Powershell: Autosize and Specific Column Width

Question

Based on this SO question Powershell: Output collection of objects, I am able to wrap a collection of strings in multiple lines in one column. However, when I try to output

Answer 1

I see what you mean, and I have no answer staying within the console, but if you do this to send it to Out-GridView:

$col = @(

    (New-Object –TypeName PSObject –Prop @{'id'='01';'name'='a';'items'=@('the first item','the second item', 'the third item')}),
    (New-Object –TypeName PSObject –Prop @{'id'='02';'name'='b';'items'=@('the first item','the second item', 'the third item', 'the third item', 'the third item', 'the third item', 'the third item', 'the third item', 'the third item', 'the third item', 'the third item', 'the third item', 'the third item', 'the third item', 'the third item', 'the third item', 'the third item', 'the third item', 'the third item')}),
    (New-Object –TypeName PSObject –Prop @{'id'='03';'name'='c';'items'=@('the first item','the second item', 'the third item')})
    )

$col|Select -p id,@{E={$_.items -join "`n"};L="Items"},name | Out-GridView

(I trimmed the 'Expression' and 'Label=' so they fit on the screen).

Then the GridView shows the columns with the right width.

So if GridView can, why can't Format-Table? Maybe you can get around it with a custom view - http://www.adminarsenal.com/admin-arsenal-blog/bid/43912/PowerShell-Tips-for-System-Administrators-Format-Views, I haven't tried that approach.