Windows Server 2012 Automation with PowerShell Cookbook

Using formatting to export numbers

Numbers in their raw form are useful when you want the most exact calculation, but can become messy when presenting them to users. Because of this PowerShell uses standardized .NET formatting rules to convert and present numbers in different contexts.

In this recipe, we will take a number and use PowerShell to present it in different number formats. This allows us to quickly see the differences between how PowerShell performs number formatting.

How to do it...

Carry out the following steps:

1. Start with a simple PowerShell script to present numbers using different formats:

   $jenny = 1206867.5309 Write-Host "Original:`t`t`t" $jenny Write-Host "Whole Number:`t`t" ("{0:N0}" -f $jenny) Write-Host "3 decimal places:`t" ("{0:N3}" ...