PowerShell Cheat Sheet: Commands, Operators, and More for 2024

PowerShell is a useful Windows command-line language version that helps you seamlessly perform and automate critical tasks on your systems. But how can you perform these tasks and make the most of PowerShell on your Windows system?

Don’t worry — we’ve compiled a PowerShell cheat sheet documenting PowerShell syntax and all the PowerShell commands to help you optimize PowerShell and even prepare for job interviews.

Download Our PowerShell Cheat Sheet PDF Here.

PowerShell Cheat Sheet

Let’s start with a quick introduction to Windows 10 PowerShell commands.

PowerShell Basics

PowerShell is a cross-platform and a commonly used task automation solution combining the power of the command-line shell, a scripting language, and a configuration management framework. You can run PowerShell on Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems. Unlike other available shells that only accept and return data, PowerShell accepts and returns .NET objects.

This shell comes with the following features.

• Robust command-line history
• Extensive features, like tab completion and command prediction
• Command and parameter aliases
• Pipeline for changing commands
• In-console help system, like Unix man pages

Considering the features of any scripting language, you can use PowerShell to automate the system management process and task. It lets you build, test, and deploy solutions in CI/CD environments.

PowerShell is built on the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR), which means all the inputs and outputs are .NET objects. You do not have to parse text output to retrieve information from it.

The PowerShell scripting language comes with the following features.

• Functions, classes, objects, and modules
• Easy formatting system for providing clear output for enhanced readability
• Built-in support for different data formats, such as CSV, JSON, and XML
• Type system for creating dynamic types

Now, let’s get into some useful PowerShell commands.

Introduction to Windows PowerShell 5.1

PowerShell Commands Cheat Sheet

cmdlets

Cmdlets are PowerShell’s internal commands. These cmdlets will return one or more objects to the pipeline where at the end of that pipeline, we mention some properties of the objects in the following table to see their values displayed on the screen.

Get-Help

Get-PSdrive

Get-ChildItem

Get-ChildItem -recurse

Get-ChildItem -rec -force

(Get-ChildItem).name or Get-ChildItem -name

(Get-ChildItem).count 

PSdrives

PSdrives are the collection of entities grouped together so they can be accessed as a filesystem drive. The “PSprovider” does this grouping.

By default, a PS session can access several PSdrives including c:, env:, alias:, and HKLM:, where c: refers to the usual Windows c-drive; env: is the space of Windows environmental variables; alias: is the collection of cmdlet aliases; and HKLM is a hive in the registry.

Any PS session will enter the user’s home folder. If you want to switch from a PS session to another PSdrive and retrieve the information from that drive, consider the following commands:

Switching to env-

Set-Location env-

Env:\> Get-Childitem

Env:\> Get-Childitem userprofile

Env:\> Set-Location alias:

Alias:\> Get-Childitem

Alias:\> Set-Location C:\

C:\Users\user_name>$alias:ls

Pipelines

Cmdlets uses the pipelines to pass the objects but not the character streams like Unix. The pipeline character is | (ASCII 124), followed by a command that handles the output passed through the pipeline. The pipeline consists of the following three stages.

Get-ChildItem *.txt | Where-Object length -lt 1000 | Sort-Object length

The following table highlights some of the basic pipeline commands:

(Get-Item /Users/praashibansal/Desktop).lastwritetime.year

(Get-ChildItem data.txt.rtf -name).name # -> null

"data.txt.rtf" | Rename-Item -NewName "data_new.txt.rtf"

Get-ChildItem data.txt | Rename-Item -new {$_.name}

Get-ChildItem data.txt.rtf -name | Rename-Item -new {$_.name}

Get-ChildItem | Select-Object basename | Sort-Object *

Move-Item *.txt subdirectory

Get-ChildItem *.txt | Move-Item ..\

Alias

Cmdlets come with several aliases. The following table highlights a few of aliases, along with their descriptions:

Add-Content

Get-Content

Set-Location

Clear-Host

Remove-Item

Get-ChildItem -Path .\

Write-Output

Foreach-Object

Format-Table

Format-List

Get-Alias

Get-Command

Get-Member

Get-ItemProperty .\data.txt | Format-List

Get-ItemPropertyValue -Path '.\data.txt' -Name LastWriteTime

Get-Variable m*

New-Item -Path .\ -Name "testfile1.txt" -ItemType "file" -Value "This is a text string."

Get-Process

Get-Location

Rename-Item -Path “old_name” -NewName “new_name”

Remove-Item .\testfile1.txt

Remove-Variable 

Start-Sleep

Operators

• Arithmetic Operators

• Operator Precedence

• Assignment Operators

• Comparison Operators

• Logical Operators

• Redirection Operator

• Type Operators

Some Other Operators

Regular Expressions

A regular expression is a pattern that is used to match text that includes literal characters, operators, and other constructs. PowerShell regular expressions are case-insensitive by default.

• Character Literals

A regular expression can be a literal character or a string.

• Character Groups

These allow you to match any number of characters one time, while [^character group] only matches characters NOT in the group.

• Character Range

A pattern can also be a range of characters. The characters can be alphabetic [A-Z], numeric [0-9], or even ASCII-based [ -~] (all printable characters).

• Numbers

The \d character class will match any decimal digit. Conversely, \D will match any non-decimal digit.

• Word Character

The \w character class will match any word character [a-zA-Z_0-9]. To match any non-word character, use \W.

• Wildcard

The period (.) is a wildcard character in regular expressions. It will match any character except a newline (\n).

• Whitespace

Whitespace is matched using the \s character class. Any non-whitespace character is matched using \S. Literal space characters ' ' can also be used.

• Escaping Characters

The backslash (\) is used to escape characters so the regular expression engine doesn’t parse them.

The following characters are reserved: []().\^$|?*+{}.

• Substitution in Regular Expression.

The regular expressions with the -replace operator allows you to dynamically replace text using captured text.

<input> -replace <original>, <substitute>

Flow Control

• ForEach-Object

ForEach-Object is a cmdlet that allows you to iterate through items in a pipeline, such as with PowerShell one-liners. ForEach-Object will stream the objects through the pipeline.

Although the Module parameter of Get-Command accepts multiple values that are strings, it will only accept them via pipeline input using the property name, or parameter input.

If you want to pipe two strings by value to Get-Command for use with the Module parameter, use the ForEach-Objectcmdlet:

$ComputerName = 'DC01', 'WEB01'

foreach ($Computer in $ComputerName) {

Get-ADComputer -Identity $Computer

}

• For

A “for” loop iterates while a specified condition is true.

For example:

for ($i = 1; $i -lt 5; $i++) {

Write-Output "Sleeping for $i seconds"

Start-Sleep -Seconds $i

}

• Do

There are two different “do” loops in PowerShell. Do Until runs while the specified condition is false.

Example 1:

$number = Get-Random -Minimum 1 -Maximum 10

do {

$guess = Read-Host -Prompt "What's your guess?"

if ($guess -lt $number) {

Write-Output 'Too low!'

}

elseif ($guess -gt $number) {

Write-Output 'Too high!'

}

}

until ($guess -eq $number)

Example 2:

$number = Get-Random -Minimum 1 -Maximum 10

do {

$guess = Read-Host -Prompt "What's your guess?"

if ($guess -lt $number) {

Write-Output 'Too low!'

} elseif ($guess -gt $number) {

Write-Output 'Too high!'

}

}

while ($guess -ne $number)

• While

Similar to the Do While loop, a While loop runs as long as the specified condition is true. The difference however, is that a While loop evaluates the condition at the top of the loop before any code is run. So, it doesn't run if the condition evaluates to false.

For example:

$date = Get-Date -Date 'November 22'

while ($date.DayOfWeek -ne 'Thursday') {

$date = $date.AddDays(1)

}

Write-Output $date

Variables

PowerShell allows you to store all types of values. For example, it can store command results and command expression elements like names, paths, and settings. Here are some of PowerShell’s different variables.

• User-created variables: These are created and maintained by the user. The variables you create at the PowerShell command line will only exist until the PowerShell window is open. When you close the PowerShell window, these variables are deleted. If you want to save a variable, you need to add it to your PowerShell profile. You can create variables and declare them with three different scopes: global, script, or local.

• Automatic variables: These variables store the state of PowerShell and are created by PowerShell. Only PowerShell can change their values as required to maintain accuracy. Users can’t change these variables’ value. For example, the $PSHOME variable will store the path to the PowerShell installation directory.
• Preference variables: These variables store user preferences for PowerShell and are created by PowerShell. These variables are populated with default values and can be changed by the users. For example, the $MaximumHistoryCount variable specifies the maximum number of entries in the session history.

To create a new variable, you need to use an assignment statement and assign a value to the variable. There is no need to declare the variable before using it. The default value of all variables is $null.

For example:

$MyVariable = 1, 2, 3

$MyVariable

Function

• Naming Your Function

Use a Pascal case name with an approved verb and a singular noun to name a function. You can get a list of approved verbs by running Get-Verb:

Get-Verb | Sort-Object -Property Verb

• Creating a Simple Function

Use a function keyword followed by the function name to create a simple function. Then, use an open and closing curly brace. The function will execute code contained within those curly braces.

For example:

function Get-Version {

$PSVersionTable.PSVersion

}

Working with Modules

A module is a package containing PowerShell members, such as cmdlets, providers, functions, workflows, variables, and aliases. You can implement package members in a PowerShell script, a compiled DLL, or both. PowerShell automatically imports the modules the first time you run any command in an installed module. You can use the commands in a module without setting up or profile configuration.

• How to Use a Module

To use any module, you need to first install them. Then, find the command that comes with the module and use them.

• Installing a Module

If you get a module as a folder, install it before you use it on the PowerShell command line. Some modules are preinstalled. You can use the following command to create a Modules directory for the current user:

New-Item -Type Directory -Path $HOME\Documents\PowerShell\Modules

Copy the entire module folder into the Modules directory. You can use any method to copy the folder, including Windows Explorer, Cmd.exe, and PowerShell.

• Finding the Installed Modules

Run the following to find the modules installed in a default module location (not imported).

Get-Module -ListAvailable

• Finding Commands in a Module

Run the following command to find a module’s commands:

Get-Command -Module <module-name>

Get-Command -Module Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive

• Importing a Module

Run the following command with the proper module name:

Import-Module <module-name>

• Removing a Module Name

You can run the following command with the proper module name:

Remove-Module <module-name>

• View Default Module Locations

Use the following command to view default module locations:

$Env:PSModulePath

• Add a Default Module Location

You can use the following command format:

$Env:PSModulePath = $Env:PSModulePath + ";<path>"

• Add a Default Module Location on Linux or MacOS

Use the following to execute the same command as above, only with Linux or macOS:

$Env:PSModulePath += ":<path>"

Hash Tables

A hash table is a complex data structure to store data in the form of key-value pairs. We also refer to a hash table as a dictionary or associative array. To understand a hash table, consider a series of IP addresses and the respective computer names. A hash stores this data in the form of key-value pairs, where IP addresses refer to keys and computer names to their corresponding values.

The hash table syntax is as follows:

@{ <name> = <value>; [<name> = <value> ] ...}

An ordered dictionary’s syntax is as follows:

[ordered]@{ <name> = <value>; [<name> = <value> ] ...}

• Creating Hash Tables

If you want to create a hash table, follow these steps:

• Start the hash table with an at sign (@) and enclose it in curly braces ({}).
• A hash table should contain at least one key-value pair, and hence, enter the data after creating a hash table.
• Separate key from its value using an equal sign (=).
• Separate the key/value pairs in a hash table with a semicolon (;).
• Enclose the space between the keys in quotation marks. Values must be valid PowerShell expressions. Also, enclose strings in quotation marks, even if there are no spaces between them.
• Save a hash table as a variable to manage it efficiently.
• When assigning an ordered hash table to a variable, place the [ordered] attribute before the @ symbol. If you place it before the variable name, the command fails.

For example:

$hash = @{}

$hash = @{ Number = 1; Shape = "Square"; Color = "Blue"}

[hashtable]$hash = [ordered]@{

Number = 1; Shape = "Square"; Color = "Blue"}

$hash

• Adding and Removing Keys and Values

To add keys and values to a hash table, use the following command format:

$hash["<key>"] = "<value>"

For example, you can add a "Time" key with a value of "Now" to the hash table with the following statement format:

$hash["Time"] = "Now"

Or

$hash.Add("Time", "Now")

Or, you can remove the key with this statement format:

$hash.Remove("Time")

Asynchronous Event Handling

These cmdlets allow you to register and unregister event subscriptions and list the existing subscriptions. You can also list pending events and handle or remove them as desired.

PowerShell eventing cmdlets

Conclusion

Bottom line? A PowerShell cheat sheet is your one-stop-shop for everything related to PowerShell syntax and commands. In this Windows PowerShell commands cheat sheet, we’ve discussed all the basics to help even beginners navigate PowerShell.

Like any other programming language, you can use variables, and operators, create aliases and functions and even maintain flow control.

If you’re preparing for your upcoming interviews, keep this PowerShell 5.0 cheat sheet handy for quick reference with easy examples.

Interested in expanding your knowledge with Windows Command Line?

Check Out Our Windows Command Line Cheat Sheet

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How Do I Get a List of PowerShell Commands?

You can use the get-command.

2. How Many PowerShell Commands Are There?

There are over 200 commands in PowerShell.

3. How Do I Learn PowerShell for Beginners?

You might consider using Microsoft’s introductory guide to PowerShell. It includes easy language and simple examples to enhance your understanding.

4. Is Windows PowerShell the Same as Command Prompt?

The following table highlights the major differences between PowerShell and command prompt:

5. How Can I Make Command Prompt Default Instead of PowerShell?

Open Settings > Personalization > Taskbar. Now, turn the “Replace Command Prompt with Windows PowerShell'' in the menu when I right-click the Start button, or press Windows key+X” option to “Off”.

People are also reading:

• Best Python Courses
• Best Python Certifications
• Best Python Books
• Top Python Projects
• Top Python Interview Questions
• Best Python Interpreters
• Best way to learn python
• How to Run a Python Script?
• Difference between C# vs C++
• Difference between Java vs C#
• Python or Java
• Ruby vs Python