powertips

Add-Content is a versatile command if you need to add additional content to text files. For example, you can create log file entries like this:...

PowerShell automatically displays all object properties when you output the object to the console. Here is an example: Get-WmiObject win32_bios...

When running a PowerShell script, you may want to return a numeric exit code to the caller to indicate failure or success. You should use the...

If you'd like to get a list of all local Groups on your computer, you can use this line: Get-WMIObject Win32_Group -filter...

In case you need to get a list of all of your current Group memberships as derived from your current access token, use this line:...

PowerShell v1 has no support for working remotely but WMI natively is able to work on local or remote machines. Simply use the -computername...

If you'd like to get rid of a file share, such as the one you created via WMI in our last tip, this is how you can do it: (Get-WMIObject...

You can use WMI to help create new file shares. This is the line you need: md...

You can use Select-Object to rename existing object properties. For example, you would like to rename e a directory listing "Name"...

You can find out whether a system has CD-Drives by using a little function that returns all drive letters from all CD Drives in your system:...

As a rule of thumb, PowerShell creates real copies when you copy variables. So in the next example, changing the array in $a will not affect the...

PowerShell has a great way of integrating existing VBScripts. All you need to do is call the script using the console-based host cscript.exe. Then,...

Group-Object is perfect for grouping objects based on one or more properties. Once you group objects, you can then filter, or sort, based on their...

Format-Table is a great cmdlet to output formatted data. Sometimes, you may just be interested in the raw table data. You can simply hide the column...

Sort-Object is a great and versatile cmdlet to sort anything you want. Simply specify the property or properties you want to use for sorting: Dir...

Select-Object can limit results to only the first or last elements. Simply use -first or -last: dir | select-object -first 10Get-Process |...

If you ever need to read in a file and split file content into words, there are a couple of gotchas to keep in mind. First off, remember that...

Usually, when you assign a variable to another variable, its content is copied. Here is an example: $a = "Hello"$b = $a$a = "Hello...

PowerShell can still use COM libraries. Simply use New-Object -comObject and provide the COM library name to load it. With this approach, you can do...

Get-Member is the third important basic PowerShell cmdlet as it gives you a documentation of what a command returns. It lists all of the object and...

Get-Help is the second of the three most important PowerShell cmdlets as it retrieves all the Help for any cmdlet. If you just enter Get-Help, you...

There are only three cmdlets you should know by heart. One is the Get-Command, which can do a lot more than you might think. When called without...

If you ever wanted to create shortcut icons on your Desktop, or in your programs menu, to quickly launch PowerShell, here is a way to do it:...

Maybe you have invested some time in creating new aliases, and now you would like to know how to preserve your new aliases so that the next time you...

As you may know aliases are shortcuts to other commands. So, you can easily add new aliases like this: Set-Alias edit notepad.exe The next time you...

PowerShell comes with a lot of documentation. One thing you should check out is the QuadFold.rtf file. You should use the following line to find and...

PowerShell can be configured in a multitude of ways. Most often, you use Add-PSSnapin to load additional snap-ins with more cmdlets and providers....

PowerShell offers you a multitude of ways to write information to disk. Here's a quick overview. 1. You can use classic redirection:...

Ever wanted to get a sorted list of all variables used inside a script? Use this function: simply call Get-ScriptVariables and supply a path to your...

In a previous tip, you have learned how you can encrypt a PowerShell script using your identity as a secret key. You might prefer to use a...