You can use the Write-Host cmdlet in PowerShell to output text to the console.
To display a tab character when using Write-Host, you can use the following methods:
Method 1: Use `t
Write-Host "This`t string contains a tab"
Method 2: Use [char]9
$tab_char = [char]9
Write-Host "This$tab_char string contains a tab"
Both of these methods produce the same result.
The following examples show how to use each method in practice.
Example 1: Use `t to Display Tab in PowerShell
Suppose that you would like to use the Write-Host cmdlet in PowerShell to display the following text:
- This string contains a tab
We can use the following syntax to do so:
Write-Host "This`t string contains a tab"
The following screenshot shows how to use this syntax in practice:
Notice that the output displays the text that we specified with a tab in the location where we used `t in the string.
Example 2: Use [char]9 to Display Tab in PowerShell
Once again, suppose that you would like to use the Write-Host cmdlet in PowerShell to display the following text:
- This string contains a tab
Another way to do so is by using the [char]9 command:
$tab_char = [char]9
Write-Host "This$tab_char string contains a tab"
The following screenshot shows how to use this syntax in practice:
Notice that the output displays the text that we specified with a tab in the location where we used [char]9 in the string.
Also notice that this produces the same result as the previous example. Feel free to use whichever method you prefer.
Note: You can find the complete documentation for the Write-Host cmdlet in PowerShell here.
Related Tutorials
The following tutorials explain how to perform other common tasks in PowerShell:
PowerShell: How to Use Write-Host with Specific Colors
PowerShell: How to Replace Special Characters in String
PowerShell: How to Replace Text in String
