PowerShell Cmdlet Litmus Test
Amateurs: Use Get-Help to get an overview of what a cmdlet does.
Professionals: Scrutinize Get-Help's information studying a parameter's attributes.
Example of Get-Help's Syntax
Here we employ Get-Eventlog to discover more about Get-Help.
# Needs a LogName
Get-Eventlog
Result:
Cmdlet Get-EventLog at command pipeline position 1
Supply values for the following parameters:
LogName:
The problem, Get-Eventlog is asking us for an input (LogName). Suppose we don't know the precise logname? Let us call for:
# Cmdlet help with examples
Get-Help Get-Eventlog -full
SYNTAX
Get-EventLog [-LogName] <String> [[-InstanceId] <Int64[]>] ….
— But Get-Eventlog also has a second usage —
Get-EventLog [-AsString [<SwitchParameter>]] [-ComputerName <String[]>] [-List [<SwitchParameter>]] [<CommonParameters>]
Note: Get-EventLog requires -LogName parameter.
Note: Get-EventLog also reveals the names of the logs thanks to the -List parameter thus:
# Display available logs
Get-Eventlog -List
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PowerShell's Parameters 
You mainly request help to check the names of the parameters, but it only takes a quick glance to discover a parameter's attributes.
Get-Help Get-Eventlog.
This example shows parameters with their attributes.
-After <DateTime> At first glance you probably overlooked the <Type> definition in brackets, but now in future you will absorb this extra information.
In this example, knowing that -After expects <DateTime> will alert you to researching the format, especially if you get an error. Get-Date may give you clues whether to use dd/mm/yy or mm/dd/yy.
–ComputerName <String[]> Clearly this indicates a parameter that accepts names such as BigServer, subtly, the square brackets tells you that you could type multiple names separated by commas. -ComputerName [BigServer, LittleServer]
–List [<SwitchParameter>] This is a tricky 'Type' to understand at first. At it's simplest <SwitchParameter> means the value for this parameter is 'false', unless you explicitly set a value.
–Newest <Int32> Means a number!
See more on PowerShell's Parameters
Summary of PowerShell's Get-Help
I would like to move forward from merely using Get-Help, to gaining an understanding of the range of a cmdlets abilities. Get-Help Verb-Noun can teach you about the principles behind PowerShell, for example, pipelining, nature and capability of objects.
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See more Microsoft PowerShell tutorials
• PowerShell Tutorials • Methods • Cmdlets • PS Snapin • Profile.ps1 • Exchange 2007
• Command & Expression Mode • PowerShell pipeline (|) • PowerShell ‘where‘ • PowerShell ‘Sort’
• Windows PowerShell Modules • Import-Module • PowerShell Module Directory
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