Where-Object: Just A Pipeline-Aware If-Clause

by Mar 18, 2019

Where-Object is one of the most frequently used PowerShell commands, yet it looks unfamiliar to new PowerShell users. Those who are familiar with the “SQL” database query language can use Where-Object like the Where statement in SQL clauses: it is a client-side filter that eliminates unwanted items. This line would take all services and display only those who are actually running:

Get-Service | Where-Object { $_.Status -eq "Running" }

To better understand how Where-Object works, it is basically an If-Clause for the pipeline. The above code is the equivalent of this:

Get-Service | ForEach-Object {
    if ($_.Status -eq 'Running')
    { $_ }
}

Or, in a completely pipeline-free “traditional” approach:

$services = Get-Service
Foreach ($_ in $services)
{
  if ($_.Status -eq 'Running')
  {
    $_
  }
}

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