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Allow user to force the default implicit formatting to use AutoSize - #28018

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Dongbo Wang (daxian-dbw) merged 4 commits into
PowerShell:masterfrom
daxian-dbw:auto-size-format
Sep 17, 2026
Merged

Dongbo Wang (daxian-dbw) merged 4 commits into
PowerShell:masterfrom
daxian-dbw:auto-size-format

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@daxian-dbw

@daxian-dbw Dongbo Wang (daxian-dbw) commented Sep 16, 2026 •

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PR Summary

Allow user to force the default implicit formatting to use AutoSize.

When $PSStyle.AutoSizeDefaultFormatting = $true, the default implicit formatting applied by PowerShell (via Out-Default) will enforce AutoSize when the chosen formatting view is table or wide, similar to running Format-Table -AutoSize and Format-Wide -AutoSize explicitly.

The List and Complex views formatting won't be buffered though -- they will continue to be streamed. A test was added to make the formatting for those 2 views are streamed.

This allows PowerShell to generate less verbose output when used by an agent. It also makes PowerShell works better with small-window terminal.

image

PR Checklist

Copilot AI lite review requested due to automatic review settings September 16, 2026 01:06
@daxian-dbw
Dongbo Wang (daxian-dbw) requested a review from a team as a code owner September 16, 2026 01:06
@daxian-dbw Dongbo Wang (daxian-dbw) added the CL-General Indicates that a PR should be marked as a general cmdlet change in the Change Log label Sep 16, 2026
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🟡 Changes recommended

Critical formatting defects and missing regression coverage must be addressed before approval.

Get a fresh assessment by requesting another Copilot review.

Pull request overview

Adds $PSStyle.AutoSizeDefaultFormatting to enable AutoSize for implicit table and wide formatting.

Changes:

  • Adds the new $PSStyle setting.
  • Applies it during default formatting.
  • Adds formatting tests.
File summaries
File Review findings
test/powershell/engine/Formatting/PSStyle.Tests.ps1 Moderate (3 votes): Add coverage for implicit wide views and untyped objects. Moderate (1 vote): Restore the original process-wide setting in cleanup rather than hard-coding $false.
src/System.Management.Automation/FormatAndOutput/format-default/format-default.cs Critical (3 votes): Preserve null parameters during shape inference for objects without default views. Critical (3 votes): Apply the override only to selected Table or Wide views to avoid buffering List and Complex output.
src/System.Management.Automation/FormatAndOutput/common/PSStyle.cs Nit (1 vote): Include AutoSizeDefaultFormatting in the default $PSStyle formatter view.
Review details

Suppressed comments (2)

src/System.Management.Automation/FormatAndOutput/common/PSStyle.cs:647

  • The default PSStyle view is an explicit ListControl that enumerates the top-level settings (PowerShellCore_format_ps1xml.cs:2139-2212), but it has no entry for AutoSizeDefaultFormatting. As a result, $PSStyle and $PSStyle | Format-List hide this new user-facing setting; add it to the generated default formatter view.
        public bool AutoSizeDefaultFormatting { get; set; }

test/powershell/engine/Formatting/PSStyle.Tests.ps1:624

  • The cleanup hard-codes $false instead of restoring the value present when the test started. Because PSStyle.Instance is process-wide and the surrounding tests save and restore settings (for example, lines 143-153), this can leak state to later tests and makes the test depend on an initially disabled feature. Save the original value, establish a false baseline before capturing $defaultOutput, and restore the original in finally.
            $PSStyle.AutoSizeDefaultFormatting = $false
  • Files reviewed: 3/3 changed files
  • Comments generated: 3
  • Review effort level: Lite

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Comment thread test/powershell/engine/Formatting/PSStyle.Tests.ps1 Outdated

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🔵 Needs a closer look

Fix autosizing for inferred views and update the user-facing documentation/checklist.

Review details

Suppressed comments (2)

src/System.Management.Automation/FormatAndOutput/common/PSStyle.cs:647

  • This adds a new public $PSStyle setting that users must discover and configure, while the PR checklist marks “User-facing changes” as Not Applicable. Please update the user-facing PSStyle documentation (or file the required documentation issue) and correct the checklist before merging.
        public bool AutoSizeDefaultFormatting { get; set; }

src/System.Management.Automation/FormatAndOutput/format-default/format-default.cs:33

  • The no-default-view branch in FormatViewManager.Initialize() still calls SelectViewGeneratorFromProperties(..., null), so this parameters object is discarded for inferred views. As a result, $PSStyle.AutoSizeDefaultFormatting = $true has no effect for an untyped object that is inferred as a table (for example, a [pscustomobject] with four or fewer properties), even though the feature promises to autosize the chosen table/wide view. Preserve null for shape inference, then apply the autosize flag to the resulting Table/Wide generator, and add a regression case for this path.
                var parameters = new FormattingCommandLineParameters { autosize = true };
                ((InnerFormatShapeCommand)this.implementation).SetCommandLineParameters(parameters);
  • Files reviewed: 5/5 changed files
  • Comments generated: 0 new
  • Review effort level: Lite

@daxian-dbw

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Mark this PR 7.6-consider because this could be potentially required by agent to reduce the output verbosity from shell invocation.

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