Intro
I think it is time we put down our old friend Write-Output for good. That’s right, Write-Output and not Write-Host. You should definitely not be using Write-Host outside of functions beginning with the Show- verb in console driven PowerShell apps, but I’m not here to kill off Write-Host. No, my target is Write-Output.
What is this craziness I’m speaking? Well, if I went back in time to 10 months ago and told myself not to use Write-Output, I would think my future self had gone mad. In fact, my journey towards murdering Write-Output began around that time. There was a post in the /r/PowerShell (sadly, I can’t find it in my history) where I was “correcting” someone for not using Write-Output. This prompted another user to link me to this discussion. At first I rejected the notion, but over time I came to embrace it. And today, I think I was crazy for not killing it off sooner.
What I’m saying here wont be new or revolutionary. My only hope with this post is to expose others to the issues with Write-Output and contribute to its demise.
What’s my beef with Write-Output? There are three concerns I have about using Write-Output: Performance, “Security”, and a “False Sense of Security”.
Before you begin, please understand that this is not an introduction-level PowerShell topic. This post was written with experienced PowerShell users and those who provide guidance and training to novice PowerShell users in mind. Also, this post is not specifically about console output, but about the use of the Write-Output command in general and its common use for “putting objects in the pipeline” (e.g. to “return” objects from a function). Most of it applies whether the objects ultimately go to the console or not. The only section dealing with console output is the Text Output section. Even then, the output for the targeted scenarios is more often a log file than it is a console.
