Learn PowerShell: Episode 2, Going Further

Introduction

This tutorial is designed to help you deepen your understanding of PowerShell, focusing on folder navigation, aliases, drives, commands, and parameters. By following the steps outlined here, you will gain practical skills necessary for effective usage of PowerShell, allowing you to navigate your system and execute commands with confidence.

Chapter 1: Folder Navigation

• Understanding Current Location

  • The path displayed after the angle bracket indicates your current folder.
  • Use the ls command to list the contents of your current directory.

• Changing Location

  • Use the Set-Location command to change your current folder.

    Set-Location Inner
    

  • To make this process quicker, utilize aliases instead of typing the full command.

Chapter 2: Aliases

• What are Aliases?

  • Aliases are shortcuts for longer command names.
  • Examples include:
    • ls is an alias for Get-ChildItem
    • where is an alias for Where-Object

• Using Aliases

  • Instead of writing lengthy commands, use aliases for efficiency.
  • Familiarize yourself with common aliases to streamline your workflow.

Chapter 3: PS Drives

• Understanding PS Drives

  • PowerShell organizes everything into drives, similar to a file system.
  • To list all available drives, use:

    Get-PSDrive
    

• Navigating Different Drives

  • You can navigate to registry entries or other drives using the cd command:

    cd HKLM:  # Navigate to the local machine registry
    ls        # List registry entries
    cd C:     # Return to the C drive
    

Chapter 4: What are Commands?

• Defining Commands

  • In PowerShell, a command is an object that performs an action.
  • Commands typically follow a "Verb-Noun" structure (e.g., Get-Process).

• Understanding Command Properties

  • Every command has a name, parameters, and properties that control its behavior.
  • Familiarize yourself with this structure to enhance command comprehension.

Chapter 5: What are Parameters?

• Understanding Parameters

  • Parameters provide additional details to commands.
  • They can be required or optional.

• Using Parameters

  • Example of using a hypothetical command with parameters:

    Subscribe-Channel -ChannelName "ABMedia" -NotificationLevel "None"
    

  • Use Tab for auto-completion of parameter names.

Chapter 6: Discovering Parameters

• Finding Command Help
  • Use the Get-Help command to find parameters for any command:

    Get-Help Subscribe-Channel
    

  • Parameters in square brackets are optional.

Chapter 7: Non-standard Filtering

• Using Where for Filtering

  • Use Where-Object to filter results:

    ls | Where-Object { $_.Extension -eq ".txt" }
    

• Direct Filtering Options

  • Some commands like Get-ChildItem provide their own filtering mechanisms.
  • Check the command documentation for specific filtering options.

Chapter 8: Discovering Commands

• Finding New Commands

  • Commands have descriptive names, making them easier to remember.
  • Use Get-Command to list all available commands:

    Get-Command
    

• Searching for Commands

  • Use wildcards to search for specific commands:

    Get-Command -Name "Get-*"
    

  • This will return all commands starting with "Get-".

Chapter 9: Internal Structure

• Understanding PowerShell Framework

  • PowerShell is built on the CLR (Common Language Runtime) and .NET library.
  • It provides an object-oriented approach to managing system components.

• Using PowerShell Modules

  • Modules are collections of commands that extend PowerShell’s capabilities.
  • Explore available modules to enhance your scripting toolkit.

Conclusion

By mastering these concepts and commands in PowerShell, you can significantly improve your productivity and efficiency. Continue to explore PowerShell's features and try using the commands discussed in this tutorial. Experimenting with Get-Command and Get-Help will enhance your knowledge and skillset for future tasks. Happy scripting!