The output-formatting system doesn't deserialize CLIXML output produced by calling the CLI with -OutputFormat xml when printing to the console

When you call the PowerShell CLI with -OutputFormat xml / -of xml explicitly, the formatting system renders the raw CLIXML output instead of deserializing the CLIXML first and then applying the output formatting to the deserialized objects.

(Note that -OutputFormat xml is used implicitly when you pass a script block to the -Command / -c parameter, but the problem doesn’t surface then, possibly due to taking a different code path behind the scenes, given that the script block is translated into a Base64-encoded -EncodedCommand argument.)

Note that only the output formatting system is affected and only when printing to the console; if you capture or redirect the output, deserialization happens normally. Therefore, the simplest workaround is to enclose the CLI call in (...).

Steps to reproduce

# Note: To work around the bug, enclose the call in (...)
pwsh -OutputFormat xml -noprofile -c 'Get-Item $PROFILE'

Expected behavior

The usual, formatted output, e.g.:

    Directory: /Users/jdoe/.config/powershell

UnixMode   User             Group                 LastWriteTime           Size Name
--------   ----             -----                 -------------           ---- ----
-rw-r--r-- jdoe             staff               3/19/2021 09:20            909 Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1

Actual behavior

The raw CLIXML output prints.

#< CLIXML
<Objs Version="1.1.0.1" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/powershell/2004/04"><Obj S="Output" RefId="0"><TN RefId="0"><T>System.IO.FileInfo</T><T>System.IO.FileSystemInfo</T><T>System.MarshalByRefObject</T><T>System.Object</T></TN><ToString>/Users/mklement/.config/powershell/Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1</ToString><Props><I64 N="Length">909</I64><S N="DirectoryName">/Users/mklement/.config/powershell</S><Obj N="Directory" RefId="1"><TN RefId="1"><T>System.IO.DirectoryInfo</T><T>System.IO.FileSystemInfo</T><T>System.MarshalByRefObject</T><T>System.Object</T></TN><ToString>/Users/mklement/.config/powershell</ToString><Props><S N="Parent">/Users/mklement/.config</S><S N="Root">/</S><S N="FullName">/Users/mklement/.config/powershell</S><S N="Extension"></S><S N="Name">powershell</S><B N="Exists">true</B><DT N="CreationTime">2017-02-22T18:23:24-05:00</DT><DT N="CreationTimeUtc">2017-02-22T23:23:24Z</DT><DT N="LastAccessTime">2021-04-18T14:44:45.9275675-04:00</DT><DT N="LastAccessTimeUtc">2021-04-18T18:44:45.9275675Z</DT><DT N="LastWriteTime">2021-03-29T15:28:09.1334955-04:00</DT><DT N="LastWriteTimeUtc">2021-03-29T19:28:09.1334955Z</DT><S N="Attributes">Directory</S></Props><MS><Obj N="UnixMode" RefId="2"><S></S></Obj><Ref N="User" RefId="2" /><Ref N="Group" RefId="2" /><Nil N="Size" /><S N="Mode">d----</S><S N="ModeWithoutHardLink">d----</S><S N="BaseName">powershell</S><Nil N="LinkType" /><S N="NameString">powershell</S><S N="LengthString"></S><S N="LastWriteTimeString"> 3/29/2021  3:28 PM</S></MS></Obj><B N="IsReadOnly">false</B><S N="FullName">/Users/mklement/.config/powershell/Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1</S><S N="Extension">.ps1</S><S N="Name">Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1</S><B N="Exists">true</B><DT N="CreationTime">2019-04-16T15:50:42.3817263-04:00</DT><DT N="CreationTimeUtc">2019-04-16T19:50:42.3817263Z</DT><DT N="LastAccessTime">2021-03-19T09:20:51.3007395-04:00</DT><DT N="LastAccessTimeUtc">2021-03-19T13:20:51.3007395Z</DT><DT N="LastWriteTime">2021-03-19T09:20:02.3063572-04:00</DT><DT N="LastWriteTimeUtc">2021-03-19T13:20:02.3063572Z</DT><Obj N="Attributes" RefId="3"><TN RefId="2"><T>System.IO.FileAttributes</T><T>System.Enum</T><T>System.ValueType</T><T>System.Object</T></TN><ToString>Normal</ToString><I32>128</I32></Obj></Props><MS><S N="PSPath">Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::/Users/mklement/.config/powershell/Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1</S><S N="PSParentPath">Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::/Users/mklement/.config/powershell</S><S N="PSChildName">Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1</S><Obj N="UnixStat" RefId="4"><TN RefId="3"><T>System.Management.Automation.Platform+Unix+CommonStat</T><T>System.Object</T></TN><ToString>System.Management.Automation.Platform+Unix+CommonStat</ToString><Props><I64 N="Inode">12902233604</I64><I32 N="Mode">33188</I32><I32 N="UserId">501</I32><I32 N="GroupId">20</I32><I32 N="HardlinkCount">1</I32><I64 N="Size">909</I64><DT N="AccessTime">2021-03-19T09:20:51-04:00</DT><DT N="ModifiedTime">2021-03-19T09:20:02-04:00</DT><DT N="StatusChangeTime">2021-03-19T09:20:02-04:00</DT><I64 N="BlockSize">4096</I64><I32 N="DeviceId">16777223</I32><I32 N="NumberOfBlocks">8</I32><Obj N="ItemType" RefId="5"><TN RefId="4"><T>System.Management.Automation.Platform+Unix+ItemType</T><T>System.Enum</T><T>System.ValueType</T><T>System.Object</T></TN><ToString>File</ToString><I32>1</I32></Obj><B N="IsSetUid">false</B><B N="IsSetGid">false</B><B N="IsSticky">false</B></Props></Obj><Obj N="PSDrive" RefId="6"><TN RefId="5"><T>System.Management.Automation.PSDriveInfo</T><T>System.Object</T></TN><ToString>/</ToString><Props><S N="CurrentLocation">Users/mklement/Projects/OSS/Native</S><S N="Name">/</S><Obj N="Provider" RefId="7"><TN RefId="6"><T>System.Management.Automation.ProviderInfo</T><T>System.Object</T></TN><ToString>Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem</ToString><Props><S N="ImplementingType">Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.FileSystemProvider</S><S N="HelpFile">System.Management.Automation.dll-Help.xml</S><S N="Name">FileSystem</S><S N="PSSnapIn">Microsoft.PowerShell.Core</S><S N="ModuleName">Microsoft.PowerShell.Core</S><Nil N="Module" /><S N="Description"></S><S N="Capabilities">Filter, ShouldProcess, Credentials</S><S N="Home">/Users/mklement</S><Obj N="Drives" RefId="8"><TN RefId="7"><T>System.Collections.ObjectModel.Collection`1[[System.Management.Automation.PSDriveInfo, System.Management.Automation, Version=7.2.0.5, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35]]</T><T>System.Object</T></TN><LST><Ref RefId="6" /><S>Temp</S></LST></Obj><B N="VolumeSeparatedByColon">false</B><C N="ItemSeparator">47</C><C N="AltItemSeparator">92</C></Props></Obj><S N="Root">/</S><S N="Description">/</S><Nil N="MaximumSize" /><Obj N="Credential" RefId="9"><TN RefId="8"><T>System.Management.Automation.PSCredential</T><T>System.Object</T></TN><ToString>System.Management.Automation.PSCredential</ToString><Props><Nil N="UserName" /><Nil N="Password" /></Props></Obj><Nil N="DisplayRoot" /><B N="VolumeSeparatedByColon">false</B></Props><MS><I64 N="Used">913685630976</I64><I64 N="Free">207432568832</I64></MS></Obj><Ref N="PSProvider" RefId="7" /><B N="PSIsContainer">false</B><S N="UnixMode">-rw-r--r--</S><S N="User">mklement</S><S N="Group">staff</S><I64 N="Size">909</I64><S N="Mode">-----</S><S N="ModeWithoutHardLink">-----</S><Obj N="VersionInfo" RefId="10"><TN RefId="9"><T>System.Diagnostics.FileVersionInfo</T><T>System.Object</T></TN><ToString>File:             /Users/mklement/.config/powershell/Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1_x000A_InternalName:     _x000A_OriginalFilename: _x000A_FileVersion:      _x000A_FileDescription:  _x000A_Product:          _x000A_ProductVersion:   _x000A_Debug:            False_x000A_Patched:          False_x000A_PreRelease:       False_x000A_PrivateBuild:     False_x000A_SpecialBuild:     False_x000A_Language:         _x000A_</ToString><Props><Nil N="Comments" /><Nil N="CompanyName" /><I32 N="FileBuildPart">0</I32><Nil N="FileDescription" /><I32 N="FileMajorPart">0</I32><I32 N="FileMinorPart">0</I32><S N="FileName">/Users/mklement/.config/powershell/Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1</S><I32 N="FilePrivatePart">0</I32><Nil N="FileVersion" /><Nil N="InternalName" /><B N="IsDebug">false</B><B N="IsPatched">false</B><B N="IsPrivateBuild">false</B><B N="IsPreRelease">false</B><B N="IsSpecialBuild">false</B><Nil N="Language" /><Nil N="LegalCopyright" /><Nil N="LegalTrademarks" /><Nil N="OriginalFilename" /><Nil N="PrivateBuild" /><I32 N="ProductBuildPart">0</I32><I32 N="ProductMajorPart">0</I32><I32 N="ProductMinorPart">0</I32><Nil N="ProductName" /><I32 N="ProductPrivatePart">0</I32><Nil N="ProductVersion" /><Nil N="SpecialBuild" /></Props><MS><Version N="FileVersionRaw">0.0.0.0</Version><Version N="ProductVersionRaw">0.0.0.0</Version></MS></Obj><S N="BaseName">Microsoft.PowerShell_profile</S><Nil N="LinkType" /><S N="NameString">Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1</S><S N="LengthString">909</S><S N="LastWriteTimeString"> 3/19/2021  9:20 AM</S></MS></Obj></Objs>

Environment data

PowerShell Core 7.2.0-preview.5

[mklement0]

Thanks for the clarification, @jborean93.

It seems that the problem boils down to this:

With a script-block-based invocation that implies CLIXML output, PowerShell already knows that direct-to-host output of the raw CLIXML isn’t appropriate, and that the raw output needs to be deserialized first and then sent to the formatting system:

PS> pwsh -noprofile -c { Get-Item $PROFILE }

    Directory: /Users/jdoe/.config/powershell

UnixMode   User             Group                 LastWriteTime           Size Name
--------   ----             -----                 -------------           ---- ----
-rw-r--r-- jdoe             staff               3/19/2021 09:20            909 Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1

If a script block isn’t involved and CLIXML output is explicitly requested via -OutputFormat xml, PowerShell does not apply the necessary logic:

PS> pwsh -OutputFormat xml -noprofile -c 'Get-Item $PROFILE'
# CLIXML output

Also note that redundantly adding -OutputFormat xml to the script-block invocation scenario also results in broken output:

PS>  pwsh -OutputFormat xml -noprofile -c { Get-Item $PROFILE }
# CLIXML output

[jborean93]

@237dmitry issue is that if you don’t capture any output when calling a native command then the output goes directly to the console without it being touched at all by PowerShell.

# not captured - direct to console
my.exe arguments

# captured in some way - powershell converts to a string object
$var = my.exe arguments
my.exe argumens | Out-String
my.exe arguments > C:\path\file.txt

If PowerShell isn’t capturing the output then the CLIXML is written directly to the console.