How Can I Suppress the Tabular Output from PowerShell’s Get-ChildItem?

When calling Get-ChildItem during my latest test, its default tabular output returns entries for over 10,000 files, and makes the important data scroll off the top of the console.

Not only that, but it literally hurts my eyes to watch the tsunami of unrequested data flying by. I’ve had cataract and retinal surgery, and my eyes just can’t handle that avalanche.

The code:

[System.IO.FileInfo[]] $queue = Get-ChildItem -path $clientRoot -recurse -attributes $ATTRIBUTE_FILTER | Where-Object `
      -filterScript {`
         ($_.fullName -notmatch $EXCLUSIONS) -and ($_.lastWriteTime -gt $lastUploadTime) `
      }

I tried adding | Out-Null, which suppressed the output, but also kept the $queue object from being populated.

I’ve been fighting this for two days, without success. Anyone know how to suppress Get-ChildItem’s default tabular output?

$PSVersion table output:

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      7.3.5
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    7.3.5
OS                             Microsoft Windows 10.0.19045
Platform                       Win32NT
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0…}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0

FYI, this is basically a continuation of an earlier question about sorting arrays. I submitted that question before I discovered the source of the tabular output, which is unrelated to sorting.

As requested, here’s the expanded code: Show-FileQueue calls Find-FilesWrittenSinceLastUpload, which calls Get-ChildItem.

­$ATTRIBUTE_FILTER = "!D+!H+!S+!Temporary+!Encrypted"
$EXCLUSIONS = `
   "\.bak|\.bat|\.cab|\.cmd|\.com|\.db|\.dll|\.dmp|\.exe|\.ini|\.lnk|\.log|`
   ^max-.*js$|\.msi|\.sys|\.tmp|\.temp|template|test|- Copy|New-Folder|prototype|_vti"
$lastUploadTime = A string representation of a TimeSpan object; value is "15 Jun 2023 12:24"
…
function Show-FileQueue {
   param( [switch] [bool] $ignoreLastWriteTime = $false )
   [System.IO.FileInfo[]] $queue = $null
   if ($true -eq $ignoreLastWriteTime) {
      $queue = Find-FilesWrittenSinceLastUpload -ignoreLastWriteTime $true
   } else {             
      $queue = Find-FilesWrittenSinceLastUpload 
   }
   $fileCount = ($null -eq $queue ? 0 : [int]$queue.length)
   if ($fileCount -eq 0) {
      Write-Host "Found no new/changed files`n"
   } else {
      if ($false -eq $ignoreLastWriteTime) { 
         $queue | Sort-Object -property lastWriteTime | `
         Format-Table -property name, lastWriteTime, length
      }
      $totalBytes = 0
      foreach ($file in $queue) {
         $totalBytes += $file.length
      }
      $suffix = $fileCount -eq 1 ? "" : "s"
      Write-Host $("`n{0:n0} file$suffix, {1:n0} bytes`n" -f $fileCount, $totalBytes)
   }
return $queue
______________________________________________________________

function Find-FilesWrittenSinceLastUpload {
param ( [switch] [bool] $ignoreLastWriteTime = $false )
   $clientRoot = Get-ClientRootFolder
   Confirm-NotNullOrWhiteSpace -string $clientRoot -description $CLIENT_ROOT_DESCRIPTION
   Confirm-PathExists -path $clientRoot -description $CLIENT_ROOT_DESCRIPTION

   $lastUploadTime = Get-LastUploadTime
   $message = "`nLooking for files in $clientRoot & subfolders"
   if ($false -eq $ignoreLastWriteTime) {
      $message += (", created or changed since " + $lastUploadTime)
   }
   Write-Host $message
   Write-Debug "Excluding folders & files whose names match any of these regular expressions:`n"
      $EXCLUSIONS -split "\|" | ForEach-Object{ write-debug $_ }
   Write-Debug ""

   [System.IO.FileInfo[]]$queue = $null     # So queue object is visible at return statement
   $stopwatch = [System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch]::new()
   $stopwatch.start()
   if ($true -eq $ignoreLastWriteTime) {
      $queue = Get-ChildItem -path $clientRoot -recurse -attributes $ATTRIBUTE_FILTER | Where-Object `
      fullName -notmatch $EXCLUSIONS
   } else {
      $queue = Get-ChildItem -path $clientRoot -recurse -attributes $ATTRIBUTE_FILTER | Where-Object `
      -FilterScript {`
         ($_.fullName -notmatch $EXCLUSIONS) -and ($_.lastWriteTime -gt $lastUploadTime) `
      } 
   }
   $stopwatch.stop()
   $timespan    = New-TimeSpan -milliseconds $stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds
   $elapsedTime = Convert-TimeSpanToString -timeSpan $timeSpan
   Write-Debug "File search completed in $elapsedTime"
   return $queue
}

As Stroniax suggested, I changed the last line of the code above (where the unwanted output began appearing) to:

return $queue | Out-Null

and the unwanted tabular output was gone! I understand what Out-Null does, but I don’t understand why that simple return statement triggered the undesired output. But at least I can put this problem to bed!

Thanks to all who took the time to look at this issue. If anyone knows what caused the weird behavior in the first place, I'd love to hear the explanation! I learn more about PowerShell every day!