More PowerShell Water Tools
In this issue:
Last time we looked at ways to use PowerShell as a presentation tool. I want to continue exploring that idea and also return to the tools I built to track my water consumption. Who knew drinking water could be this much fun!
A few weeks ago I shared the PowerShell tools I use to document how much water I drink a day. I know that staying well hydrated is a good thing, but I was never one to drink a lot of water. But now that I am recording it, I find myself drinking more. PowerShell made it easy and fun.
I'm storing my data in a JSON file and have commands to read the data.
PS C:\> Get-Water -Days 2
Date Amount Comment
---- ------ -------
4/1/2026 7:45:00 AM 8
4/1/2026 8:44:28 AM 8
4/1/2026 10:59:19 AM 16
4/1/2026 3:51:06 PM 16
4/1/2026 6:44:21 PM 16
4/2/2026 8:12:53 AM 8
4/2/2026 12:58:46 PM 16
4/2/2026 5:49:17 PM 16
4/2/2026 6:35:00 PM 8
4/2/2026 9:00:51 PM 8
And because I want to know what this means in aggregate, I have a measure function.
PS C:\> Measure-Water -Days 7
Date Count Average TotalOz
---- ----- ------- -------
3/27/2026 12:00:00 AM 4 14 56
3/28/2026 12:00:00 AM 5 12.8 64
3/29/2026 12:00:00 AM 5 12.8 64
3/30/2026 12:00:00 AM 5 12.8 64
3/31/2026 12:00:00 AM 5 11.2 56
4/1/2026 12:00:00 AM 5 12.8 64
4/2/2026 12:00:00 AM 5 11.2 56
Convert-Water
As I look at this report, obviously 64 ounces per day is the target. But how much is that? It would might be useful to get a report that shows the amounts in quarts and gallons. Especially when measuring consumption over a longer time period.
I can start with this breakdown.
- 16 oz = 1 pint
- 32 oz = 1 qt
- 64 oz = 1/2 gal
- 128 oz = 1 gal
I want to convert these values into a descriptive expression. I want something that will convert 56 ounces into 1 quart 1 pint 8 ounces.
Remainder Math
Naturally, this will require a little math. I'll start at the bottom of the scale. I want to take value between 16 and 32 ounces. Anything less than 16 will be straight ounces. But I want to take value like 24 and show it as 1 pint 8 ounces
$x = 24
I can divide this by 16 to get the total number of pints.
PS C:\> $x/16
1.5
Clearly that is 1 1/2 pints. For my string output, I need to get the integer part of the value, or 1. I could use a regular expression, but I'll use the Truncate() method of the [Math] class. I don't want to round the value because that might go up. The Truncate() method is how you can round "down".
$pints = [Math]::Truncate($x/16)
Now I need to get the remainder, or the .5 value. This is a situation where you can use the modulo (%) operator. This will return the remainder value.
$oz = $x%16
I can put all of this together to get my description.
PS C:\> "{0} pint {1} ounces" -f $pints,$oz
1 pint 8 ounces
I can put this in a script block to test. This is using the PowerShell 7 ternary operator to determine if there are any ounces to display.
$pt = {
param ($amount)
[int]$pints = [Math]::Truncate(($amount / 16))
[int]$oz = $amount % 16
($oz -gt 0) ? "$pints pint $oz ounces" : "$pints pint"
}
This will work for any amount, but the value will be in pints and ounces.
PS C:\> &$pt 16
1 pint
PS C:\> &$pt 24
1 pint 8 ounces
PS C:\> &$pt 28
1 pint 12 ounces
PS C:\> &$pt 44
2 pint 12 ounces
I can continue this process moving up in volume such as quarts
PS C:\> $x = 44
PS C:\> $x/32
1.375
This equates 44 ounces to 1 quart and .375 quarts which equates to 12 ounces.
PS C:\> $x = 44
PS C:\> $x/32
1.375
I can write a similar script block for quarts.
$qt = {
param ($amount)
[int]$qts = [Math]::Truncate(($amount / 32))
[int]$pints = $amount % 32
#convert pint value to pints and ounces
$out = ($pints -gt 0) ? "$qts quart $(&$pt $pints)" : "$qts quart"
$out
}
If there is a pint value, I can convert that to pints and ounces.
$qt = {
param ($amount)
[int]$qts = [Math]::Truncate(($amount / 32))
[int]$pints = $amount % 32
#convert pint value to pints and ounces
$out = ($pints -gt 0) ? "$qts quart $(&$pt $pints)" : "$qts quart"
$out
}
