Subscribe Now for FREE! refcardz.

com
tech facts at your fingertips

CONTENTS INCLUDE:

Windows PowerShell
n
About Windows Powershell
n
The Language
n
Operators
n
Basic Tasks—Text and Files
n
Types and Objects
n
Building Custom Objects By Bruce Payette
n
Hot Tips and more...

Keyboard Editing operation

ABOUT WINDOWS POWERSHELL sequence
Left/Right Arrows Move the editing cursor left and right through the current
Why PowerShell? Why Now? PowerShell was designed to do for command line.

Windows what the UNIX shells do for UNIX: provide a powerful, Ctrl-Left Arrow, Move the editing cursor left and right a word at a time.
Ctrl-Right Arrow
well-integrated command-line experience for the operation
Home Move the editing cursor to the beginning of the current
system. Unfortunately since Windows is mostly managed through command line.
objects (WMI, COM and .NET) this required creating a new kind End Move the editing cursor to the end of the current command line.
of shell. So why create it now? As Windows moves off the desktop Up/Down Arrows Move up and down through the command history.
and into server farms or application servers like print, DNS Insert Key Toggles between character insert and character overwrite modes.
and LDAP services, command-line automation becomes a Delete Key Deletes the character under the cursor
fundamental requirement. Backspace Key Deletes the character behind the cursor.

This refcard covers starting and using Windows PowerShell, F7 Pops up command history in a window on the console. Use
the up and down arrows to select a command then Enter to
including the syntax for all statements, operators and other execute that command.
elements of the language. Also included are examples of how Tab Does command line completion. PowerShell completes on
filenames, cmdlet names (after the dash), cmdlet parameter
to use .NET, COM, ADSI and WMI objects from PowerShell.
names and property and method names on variables.
Finally, it includes tips and tricks— short examples showing
how to perform common tasks from PowerShell.
The Language
www.dzone.com

Getting Started with PowerShell PowerShell parses text in one of two modes—command mode,
where quotes are not required around a string and expression
PowerShell is freely available through the Microsoft Windows mode where strings must be quoted. The parsing mode is
determined by what’s at the beginning of the statement. If it’s a
Update Service packaged as an optional update for Windows
command, then the statement is parsed in command mode. If
XP SP2, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003. It is also
it’s not a command then the statement is parsed in expression
included with Windows Server 2008 as an optional component.
mode as shown:
Once installed, it can be started from the Start menu or simply
PS (1) > echo 2+2 Hi there # command mode – starts with
by running “powershell.exe”. Basic things you need to know: ‘echo’ command
n Use the “exit” keyword to exit the shell 2+2 Hi there
PS (2) > 2+2; “Hi there” # expression mode starts with 2
n Ctrl-C will interrupt the current task returning you to the prompt 4
Hi there
n A command can be spread over multiple lines and the PS (3) > echo (2+2) Hi (echo there) # Mixing and matching
modes with brackets)
interpreter will prompt for additional input. The line continuation
4 Hi there
character is the back-quote ‘`’ (also called the back-tick).
n To get help about a command you can do “help command”.
Get More Refcardz
Windows PowerShell

The help command by itself will give you a list of topics.

n The help command supports wildcards so “help get-*”
(They’re free!)
will return all of the commands that start with “get-”. n Authoritative content
n You can also get basic help on a command by doing n Designed for developers
n Written by top experts
“commandName -?” like “dir -?”
n Latest tools & technologies
n As well as cmdlet help, there is a collection of general help
n Hot tips & examples
topics prefixed with “about_”. You can get a list of these
n Bonus content online
topics by going help about_*
n New issue every 1-2 weeks

Command-Line editing in Powershell: Command-line Editing

works just like it does in cmd.exe: use the arrow keys to go up Subscribe Now for FREE!
and down, the insert and delete keys to insert and delete Refcardz.com
characters and so on.

DZone, Inc. | www.dzone.com

 2
Windows PowerShell
tech facts at your fingertips

Variables: In PowerShell, variables are organized into namespaces.

The Language, continued Variables are identified in a script by prefixing their names with
a ‘$” sign as in “$x = 3”. Variable names can be unqualified
Commands: There are 4 categories of commands in PowerShell:
like $a or they can be name-space qualified like: $variable:a
Cmdlets These are built-in commands in the shell, written in a .NET language or $env:path. In the latter case, $env:path is the environ-
like C# or Visual Basic. Users can extend the set of cmdlets by writing
and loading PowerShell snap-ins. ment variable path. PowerShell allows you to access functions
through the function names space: $function:prompt and
Functions Functions are commands written in the PowerShell language that are
defined dynamically. command aliases through the alias namespace alias:dir
Scripts Scripts are textfiles on disk with a .ps1 extension containing a Arrays: Arrays are constructed using the comma ‘,’ operator. Unless
collection of PowerShell commands.
otherwise specified, arrays are of type Object[]. Indexing is done
Applications Applications (also canned native commands) are existing windows with square brackets. The ‘+’ operator will concatenate two arrays.
programs. These commands may be executables, documents for
with there are associated editors like a word file or they may be
script files in other languages that have interpreters registered and
PS (1) > $a = 1, 2, 3
that have their extensions in the PATHTEXT environment variable. PS (2) > $a[1]
2
PS (3) > $a.length
Pipelines: As with any shell, pipelines are central to the operation 3
of PowerShell. However, instead of returning strings from external PS (4) > [string] ($a + 4, 5)
processes, PowerShell pipelines are composed of collections of 1 2 3 4 5
commands. These commands process pipeline objects one at
Because PowerShell is a dynamic language, sometimes you don’t
a time, passing each object from pipeline element to pipeline
know if a command will return an array or a scalar. PowerShell
element. Elements can be processed based on properties
solves this problem with the @( ) notation. An expression evaluated
like Name and Length instead of having to extract substrings
this way will always be an array. If the expression is already an
from the objects.
array, it will simple be returned. If it wasn’t an array, a new single-
Named parameter element array will be constructed to hold this value.
dir Command with Argument More Commands
HashTables: The PowerShell hashtable literal produces an instance
of the .NET type System.Collections.Hashtable. The hashtable
dir -recurse -filter *.cs | sort length | select -first 5 | format-table name, length
keys may be unquoted strings or expressions; individual key/value
pairs are separated by either newlines or semicolons as shown:
Switch Parameter Pipe Operator Positional
Arguments PS (1) > $h = @{a=1; b=2+2
>> (“the” + “date”) = get-date}
PowerShell Literals: PowerShell has the usual set of literal >>
PS (2) > $h
values found in dynamic languages: strings, numbers, arrays
and hashtables. Name Value
---- -----
Numbers: PowerShell supports all of the signed .NET number thedate 10/24/2006 9:46:13 PM
formats. Hex numbers are entered as they are in C and C# a 1
with a leading ‘0x’ as in 0xF80e. Floating point includes Single b 4

and Double precisions and Decimal. Banker’s rounding is used PS (3) > $h[“thedate”]
when rounding values. Expressions are widened as needed. A
unique feature in PowerShell are the multiplyer suffixes which Tuesday, October 24, 2006 9:46:13 PM
make it convenient to enter larger values easily: PS (4) > $h.thedate

Multiplier Multiplication Example Equivalent .NET Type Tuesday, October 24, 2006 9:46:13 PM
Suffix Factor Value @{ a=1; b=2}
kb or KB 1024 1KB 1024 System.Int32 Types
[typename]
mb or MB 1024*1024 2.2mb 2306867.2 System.Double

gb or GB 1024*1024*1024 1Gb 1073741824 System.Int32 Type Conversions: For the most part, traditional shells only deal
with strings. Individual tools would have to interpret (parse) these
Strings: PowerShell uses .NET strings. Single and Double strings themselves. In PowerShell, we have a much richer set of
quoted strings are supported. Variable substitution and escape objects to work with. However, we still wanted to preserve the
sequence processing is done in double-quoted strings but not ease of use that strings provide. We do this through the Power-
in single quoted ones as shown: Shell type conversion subsystem. This facility will automatically
PS (1) > $x=”Hi” convert object types on demand in a transparent way. The type
PS (2) > “$x bob`nHow are you?” converter is careful to try and not lose information when doing a
Hi bob
How are you? conversion. It will also only do one conversion step at a time. The
PS (3) > ‘$x bob`nHow are you?’ user may also specify explicit conversions and, in fact, compose
$x bob`nHow are you?
those conversions. Conversions are typically applied to values but
The escape character is backtick instead of backslash so that they may also be attached to variables in which case anything
file paths can be written with either forward slash or backslash. assigned to that variable will be automatically be converted.

DZone, Inc. | www.dzone.com

 3
Windows PowerShell
tech facts at your fingertips

Switch options control how The pipeline produces values

The Language, continued switch Keyword matching is done. These are: to switch on. Alternatively
-regex -wildcard -match -case you can specify the sequence
switch -file <expr> {
Here’s is an example where a set of type constraints are applied Instead of
switch ( <pipeline> ) {
to a variable. We want anything assigned to this variable to first switch -options ( <pipeline> )
be converted into a string, then into an array of characters and {
<pattern> { <statementList> }
finally into the code points associated with those characters. default Keyword. <pattern> { <statementList> }
The default clause default { <statementList> }
PS (1) > [int[]][char[]][string]$v = @() # define variable is executed only if }
PS (2) > $v = “Hello” # assign a string there are no other
PS (3) > [string] $v # display the matches.
code points Pattern/action clauses. All matching clauses are executed.
Use the break keyword to halt processing or continue to cause
72 101 108 108 111 switch to skip to the next item to process.
101
108
108
111 Operators
PS (4) > $v=2+2 # assign a number
PS (5) > $v # display the
PowerShell has a very rich set of operators for working with
code points
52 numbers, strings, collections and objects. These operators are
PS (6) > [char] 52 # cast it back shown in the following tables.
to char
Arithmetic operators: The arithmetic operators work on numbers.
Flow-control Statements: PowerShell has the usual collection The ‘+’ and ‘*’ operators also work on collections. The ‘+’ operator
of looping and branching statements. One interesting difference concatenates strings and collections or arrays. The ‘*’ operator will
is that in many places, a pipeline can be used instead of a simple duplicate a collection the specified number of times.
expression.
Operator Description Example Result
if Statement:
if ($a –eq 13) { “A is 13} else {“A is not 13”} + Add two numbers together 2+4 6
Add two strings together “Hi“ + “there” “Hi There”
The condition part of an if statement may also be a pipeline.
Concatenate two arrays 1,2,3 + 4,5,6 1,2,3,4,5,6
if (dir | where {$_.length –gt 10kb}) {
“There were files longer than 10kb” * Multiply two values 2*4 8
} Repeat the string “a” 3 times. “a” * 3 “aaa”

while Loop: Concatenate the array twice 1,2 * 2 1,2,1,2

$a=1; while ($a –lt 10) { $a }
$a=10 ; do { $a } while (--$a) - Subtract one value from 6 -2 4
another
for Loop: / Divide two values 6 /2 3
for ($i=0; $i –lt 10; $i++) {
“5 * $i is $(5 * $i)” Divide two values, auto- 7/4 1.75
} convert to double
% Returns the remainder from a 7/4 3
foreach Loop: division operation
foreach ($i in 1..10) { “`$i is $i” }
foreach ($file in dir –recurse –filter *.cs | sort length)
Assignment Operators: PowerShell has the set of assignment
{
$_.Filename operators commonly found in C-derived languages. The seman-
} tics correspond to the binary forms of the operator.

foreach Cmdlet: This cmdlet can be used to iterate over Operator Example Equivalent Description
collections of operators (similar to the map( ) operation found = $a= 3 Sets the variable to the specified
in many other languages like Perl.) There is a short alias for this $a,$b,$c =1,2,3 value. Multiple assignment is
supported.
command ‘%’. Note that the $_ variable is used to access the
+= $a += 2 $a = $a + 2 Performs the addition operation
current pipeline object in the foreach and where cmdlets.
in the existing value then assign
1..10 | foreach { $_ * $_ } the result back to the variable.
$t = 0; dir | foreach { $t += $_ } ; $t
1..10 | %{ “*” * $_ } -= $a -= 13 $a = $a – 13 Performs the subtraction
operation in the existing value
where Cmdlet: This cmdlet selects a subset of objects from a then assign the result back to the
stream based on the evaluation of a condition. The short alias variable.

for this command is ‘?’. *= $a *= 3 $a = $a * 3 Multiplies the value of a variable

by the specified value or appends
1..10 | where {$_ -gt 2 –and $_ -lt 10} to the existing value.
get-process | where {$_.handlecount –gt 100 }

switch Statement: The PowerShell switch statement combines /= $a /= 3 $a = $a / 3 Divides the value of a variable by
the specified value
both branching and looping. It can be used to process collections
%= $a %= 3 $a = $a % 3 Divides the value of a variable by
of objects in the condition part of the statement or it can be used the specified value and assigns the
to scan files using the –file option. remainder (modulus) to the variable

DZone, Inc. | www.dzone.com

 4
Windows PowerShell
tech facts at your fingertips

Regular Expression Patterns: PowerShell regular expressions

Operators, continued are implemented using the .NET regular expressions.

Comparison Operators: Most of the PowerShell operators are Metacharacter Description Example
the same as are usually found in C-derived languages. The Matches any “word” character,
comparison operators, however, are not. To allow the ‘>’ and ‘<’ \w approximately equivalent to “abcd defg” -match “\w+”
[a-zA-Z0-9]
operators to be used for redirection, a different set of characters
\W Matches any non-word character “abcd defg” -match “\W+”
had to be chosen so PowerShell operators match those found in
\s Matches any whitespace character “abcd defg” -match “\s+”
the Bourne shell style shell languages. (Note: when applying
a PowerShell operator against collection, the elements of the Matches any non-whitespace
\S “abcd defg” -match “\s+”
character.
collection that compare appropriately will be returned instead
Matches any digit or non-digit
of a simple Boolean.) \d \D
respectively
12345 -match “\d+”

Operator Description Example Result Quantifiers matching n through

m instances of a pattern.. If m is
-eq –ceq –ieq Equals 5 –eq 5 $true {n} {n,} {n,m} not specified, it matches at least “abc” -match “\w{2,3}”
-ne –cne –ine Not equals 5 –ne 5 $false n instances. If one n is specified,
it must match exactly n instances.
-gt –cgt –igt Greater than 5 –gt 3 $true
-ge –cge –ige Greater than or equal 5 –ge 3 $true PowerShell Functions: Functions can be defined with the
-lt –clt –ilt Less than 5 –lt 3 $false
function keyword. Since PowerShell is a shell, every statement in
a PowerShell function may return a value. Use redirection to $null
-le –cle –ile Less than 5 –le 3 $false
or equals to discard unnecessary output. The following diagram shows a
-contains -ccontains The collection on the 1,2,3 –contains 2 $true
simple function definition.
-icontains left hand side contains
The name of Parameter Function body;
the value specified on the function specifications; may list of statements
function
the right hand side. include initializers in parentheses
keyword; may
-notcontains- The collection on the 1,2,3 $false also use the
cnotcontains left hand side does not –notcontains 2 filter keyword
-inotcontains contain the value on the function <name> ( $p1=<expr1>, $p2 ... ) { <statementList> }
right hand side.

Pattern Matching Operators: PowerShell supports two sets of Parameter with initializer expression; name Additional parameter specifications
pattern-matching operators. The first set uses regular expressions followed by = symbol, followed by an expression are separated by commas

and the second uses wildcard patterns (sometimes called

Advanced Functions: functions can also be defined like
globbing patterns).
cmdlets with a begin, process and end clause for handling
Operator Description Example Result processing in each stage of the pipeline.
-match –cmatch Do a pattern match using “Hello” –match $true
Function name List of formal parameters
-imatch regular expressions “[jkl]”
to the function
-notmatch Do a regex pattern match, “Hello” –notmatch $false
return true if the pattern “[jkl]” May use either function <name> ( <parameter list> )
-cnotmath
the function or {
-inotmatch doesn’t match.
filter keyword; in begin { List of statements to process
-replace Do a regular expression “Hello” –replace “Hi” this case they are <statementList> in the begin phase
substitution on the string “ello”,”i’ treated the same }
-creplace
“He+ll+o” and the clauses process { List of statements to process
-ireplace on the right hand side
determine the <statementList> for each pipeline object
and return the modified “Hello” -replace
pipeline behavior }
string. Backreferences ‘(ll)’,’+$1+’ end {
are indicated in the List of statements to process
<statementList>
replacement string using during the end phase
}
the sequence $n when }
n is the corresponding
parenthetical expression Unary Operators:
in the pattern.
Operator Example Results Description
Delete the portion of the “abcde” –replace “ae”
string matching the “bcd” = - (2+2) -4 Sets the variable to the specified
regular expression. value. Multiple assignment is
-like –clike –ilike Do a wildcard pattern “one” –like “o*” $true supported.
match + + “123” 123 Performs the addition operation
-notlike Do a wildcard pattern “one” $false in the existing value then assign
–cnotline match, true if the pattern –notlike “o*” the result back to the variable.
-inotlike doesn’t match. -- --$a ; $a-- Depends on the Pre and post decrement
current value of the operator
variable.
Copy console input into a file: ++ ++$a; Depends on the Pre and post increment
Hot [console]::In.ReadToEnd() > foo.txt $a++ current value of the
Tips variable.
Setting the Shell Prompt: [<type>] [int] 291 Divides the value of a variable by
function prompt { “$PWD [“ + $count++ + “]” } “0x123” the specified value
, , (1+2) 1-element array Divides the value of a variable by
Setting the Title Bar Text: containing the value the specified value and assigns
$host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = “PATH: $PWD” of the expression. the remainder (modulus) to the
variable

DZone, Inc. | www.dzone.com

 5
Windows PowerShell
tech facts at your fingertips

Basic Tasks — Text and Files

In general, the easiest way to get things done in PowerShell but can also use them to list the defined variables by doing
is with cmdlets. Basic file operations are carried out with the dir variables:
“core” cmdlets. These cmdlets work on any namespace. This or remove a function called “junk” by doing:
means that you can use them to manipulate files and directories del function:/junk

Cmdlet Name PowerShell cmd UNIX sh Description

Standardized Alias Command Command
Get-Location gl pwd pwd Get the current directory
Set-Location sl cd, chdir cd, chdir Change the current directory
Copy-Item cpi copy cp Copy files
Remove-Item ri del, rd rm, rmdir Remove a file or directory. PowerShell has no separate command for removing directories as opposed to
file.
Move-Item mi move mv Move a file.
Rename-Item rni Rn ren Rename a file.
Set-Item si Set the contents of a file.

Clear-Item cli Clear the contents of a file.

New-Item ni Create a new empty file or directory. The type of object is controlled by the -type parameter.

Mkdir md mkdir Mkdir is implemented as a function in PowerShell so that users can create directories without having to
specify –type directory
Get-Content gc type cat Send the contents of a file to the output stream.
Set-Content sc Set the contents of a file. UNIX and cmd.exe have no equivalent. Redirection is used instead. The difference
between Set-Content and Out-File is discussed in detail in Chapter 10 of Windows PowerShell in Action.

I/O Redirection
Operator Example Results Description
> dir > out.txt Contents of out.txt are replaced. Redirect pipeline output to a file, overwriting the current contents
>> dir >> out.txt Contents of out.txt are appended to. Redirect pipeline output to a file, appending to the existing content.
2> dir nosuchfile.txt 2> err.txt Contents of err.txt are replaced by the error messages Redirect error output to a file, overwriting the current contents
2>> dir nosuchfile.txt 2>> err.txt Contents of err.txt are appended with the error messages Redirect error output to a file, overwriting the current contents
2>&1 dir nosuchfile.txt 2>&1 The error message is written to the output. The error messages are written to the output pipe instead of the error pipe.

Searching Through Text: The fastest way to search through text and files is to use the select-string cmdlet as shown:
select-string Username *.txt –case # case-sensitive search for Username
dir –rec –filter *.txt | select-string # case-insensitive search
# through a set of files
dir –rec –filter *.cs |
select-string –list Main # only list the first match

The Select-String cmdlet is commonly aliased to ‘grep’ by UNIX users.

Formatting and Output: by default the output of any expression Output is also handled by a set of cmdlets that send the
that isn’t redirected will be displayed by PowerShell. The default output to different locations.
display mode can be overridden using the formatting cmdlets:
Cmdlet Description Example
Cmdlet Description Example Out-File Writes formatted text to a file dir | out-file –encoding
unicode foo.txt
Format-Table Formats a set of properties dir | format-table name, length
into a table Out-Host Writes formatted text to the screen dir | out-host -pag
Format-List Displays properties 1 per line dir | format-list * Out-Null Discards all output (equivalent to > dir | out-null
in a list. $null)
Format-Wide Displays a single property in dir | format-wide Out-Printer Sends formatted output to the printer. cat report.ps | out-printer
multiple columns
Out-String Formats input as strings and writes them dir | out-string | where {$_.
Format-Custom Complex formatter dir | format-custom to the output pipe match “x”}

Getting and Setting Text Colors: PS (1) > $host.PrivateData

Hot
Tip ErrorForegroundColor : Red DebugBackgroundColor : Black
ErrorBackgroundColor : Black VerboseForegroundColor : Yellow
WarningForegroundColor : Yellow VerboseBackgroundColor : Black
WarningBackgroundColor : Black ProgressForegroundColor : Yellow
DebugForegroundColor : Yellow ProgressBackgroundColor : DarkCyan

DZone, Inc. | www.dzone.com

 6
Windows PowerShell
tech facts at your fingertips

Accessing Instance Members: as is the case with most object

Types and Objects oriented languages, instance members (fields, properties and
method) are accesses through the dot “.” operator.
Unlike most scripting languages, the basic object model for
PowerShell is .NET which means that instead of a few simple “Hi there”.length
“Hi there”.SubString(2,5)
built-in types, PowerShell has full access to all of the types in
the .NET framework. Since there are certain common types The dot operator can also be used with an argument on the right
that are used more often than others, PowerShell includes hand side:
shortcuts or type accelerators for those types. The set of accel- “Hi there”.(“len” + “th”)
erators is a superset of the type shortcuts in C#. (Note: a type Methods can also be invoked indirectly:
literal in Powershell is specified by using the type name enclosed $m = “Hi there”.substring
in square brackets like [int] or [string]. $m.Invoke(2,3)

Static methods are invoked using the ‘::’ operator with an expres-
Type Alias Corresponding .NET Type Example
sion that evaluates to a type on the left-hand side and a member on
[int] System.Int32 1 -15 1kb 0x55aa -15
the right hand side
[long] System.Int64 10000000000
[math]::sqrt(33)
[string] System.String “Hello`nthere” ‘hi’ $m = [math]
[char] System.Char [char] 0x20 $m::pow(2,8)

[bool] System.Boolean $true $false Working With Collections: Foreach-Object, Where-Object

[byte] System.Byte [byte] 13
[double] System.Double 1.2 1e3mb -44.00e16KB The .NET Framework
[decimal] System.Decimal 12.0d 13D
[float] System.Single [float] 1.0 Loading Assemblies:
[void][reflection.assembly]::LoadWithPartialName
[single] System.Single same as float
(“System.Windows.Forms”)
[regex] System.Text. [regex] “^[a-z]+”
RegularExpressions.Regex Using Windows Forms to do GUI Programming from
[array] System.Xml.XmlDocument [array] 22
PowerShell:
$form = new-object Windows.Forms.Form
[xml] System.Management. [xml] “<tag>Hi there</tag>”
$form.Text = “My First Form”
Automation.ScriptBlock
$button = new-object Windows.Forms.Button
[scriptblock] System.Management. { param($x,$y) $x+$y } $button.text=”Push Me!”
Automation.SwitchParameter $button.Dock=”fill”
[switch] System.String function f ([switch] $x) { “x is $x” } $button.add_click({$form.close()})
$form.controls.add($button)
[hashtable] System.Collections.Hashtable @{a=1; b=2*3; c = dir | sort length }
$form.Add_Shown({$form.Activate()})
[psobject] System.Management. new-object psobject $form.ShowDialog()
Automation.PSObject
[type] System.Type [type] “int”

Working With Date and Time

Operators For Working With Types Hot
Tip Use the Get-Date cmdlet to get the current date.
Operator Example Results Description
$now = get-date; $now
-is $true –is [bool] $true True if the type of the left hand
side matches the type of the right Do the same thing using the use static method on System.
hand side
DateTime
$true -is [object] $true This is always true – everything is
$now = [datetime]::now ; $now
an object except $null
$true -is [ValueType] $true The left hand side is an instance of Get the DateTime object representing the beginning of this
a .NET value type. year using a cast.
“hi” -is [ValueType] $false A string is not a value type, it’s a $thisYear = [datetime]”2006/01/01”
reference type.
“hi” –is [object] $true But a string is still an object.
Get the day of the week for today
$now.DayOfWeek
12 –is [int] $true 12 is an integer
12 –is “int” $true The right hand side of the operator Get the total number of days since the beginning of the year.
can be either a type literal or a string ($now-$thisyear).TotalDays
naming a type.
-isnot $true –isnot [string] $true The object on the left-hand is not of Get the total number of hours since the beginning of the year.
the same type as the right hand side. ($now-$thisyear).TotalHours
$true –isnot [object] $true The null value is the only thing that
isn’t an object.
Get the number of days between now and December 25th for
this year.
-as “123” -as [int] 123 Takes the left hand side and converts
it to the type specified on the right- (([datetime] “12/25/2006”)-$now).TotalDays
hand side.
Get the day of the week it occurs on:
123 –as “string” “123” Turn the left hand side into an
instance of the type named by the ([datetime] “12/25/2006”).DayOfWeek
string on the right.

DZone, Inc. | www.dzone.com

 7
Windows PowerShell
tech facts at your fingertips

COM (Component Object Model) WMI (Windows Management Infrastructure)

Along with .NET, PowerShell also lets you work with COM object. The other major object model used in PowerShell is WMI—
This is most commonly used as the Windows automation mecha- Windows Management Infrastructure. This is Microsoft’s imple-
nism. The following example shows how the Microsoft Word mentation of the Common Instrumentation Model or CIM. CIM
automation model can be used from PowerShell: is an industry standard created by Microsoft, HP, IBM and many
Listing: Get-Spelling Script — this script uses Word to spell other computer companies with the intent of coming up with a
check a document common set of management abstractions. WMI is accessed in
if ($args.count -gt 0) PowerShell through the Get-WMIObject cmdlet and through
{ #1 the [WMI] [WMISearcher] type accelerators. For example, to get
@”
information about the BIOS on your computer, you could do:
Usage for Get-Spelling:
PS (1) > (Get-WmiObject win32_bios).Name
Copy some text into the clipboard, then run this script. It will v3.20
display the Word spellcheck tool that will let you correct the
spelling on the text you’ve selected. When you’re done it will
ADSI (active directory)
put the text back into the clipboard so you can paste back into
the original document.
Support for active directory is accomplished through type
“@ accelerators. A string can be cast into an ADSI (LDAP) query
exit 0
} and then used to manipulate the directory as shown:
$domain = [ADSI] `
$shell = new-object -com wscript.shell
$word = new-object -com word.application >> “LDAP://localhost:389/dc=NA,dc=fabrikam,dc=com”
$word.Visible = $false PS (2) > $newOU = $domain.Create(“OrganizationalUnit”,
“ou=HR”)
$doc = $word.Documents.Add() PS (3) > $newOU.SetInfo()
$word.Selection.Paste() PS (5) > $ou = [ADSI] `
>> “LDAP://localhost:389/
if ($word.ActiveDocument.SpellingErrors.Count -gt 0) ou=HR,dc=NA,dc=fabrikam,dc=com”
{ >>
$word.ActiveDocument.CheckSpelling() PS (7) > $newUser.Put(“title”, “HR Consultant”)
$word.Visible = $false PS (8) > $newUser.Put(“employeeID”, 1)
$word.Selection.WholeStory()
PS (9) > $newUser.Put(“description”, “Dog”)
$word.Selection.Copy()
PS (10) > $newUser.SetInfo()
$shell.PopUp( “The spell check is complete, “ +
PS (12) > $user = [ADSI] (“LDAP://localhost:389/” +
“the clipboard holds the corrected text.” )
} >> “cn=Dogbert,ou=HR,dc=NA,dc=fabrikam,dc=com”)
else >>
{
[void] $shell.Popup(“No Spelling Errors were detect-
ed.”) Building Custom Objects in PowerShell
}
PowerShell has no language support for creating new types.
$x = [ref] 0
$word.ActiveDocument.Close($x) Instead this is done through a series of commands that allow
$word.Quit() you to add members (properties, fields and methods) to existing
object. Here’s an example:

Tokenizing a Stream PS (1) > $a = 5 # assign $a the integer 5

Hot Using Regular Expressions:
PS (2) > $a.square()
Method invocation failed because [System.Int32] doesn’t
Tip contain a method named ‘square’.
The –match operator will only retrieve At line:1 char:10
+ $a.square( <<<< )
the first match from a string. Using the [regex] class, PS (3) > $a = 5 | add-member -pass scriptmethod square
{$this * $this}
it’s possible to iterate through all of the matches. PS (4) > $a
The following example will parse simple arithmetic 5
PS (5) > $a.square()
expressions into a collection of tokens: 25
PS (6) > $a.gettype().Fullname
System.Int32
$pat = [regex] “[0-9]+|\+|\-|\*|/| +”
$m = $pat.match(“11+2 * 35 -4”) Working With XML Data: PowerShell directly supports XML.
while ($m.Success) { XML documents can be created with a simple cast and document
elements can be accessed as though they were properties.
$m.value
PS (1) > $d = [xml] “<a><b>1</b><c>2</c></a>”
$m = $m.NextMatch() PS (2) > $d.a.b
1
} PS (3) > $d.a.c
2

DZone, Inc. | www.dzone.com

 8
Windows PowerShell
tech facts at your fingertips

The throw Statement: along with the trap statement, there

Building Custom Objects in PowerShell is a throw statement. This statement may be used with no
arguments in which case a default exception will be constructed.
Errors and Debugging: The success or failure status of the last
Alternatively, an arbitrary value may be thrown that will be
command can be determined by checking $?. A command may
automatically wrapped in a PowerShell runtime exception.
also have set a numeric code in the $LASTEXITCODE variables.
(This is typically done by external applications.) The throw keyword Optional expressions
that produces a value to
PS (11) > “exit 25” > invoke-exit.ps1
throw. This value need
PS (12) > ./invoke-exit not be an exception
throw [<expression>]
PS (13) > $LASTEXITCODE

The default behavior when an error occurs can be controlled

globally with the $ErrorActionPreference variable or, for a single
command, with the -ErrorAction Parameter.
The Format Operator
Hot The PowerShell format operator is a
The trap Statement: will catch any exceptions thrown in a Tip wrapper around the .NET String.Format
block. The behavior of the trap statement can be altered with
the break and continue statements. method. It allows you to do very precise
formatting:
Type of exception to catch Body of the trap
trap keyword (may be omitted) statement “0x{0:X} {1:hh} |{2,5}|{3,-5}|{4,5}”
-f 255, (get-date), “a”,”b”,”c”
trap [<exceptionType>] {<statementList>}

ABOUT THE AUTHOR R E C O MM E N D E D B O O K

Bruce Payette Windows PowerShell in Action is a log-

Bruce Payette is a Principal Developer with the Windows PowerShell ically oriented and clearly expressed
team at Microsoft. He is a founding member of the PowerShell team, introduction to a big subject. It is also
co-designer of the PowerShell language and implementer of the an invaluable guide for veterans to
language. Prior to joining Microsoft to try and fix the Windows the expert techniques they need to
command-line, he worked at a variety of companies including MKS know to draw a lot more power of this
and Softway Systems (the makers of Interix), trying to fix the Windows
incredible tool.
command line. Bruce lives in Bellevue, Washington, with his wife and three extremely
over-bonded cats.

Publications BUY NOW

n Windows PowerShell in Action, 2006 books.dzone.com/books/windowsps-in-action

Subscribe Now for FREE! refcardz.com

Upcoming Refcardz: FREE
n
Dependency Injection in EJB3 n
jQuery Selectors
n
Spring Configuration n
Design Patterns
n
RSS and Atom n
MS Silverlight 2.0 Getting
n
Flexible Rails: n
NetBeans IDE 6 Started with
Flex 3 on Rails 2 Java Editor Ajax
n
Getting Started with Eclipse n
Groovy GWT Style, Configuration
and JSNI Reference

DZone, Inc.
ISBN-13: 978-1-934238-01-1
1251 NW Maynard
ISBN-10: 1-934238-01-5
Cary, NC 27513
50795
888.678.0399
The DZone Network is a group of free online services that aim to 919.678.0300
satisfy the information needs of software developers and architects. Refcardz Feedback Welcome
From news, blogs, tutorials, source code and more, DZone offers
$7.95

refcardz@dzone.com
everything technology professionals need to succeed. Sponsorship Opportunities 9 781934 238011
To quote PC magazine, “DZone is a developer’s dream.” sales@dzone.com

Copyright © 2008 DZone, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by means electronic, Version 1.0
mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher.