Windows PowerShell's Cmdlets
(Built-In)
Windows PowerShell Cmdlets (Built-In)On this page I define the word cmdlet to mean a built-In PowerShell command, with a single verb-Noun pair. There is another shade of meaning to cmdlet, namely a series of commands, usually more than one line, stored
in a text file with a .ps1 extension. This page deals with the first meaning and
includes a review of PowerShell's built-In cmdlets. PowerShell
Cmdlets Lists of the 13 Sections- System Built-In Cmdlets
- Objects Built-In Cmdlets
- Items Built-In Cmdlets
- Aliases Built-In PowerShell Cmdlets
- Drives Built-In Cmdlets
- Paths and locations
- Contents Built-In PowerShell Cmdlets
- Access Operating System Components
- Output Formatters Built-In Cmdlets
- Variables
- Security Built-In Cmdlets
- Miscellaneous PowerShell Built-In Cmdlets
- Debugging
♣
PowerShell Build-In Cmdlet Categories
a) Get-Help. This
is the best command to explore the built-In PowerShell library. As with many cmdlets, it begins with the verb 'get'. Example: Get-Help
alias. Remember that Get-Help supports wildcards,
for example type:
Get-Help *object.
b) Get-Command. Returns a list of available commands. Get-Command really is the entire command, I was expecting more, but this cmdlet is
only two words,
get and command separated by a hyphen. You may wish to try a wild
card, for example Get-Command c* c) Get-host. Displays information about the PowerShell host. (Not to be confused with hostname.)
Try this command to check your version number.
d) Get-culture. Shows you information about the
regional settings of the host (as defined in the Regional Settings of the Control Panel) e) Get-uiculture Returns information about the regional settings
of the host as defined by the selected language on a multi-language operating system. See more about key system
cmdlets here a) Get-Member. This is by far the most
important cmdlet. Get-Member enumerates properties, methods and type information of the objects; for example: Get-WmiObject | Get-Member
Special note, the
pipeline symbol displays as ¦ in PowerShell, but as | in notepad.
See a whole page on Get-Member
b) Foreach-Object. The purpose of this cmdlet is to loop
through multiple instances, such as disk drives. Foreach applies a block of script to each object in the pipeline. For example; $Nic=
Get-WmiObject
Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration
foreach ( $MacAdr in $Nic ) { "Mac Address = " + $MacAdr.MacAddress}
Note that the type of bracket is significant, () or {} each have a distinct role
(condition) {script block}. Also note the + which not only adds numbers, but also is the same symbol that concatenates text.
c)
Where-Object (Often abbreviated to plain 'where') filters the input from the pipeline, allowing operation on only certain objects. For example:
Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.status -eq "Stopped"}
d)
New-Object. Creates instances of .NET or COM objects. New-Object is particularly useful for creating VBScript objects. For example, network objects, Active Directory objects and also applications such as IE.
e) Select-Object. Filters objects based on parameters set in the cmdlet command string f)
Group-Object.
An undervalued cmdlet. Handy for collecting objects based on a common property
value. g) Sort-Object. Sequences object based on a property value
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a) Get-Childitem Retrieves the child items of the specified
location(s), for example a list files in a folder b) Get-Item Returns
an object that represents an item in a namespace, for example Get-Item .\* lists files in the current directory c)
New-Item Creates a new item in a namespace, for example creates a sub-folder
d) Set-Item Sets the value of a pathname within a provider to the specified value e)
Remove-Item Deletes an
item from a provider f)
Move-Item Transfers an item from one location to another, removing the original
g) Rename-Item Changes the name of an existing item h)
Copy-Item Copies an item from one location to
another, leaving the original intact i)
Clear-Item Removes the content of an item j) invoke-Item Invokes an executable or opens a file
k) Get-Acl Gets the access control list (ACL) associated with a file or item
l) Set-Acl Sets the security ACL for an item or items
Understanding Aliases is easy.
Just start with the built-In Aliases, for example gci (Get-Childitem). Also ft (format table) for example, Get-Process * |ft name, handles, cpu -auto
a) Set-Alias Maps an alias to a command,
for example where you wish to create your own alias. b) Get-Alias
Returns a list of all defined aliases c)
New-Alias Creates a new alias d)
Export-Alias Outputs the system alias table in CSV format
e) Import-Alias Updates the system alias table from a CSV file
f)
PowerShell 3 has 11 more aliases
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a) Get-PsDrive Returns a list of all drives registered with cmdlet providers
b) New-PsDrive Creates a new drive associated with a cmdlet provider
c)
Get-PsProvider Returns a list of all registered cmdlet providers and the drives associated with each provider d)
Remove-Drive Removes a drive association from a
cmdlet provider
a) Get-location Displays the current location b)
Set-Location Sets the current working location to
a specified location. (It has the Alias CD)
c) Convert-Path Converts the path to the item given from an MSH path to a provider path
d) Parse-Path Given an MSH path(s), streams a string with the qualifier, parent path, or leaf item
e) Test-Path
Returns true if the path exists, otherwise returns false
f) Resolve-Path Resolves the wildcards in a path
g) Push-Location Pushes a location to the stack
h) Pop-Pocation Changes the current working location to the location specified by the last entry pushed onto the stack
a)
Add-Content Appends content to a file or creates a file if one does not exist
b) Clear-Content Removes content from a file while leaving the file intact
c) Get-Content Returns the content of a file as a
sequence of lines d) Set-Content Replaces the content of a file with new content
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More PowerShell Cmdlets Lists
a) Get-Process Returns a list of running system processes
b) Stop-Process Terminates a running process c) Get-Service Returns a list of
registered system services d)
Stop-Service Terminates a running system service e)
Start-Service Starts a stopped system service
f) Suspend-Service Pauses a running system service
g) Resume-Service
Reactivates a paused system service h)
Restart-Service Stops then restarts a system service i)
Set-Service Configures the properties of a registered system service
j) New-Service Registers a new system
service k) Get-Eventlog Returns a list of event log entries from a
specified event log l) Get-WmiObject Returns data from WMI
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