powertips

Most PowerShell functions use static parameters. They are defined in a param() block and are always present. A little-known fact is that you can...

Typically, it is trivial for PowerShell to retrieve raw HTML website content by using Invoke-WebRequest. A script can then take the HTML content and...

Occasionally, you might want to create a function that accepts different parameter types. Let’s say you want the user to be able to either submit an...

Most old VBS scripts can be easily translated to PowerShell. The key command in VBS is “CreateObject” which lets you access system libraries....

PowerShell can invoke Microsoft Excel sheets and start contained macros. While this would work with an invisible Excel application window, it is a...

Ever wondered how you can list all properties exposed by a function or cmdlet? Here is how: Get-Help Get-Service -Parameter * | Select-Object...

Whether you import a CSV list into PowerShell using Import-Csv, or deal with any other type of objects: how can you automatically determine the...

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In previous tips we illustrated how you can improve loops and especially pipeline operations. To transfer this knowledge to functions, take a look...

In the previous tip we added considerable speed to a common script pattern. Now, let’s squeeze out even more performance with a pretty unusual...

Here is a common mistake found in many PowerShell scripts: $start = Get-Date $bucket = @() 1..100000 | ForEach-Object { $bucket += "I am adding...

Here is a chunk of code that demonstrates how you can store private settings in the Windows Registry: # store settings here $Path =...

If you use Outlook to organize your calendar events, here is a useful PowerShell function that connects to Outlook and dumps your calendar entries:...

How would you query for all AD users with names that start with a “e”-“g”? You shouldn’t use a client-side filter such...

Maybe you’d like to add a column with incrementing indices to your objects. Try this: $startcount = 0 Get-Service | Select-Object -Property...

In the previous tip we explained what Group-Object can do for you, and how awesome it is. Unfortunately, Group-Object does not scale well. When you...

Group-Object is an awesome cmdlet: it can easily visualize distributions. Check out the examples below: Get-Process | Group-Object -Property Company...

Occasionally, there is the need to automate tasks on websites that have been opened manually. Maybe you need to log into internal web pages first...

Starting with Windows 8 and Server 2012 R2, these operating systems ship a PowerShell module called PrintManagement. The cmdlets found in this...

Sometimes it may be clever to use simple text-based CSV format internally to bulk-create objects, especially if the original data is already...

Often, AD Administrators need to find all members of a given AD group, including nested members. Here is a code snippet that frequently surfaces in...

The cloud these days not only offers virtual machines and storage, but also brand new and exciting services such as the cognitive services. You need...

PowerShell 5 finally includes support for ZIP files, so if you want to backup all of your PowerShell scripts into one ZIP file, here is a one-liner:...

Local admin privileges are extremely powerful, and you should use techniques such as JEA to minimize the number of local Admins as much as you can....