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June 11th, 2015

Microsoft
Summary: Ed Wilson, Microsoft Scripting Guy, provides a table of basic Windows PowerShell commands.

Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, is here. Some questions are simply confusing, and other
 questions can be misleading, or even wrong. What do I mean? Well, I recently received a
question from a person who wanted to know how to “use WMI to do xyz…” Such a
 question betrays an assumption. For example, it may be that the best way to accomplish
a specific task is to not use WMI, but to use “native Windows PowerShell” functionality.

Certainly, for example, I would use Get-Process to retrieve process information on my
local computer—unless there was something that WMI would do differently or provide
an alternate capability. At times, I will clarify a person’s question, intention, and goals. At
other times, I will directly answer the question, and then suggest a better way to
accomplish what I think the goal is. Other times, I will answer what I think their question
is and be done with it. When a person asks about Windows PowerShell commands, are
they really talking about native Windows PowerShell commands (such as the language
statements For, Foreach, or Switch)? Or are they talking about Windows PowerShell
cmdlets? Or are they talking about a string of Windows PowerShell cmdlets that taken
together become a unique Windows PowerShell command? When I am writing my
Windows PowerShell books (such as my book, Windows PowerShell Best Practices), I
tend to call a collection of Windows PowerShell cmdlets that are strung together to
accomplish a specific task in a Windows PowerShell command. But at other times, I
actually vary my answer according to what I perceive to be the level of expertise of the
questioner. For example, often people will come to me after I have spoken at a
conference (such as the IT Pro Camp in Jacksonville where Teresa and I will be speaking
this Saturday). If they ask something like, “I know nothing about Windows PowerShell.
Can you tell me the most basic Windows PowerShell commands?” I will not necessarily
take the time to tell them that they are probably asking about cmdlets, not commands.

With this in mind, the following chart lists Windows PowerShell command aliases, the
Windows PowerShell cmdlet name, and a description of what the command actually
does.

Command alias Cmdlet name Description of command

% ForEach-Object Performs an operation against each item in

a collection of input objects.

? Where-Object Selects objects from a collection based on

their property values. 

ac Add-Content Appends content, such as words or data, to


a file.

asnp Add-PSSnapIn Adds one or more Windows PowerShell

snap-ins to the current session.
 cat Get-Content Gets the contents of a file.

cd Set-Location Sets the current working location to a

specified location.

chdir Set-Location Sets the current working location to a

specified location.

clc Clear-Content Deletes the contents of an item, but does

not delete the item.

clear Clear-Host Clears the display in the host program.

clhy Clear-History Deletes entries from the command history.

cli Clear-Item Deletes the contents of an item, but does

 not delete the item.

clp Clear-ItemProperty Deletes the value of a property but does
 not delete the property.

cls Clear-Host Clears the display in the host program.

clv Clear-Variable Deletes the value of a variable.

cnsn Connect-PSSession Reconnects to disconnected sessions

compare Compare-Object Compares two sets of objects.

copy Copy-Item Copies an item from one location to

another.

cp Copy-Item Copies an item from one location to

another.

cpi Copy-Item Copies an item from one location to

another.

cpp Copy-ItemProperty Copies a property and value from a

specified location to another location.

curl Invoke-WebRequest Gets content from a webpage on the

Internet.

cvpa Convert-Path Converts a path from a Windows

PowerShell path to a Windows PowerShell
provider path.

dbp Disable-PSBreakpoint Disables the breakpoints in the current


console.

del Remove-Item Deletes files and folders.



diff Compare-Object Compares two sets of objects.

 dir Get-ChildItem Gets the files and folders in a file system
drive.

dnsn Disconnect- Disconnects from a session.

PSSession

ebp Enable-PSBreakpoint Enables the breakpoints in the current

console.

echo Write-Output Sends the specified objects to the next

command in the pipeline. If the command
is the last command in the pipeline, the
objects are displayed in the console.

epal Export-Alias Exports information about currently

defined aliases to a file.

epcsv Export-Csv Converts objects into a series of comma-

separated (CSV) strings and saves the
 strings in a CSV file.

epsn Export-PSSession Imports commands from another session

and saves them in a Windows PowerShell
module.

erase Remove-Item Deletes files and folders.

etsn Enter-PSSession Starts an interactive session with a remote

computer.

exsn Exit-PSSession Ends an interactive session with a remote

computer.

fc Format-Custom Uses a customized view to format the

output.

fl Format-List Formats the output as a list of properties in

which each property appears on a new line.

foreach ForEach-Object Performs an operation against each item in

a collection of input objects.

ft Format-Table Formats the output as a table.

fw Format-Wide Formats objects as a wide table that

displays only one property of each object.

gal Get-Alias Gets the aliases for the current session.


gbp Get-PSBreakpoint Gets the breakpoints that are set in the
current session.

gc Get-Content Gets the contents of a file.

gci Get-ChildItem Gets the files and folders in a file system

drive
 drive.

gcm Get-Command Gets all commands.

gcs Get-PSCallStack Displays the current call stack.

gdr Get-PSDrive Gets drives in the current session.

ghy Get-History Gets a list of the commands entered

during the current session.

gi Get-Item Gets files and folders.

gjb Get-Job Gets Windows PowerShell background jobs

that are running in the current session.

gl Get-Location Gets information about the current

working location or a location stack.

 gm Get-Member Gets the properties and methods of
objects.

gmo Get-Module Gets the modules that have been imported
or that can be imported into the current
session.

gp Get-ItemProperty Gets the properties of a specified item.

gps Get-Process Gets the processes that are running on the

local computer or a remote computer.

group Group-Object Groups objects that contain the same value

for specified properties.

gsn Get-PSSession Gets the Windows PowerShell sessions on

local and remote computers.

gsnp Get-PSSnapIn Gets the Windows PowerShell snap-ins on

the computer.

gsv Get-Service Gets the services on a local or remote

computer.

gu Get-Unique Returns unique items from a sorted list.

gv Get-Variable Gets the variables in the current console.

gwmi Get-WmiObject Gets instances of Windows Management

Instrumentation (WMI) classes or
information about the available classes.


h Get-History Gets a list of the commands entered
during the current session.

history Get-History Gets a list of the commands entered
during the current session.
 icm Invoke-Command Runs commands on local and remote
computers.

iex Invoke-Expression Runs commands or expressions on the

local computer.

ihy Invoke-History Runs commands from the session history.

ii Invoke-Item Performs the default action on the

specified item.

ipal Import-Alias Imports an alias list from a file.

ipcsv Import-Csv Creates table-like custom objects from the

items in a CSV file.

 ipmo Import-Module Adds modules to the current session.


ipsn Import-PSSes sion Imports commands from another session
 into the current session.

irm Invoke-RestMethod Sends an HTTP or HTTPS request to a

RESTful web service.

ise powershell_ise.exe Explains how to use the PowerShell_ISE.exe

command-line tool.

iwmi Invoke-WMIMethod Calls Windows Management

Instrumentation (WMI) methods.

iwr Invoke-WebRequest Gets content from a web page on the

Internet.

kill Stop-Process Stops one or more running processes.

lp Out-Printer Sends output to a printer.

ls Get-ChildItem Gets the files and folders in a file system

drive.

man help Displays information about Windows

PowerShell commands and concepts.

md mkdir Creates a new item.

measure Measure-Object Calculates the numeric properties of

objects, and the characters, words, and
lines in string objects, such as files of text.


mi Move-Item Moves an item from one location to
another.

mount New-PSDrive Creates temporary and persistent mapped
network drives.
 move Move-Item Moves an item from one location to
another.

mp Move-ItemProperty Moves a property from one location to

another.

mv Move-Item Moves an item from one location to

another.

nal New-Alias Creates a new alias.

ndr New-PSDrive Creates temporary and persistent mapped

network drives.

ni New-Item Creates a new item.

 nmo New-Module Creates a new dynamic module that exists

 only in memory.

 npssc New- Creates a file that defines a session

PSSessionConfigurati configuration.
onFile

nsn New-PSSession Creates a persistent connection to a local

or remote computer.

nv New-Variable Creates a new variable.

ogv Out-GridView Sends output to an interactive table in a

separate window.

oh Out-Host Sends output to the command line.

popd Pop-Location Changes the current location to the

location most recently pushed to the stack.
You can pop the location from the default
stack or from a stack that you create by
using the Push-Location cmdlet.

ps Get-Process Gets the processes that are running on the

local computer or a remote computer.

pushd Push-Location Adds the current location to the top of a

location stack.

pwd Get-Location Gets information about the current

working location or a location stack.

r Invoke-History Runs commands from the session history.



rbp Remove- Deletes breakpoints from the current

PSBreakpoint console. 

rcjb Receive-Job Gets the results of the Windows PowerShell

background jobs in the current session.
 rcsn Receive-PSSession Gets results of commands in disconnected
sessions.

rd Remove-Item Deletes files and folders.

rdr Remove-PSDrive Deletes temporary Windows PowerShell

drives and disconnects mapped network
drives.

ren Rename-Item Renames an item in a Windows PowerShell

provider namespace.

ri Remove-Item Deletes files and folders.

Remove-Job Deletes a Windows PowerShell background

rjb
job.

 rm Remove-Item Deletes files and folders.

 rmdir Remove-Item Deletes files and folders.

rmo Remove-Module Removes modules from the current

session.

rni Rename-Item Renames an item in a Windows PowerShell

provider namespace.

rnp Rename- Renames a property of an item.

ItemProperty

rp Remove- Deletes the property and its value from an

ItemProperty item.

rsn Remove-PSSession Closes one or more Windows PowerShell

sessions (PSSessions).

rsnp Remove-PSSnapin Removes Windows PowerShell snap-ins

from the current session.

rujb Resume-Job Restarts a suspended job

rv Remove-Variable Deletes a variable and its value.

rvpa Resolve-Path Resolves the wildcard characters in a path,

and displays the path contents.

rwmi Remove-WMIObject Deletes an instance of an existing Windows

Management Instrumentation (WMI) class.


sajb Start-Job Starts a Windows PowerShell background
job.

sal Set-Alias Creates or changes an alias (alternate
name) for a cmdlet or other command
element in the current Windows
P Sh ll i