MSDN Documentation

Getting Help

The first command you should always know is how to get help!

Get-Help Get-Command  # Get help on a specific cmdlet
Get-Help Get-Command -Examples # See examples
Get-Help Get-Command -Full # See all details
Get-Help *Verb-* # Find cmdlets with a specific verb
Update-Help # Download latest help files (run as Administrator)

Working with Objects and Pipelines

PowerShell is object-oriented. Commands output objects that can be piped to other commands.

Get-Process | Get-Member # See what properties and methods a process object has
Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.Status -eq 'Running'} # Filter running services
Get-Service | Sort-Object -Property Name # Sort services by name
Get-Process | Select-Object -Property Name, ID, CPU # Select specific properties of processes

Basic Cmdlets

Core cmdlets for managing your system.

Get-Command # List available commands (cmdlets, functions, aliases, etc.)
Get-Command -Noun Process # List commands related to the 'Process' noun
Get-Help Get-Process # Get help for the Get-Process cmdlet
Get-Process # List running processes
Get-Service # List services
Get-NetIPAddress # List IP addresses on your machine
Get-ChildItem (or dir, ls) # List files and folders (similar to 'dir' in cmd)
New-Item -Path .\MyFolder -ItemType Directory # Create a new directory
Remove-Item .\MyFile.txt # Remove a file or directory
Copy-Item .\source.txt .\destination.txt # Copy a file
Move-Item .\oldname.txt .\newname.txt # Move/Rename a file
Get-Date # Display the current date and time
Get-Location (or pwd) # Display the current directory
Set-Location C:\Users # Change the current directory

Creating and Using Variables

$myVariable = "Hello, PowerShell!" # String variable
$number = 123 # Integer variable
$trueOrFalse = $true # Boolean variable
Write-Host $myVariable # Display variable content
$processName = "notepad"
$notepadProcess = Get-Process -Name $processName
Write-Host "The process '$($notepadProcess.Name)' has ID: $($notepadProcess.Id)"

Common Data Types

Understanding types helps in filtering and manipulation.

• String: Text (e.g., "Hello")
• Integer: Whole numbers (e.g., 10)
• Double: Decimal numbers (e.g., 3.14)
• Boolean: $true or $false
• DateTime: Dates and times (e.g., (Get-Date))
• Array: Ordered list of items (e.g., $myArray = 1, 2, 3)
• HashTable: Key-value pairs (e.g., $myHash = @{Key1="Value1"; Key2="Value2"})

Conditional Statements (If/ElseIf/Else)

$score = 85
if ($score -ge 90) {
    Write-Host "Grade: A"
} elseif ($score -ge 80) {
    Write-Host "Grade: B"
} else {
    Write-Host "Grade: C or lower"
}

Loops (ForEach)

Iterate over collections.

$users = "Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"
foreach ($user in $users) {
    Write-Host "Processing user: $user"
}

Get-Process | ForEach-Object {
    Write-Host "Name: $($_.Name), ID: $($_.Id)"
}

Loops (For)

Iterate a specific number of times.

for ($i = 0; $i -lt 5; $i++) {
    Write-Host "Iteration: $i"
}

Reading and Writing Files

# Read all lines from a file into an array
$lines = Get-Content -Path "C:\temp\myfile.txt"
# Read the entire file content as a single string
$content = Get-Content -Path "C:\temp\myfile.txt" -Raw

# Write to a file (overwrites existing content)
"This is the first line." | Set-Content -Path "C:\temp\newfile.txt"
# Append to a file
"This is another line." | Add-Content -Path "C:\temp\newfile.txt"

Filtering Text (Select-String)

Find lines containing specific text.

Get-Content -Path "C:\temp\logfile.txt" | Select-String -Pattern "Error"
Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\logs" -Filter "*.log" | Select-String -Pattern "Warning"