------     ------ ----"
           $notfirst=$true
           }
           if ($_ -is [System.IO.DirectoryInfo]) {
           Write-host ("{0,-7} {1,25} {2,10} {3}" -f $_.mode, ([String]::Format("{0,10}  {1,8}", $_.LastWriteTime.ToString("d"), $_.LastWriteTime.ToString("t"))), $_.length, $_.name) -foregroundcolor "yellow" }
           else {
           Write-host ("{0,-7} {1,25} {2,10} {3}" -f $_.mode, ([String]::Format("{0,10}  {1,8}", $_.LastWriteTime.ToString("d"), $_.LastWriteTime.ToString("t"))), $_.length, $_.name) -foregroundcolor "green" }
           $_ = $null
        }
} 

Answer 2

I could not get the main post to work (tried for about an hour trying to get the components to work without success - probably the solution there could be updated or changed to one of the more up to date solutions?). PSColor looks a good solution, but I looked around and in the end found what (in my opinion) is a much better overall solution including well-tailored color settings and seamless icon support. I've built a script to perform all of the required installation steps (just throw these lines into any Admin PowerShell console and then you just need to remember Set-ConsoleFont "LiterationMono NF" and Set-TerminalIconsColorTheme -Name DevBlackOps to activate in any console (or keep those lines in your $profile):

### Install Terminal-Icons (get LiterationMono NF Nerd font, install, add required Console registry key, then install required Modules)
$url = 'https://github.com/haasosaurus/nerd-fonts/raw/regen-mono-font-fix/patched-fonts/LiberationMono/complete/Literation%20Mono%20Nerd%20Font%20Complete%20Mono%20Windows%20Compatible.ttf'
$name = "LiterationMono NF"
$file = "$($env:TEMP)\$($name).ttf"
# Install-Module BitsTransfer   # Could be required on PS v2
Start-BitsTransfer -Source $url -Destination $file   # Download the font

$Install = $true  # $false to uninstall (or 1 / 0)
$FontsFolder = (New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application).Namespace(0x14)   # Must use Namespace part or will not install properly
$filename = (Get-ChildItem $file).Name
$filepath = (Get-ChildItem $file).FullName
$target = "C:\Windows\Fonts\$($filename)"

If (Test-Path $target -PathType Any) { Remove-Item $target -Recurse -Force } # UnInstall Font

If ((-not(Test-Path $target -PathType Container)) -and ($Install -eq $true)) { $FontsFolder.CopyHere($filepath, 16) }   # Following action performs the install, requires user to click on yes

$key = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Console\TrueTypeFont'   # Need to set this for console
Set-ItemProperty -Path $key -Name '000' -Value $name

Write-Host "Install-Module Terminal-Icons (Advanced Coloured dir / ls / gci listings with icons)" -ForegroundColor Yellow -BackgroundColor Black
Write-Host "   Add-TerminalIconsColorTheme, Add-TerminalIconsIconTheme, Format-TerminalIcons,"
Write-Host "   Get-TerminalIconsColorTheme, Get-TerminalIconsIconTheme, Get-TerminalIconsTheme,"
Write-Host "   Set-TerminalIconsColorTheme, Set-TerminalIconsIconTheme, Show-TerminalIconsTheme"
Write-Host "View Module Contents: " -NoNewLine ; Write-Host "get-command -module terminal-icons" -ForegroundColor Yellow

Install-PackageProvider -Name NuGet -MinimumVersion 2.8.5.201 -Force   # Always need this, required for all Modules
Set-PSRepository -Name 'PSGallery' -InstallationPolicy Trusted   # Set Microsoft PowerShell Gallery to 'Trusted'
Install-Module Terminal-Icons -Scope CurrentUser
Import-Module Terminal-Icons
Install-Module WindowsConsoleFonts
Set-ConsoleFont $name
Set-TerminalIconsColorTheme -Name DevBlackOps   # After the above are setup, can add this to line to $Profile to always load

Answer 3

Maybe via an Out-Default proxy function.

Answer 4

I just installed and used https://github.com/Davlind/PSColor which was painless. It supports PSGet so you can install easily with Install-Module PSColor to get it.

The objects aren't transformed so they still support piping. (It's using the New-CommandWrapper mentioned above)

It also supports other things like select-string.

Answer 5

I have another script which takes care of Format-Wide (ls) case and also has better performance by using dictionaries instead of regex: https://github.com/joonro/Get-ChildItem-Color.

Answer 6

I have another solution. You can just have a custom .format.ps1xml for it, and do some tweaks to make the coloring possible.

I have my person .format.ps1xml formating file on github.com: https://github.com/ecsousa/PSUtils/blob/master/CustomPSUtils.format.ps1xml

To use it, all you need to do is:

Update-FormatData -Prepend CustomPSUtils.format.ps1xml

Also, to make sure you go back to original Console color after a Get-ChildItem, you will need to override prompt function. Something like this:

function prompt {
    if($global:FSFormatDefaultColor) {
        [Console]::ForegroundColor = $global:FSFormatDefaultColor
    }

    "PS $($executionContext.SessionState.Path.CurrentLocation)$('>' * ($nestedPromptLevel + 1)) "
}