Understanding Cmdlets

Overview:

The following section goes over what cmdlets are and common cmdlets utilized within Powershell.

Common Cmdlets

What are Cmdlets?

Cmdlets are lightweight commands used in the PowerShell environment. They follow a Verb-Noun naming pattern.

Common Cmdlets:

Get-Help: Provides help information for cmdlets.
```
Get-Help Get-Process
```
Get-Command: Lists all available cmdlets and functions.
```
Get-Command
```
Get-Service: Retrieves the status of services on a system.
```
Get-Service
```
Get-Process: Gets the processes that are running on a system.
```
Get-Process
```

Set-Variable: Sets the value of a variable.

Set-Variable -Name "testVar" -Value "Hello, PowerShell"

Remove-Item: Deletes files, directories, or registry keys.
```
Remove-Item -Path "C:\Temp\test.txt"
```

Examples Using Cmdlets:

Retrieve a list of all services:
```
Get-Service
```
Get detailed help for a cmdlet:
```
Get-Help Get-Process -Detailed
```
List all commands available in your PowerShell session:
```
Get-Command
```

Using the Pipeline

What is a Pipeline?

The pipeline (|) is a powerful feature in PowerShell that allows you to pass the output of one cmdlet as input to another cmdlet.

Basic Pipeline Usage:

Example:
```
Get-Process | Sort-Object -Property CPU
```

Filtering Output:

Use Where-Object to filter objects based on property values.

Example:

Get-Process | Where-Object { $_.CPU -gt 100 }

Selecting Properties:

Use Select-Object to select specific properties of objects.

Example:

Get-Process | Select-Object -Property Name, CPU

Sorting Output:

Use Sort-Object to sort objects by property values.

Example:

Get-Process | Sort-Object -Property CPU -Descending

Example: Using Multiple Cmdlets in a Pipeline

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

Filtering and Formatting Output

Filtering Data:

Where-Object: Filters objects based on a specified condition.
```
Get-Process | Where-Object { $_.CPU -gt 100 }
```

Formatting Data:

Format-Table: Formats output as a table.

Get-Process | Format-Table -Property Name, CPU -AutoSize

Format-List: Formats output as a list.

Get-Process | Format-List -Property Name, CPU

Examples:

List all running processes using a table format:

Get-Process | Format-Table -Property Name, CPU -AutoSize

List all services that are running, sorted by display name:

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

Practical Exercises

Exercise 1: Using Basic Cmdlets

Retrieve a list of all processes running on your system:
```
Get-Process
```
Retrieve detailed help for the Get-Service cmdlet:
```
Get-Help Get-Service -Detailed
```

Exercise 2: Using the Pipeline

List all running processes and sort them by CPU usage:
```
Get-Process | Sort-Object -Property CPU
```
Filter the processes to show only those using more than 100 units of CPU:
```
Get-Process | Where-Object { $_.CPU -gt 100 }
```

Exercise 3: Filtering and Formatting Output

List all running services and format the output as a table:

Get-Service | Where-Object { $_.Status -eq "Running" } | Format-Table -Property DisplayName, Status -AutoSize

Exercise 4: Combining Cmdlets in a Pipeline

Combine Get-Service, Where-Object, and Format-Table to list all running services, sorted by their display names:

Get-Service | Where-Object { $_.Status -eq "Running" } | Sort-Object -Property DisplayName | Format-Table -Property DisplayName, Status -AutoSize

Last updated 9 months ago

Understanding Cmdlets

Overview:

The following section goes over what cmdlets are and common cmdlets utilized within Powershell.

Common Cmdlets

What are Cmdlets?

Cmdlets are lightweight commands used in the PowerShell environment. They follow a Verb-Noun naming pattern.

Common Cmdlets:

Get-Help: Provides help information for cmdlets.
```
Get-Help Get-Process
```
Get-Command: Lists all available cmdlets and functions.
```
Get-Command
```
Get-Service: Retrieves the status of services on a system.
```
Get-Service
```
Get-Process: Gets the processes that are running on a system.
```
Get-Process
```

Set-Variable: Sets the value of a variable.

Set-Variable -Name "testVar" -Value "Hello, PowerShell"

Remove-Item: Deletes files, directories, or registry keys.
```
Remove-Item -Path "C:\Temp\test.txt"
```

Examples Using Cmdlets:

Retrieve a list of all services:
```
Get-Service
```
Get detailed help for a cmdlet:
```
Get-Help Get-Process -Detailed
```
List all commands available in your PowerShell session:
```
Get-Command
```

Using the Pipeline

What is a Pipeline?

The pipeline (|) is a powerful feature in PowerShell that allows you to pass the output of one cmdlet as input to another cmdlet.

Basic Pipeline Usage:

Example:
```
Get-Process | Sort-Object -Property CPU
```

Filtering Output:

Use Where-Object to filter objects based on property values.

Example:

Get-Process | Where-Object { $_.CPU -gt 100 }

Selecting Properties:

Use Select-Object to select specific properties of objects.

Example:

Get-Process | Select-Object -Property Name, CPU

Sorting Output:

Use Sort-Object to sort objects by property values.

Example:

Get-Process | Sort-Object -Property CPU -Descending

Example: Using Multiple Cmdlets in a Pipeline

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

Filtering and Formatting Output

Filtering Data:

Where-Object: Filters objects based on a specified condition.
```
Get-Process | Where-Object { $_.CPU -gt 100 }
```

Formatting Data:

Format-Table: Formats output as a table.

Get-Process | Format-Table -Property Name, CPU -AutoSize

Format-List: Formats output as a list.

Get-Process | Format-List -Property Name, CPU

Examples:

List all running processes using a table format:

Get-Process | Format-Table -Property Name, CPU -AutoSize

List all services that are running, sorted by display name:

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

Practical Exercises

Exercise 1: Using Basic Cmdlets

Retrieve a list of all processes running on your system:
```
Get-Process
```
Retrieve detailed help for the Get-Service cmdlet:
```
Get-Help Get-Service -Detailed
```

Exercise 2: Using the Pipeline

List all running processes and sort them by CPU usage:
```
Get-Process | Sort-Object -Property CPU
```
Filter the processes to show only those using more than 100 units of CPU:
```
Get-Process | Where-Object { $_.CPU -gt 100 }
```

Exercise 3: Filtering and Formatting Output

List all running services and format the output as a table:

Get-Service | Where-Object { $_.Status -eq "Running" } | Format-Table -Property DisplayName, Status -AutoSize

Exercise 4: Combining Cmdlets in a Pipeline

Combine Get-Service, Where-Object, and Format-Table to list all running services, sorted by their display names:

Get-Service | Where-Object { $_.Status -eq "Running" } | Sort-Object -Property DisplayName | Format-Table -Property DisplayName, Status -AutoSize

Last updated 9 months ago