[SOLVED] Overwrite PowerShell output strings onto the same line

Overwrite PowerShell output strings onto the same line

I have a piece of PS code which takes the 7-Zip extraction output and filters it down so only percentage "%" progress update lines get printed. I've managed to reduce it down to just the percentage outputs:

& $7ZipPath "x" $filePath "-o$extractionPath" "-aos" "-bsp1" | out-string -stream | Select-String -Pattern "\d{1,3}%" -AllMatches | ForEach-Object { $_.Matches.Value } | Write-Host -NoNewLine

At the moment the console output looks like this:

0%1%5%9%14%17%20%23%26%31%37%43%46%48%50%52%54%56%59%61%63%65%67%70%72%74%76%78%80%81%82%83%85%86%87%89%90%91%92%94%95%96%97%98%99%

Is there a way of keeping these outputs in the same place, on the same line, making them just overwrite each other? It's tricky because the output is being piped from the 7-Zip application. I'm afraid I can't use Expand-Archive as I am dealing with .7z files

Many thanks!

Solution

You could use the .Net System.Console class:

[System.Console]::SetCursorPosition(0, [System.Console]::CursorTop)

So your code would have to be:

& $7ZipPath "x" $filePath "-o$extractionPath" "-aos" "-bsp1" | out-string -stream | Select-String -Pattern "\d{1,3}%" -AllMatches | ForEach-Object { $_.Matches.Value } | foreach {
    [System.Console]::SetCursorPosition(0, [System.Console]::CursorTop) 
    Write-Host $_ -NoNewLine
}

Note: As long as the next output is equal or greater length, which is true in your case, this is all you need. Otherwise you would have to clear the last output first.