Get-Help

Get-WhatYouWant #Don’t Mess Up On Your Screen

As we all know, all the PowerShell folks use the follow three CmdLets irrespective of their expertise… Get-Command Get-Help Get-Member But still, they should be properly used to get what exactly you want, otherwise you will definitely mess up on your screen. Just to stress out what I mean to say, let me give you some examples… Just to see the syntax of a command you don’t need to use Get-Help or Get-Help with -Detailed or -Full, you can simply use the Get-Command with -Syntax parameter… Get-Command -Name Get-ComputerInfo -Syntax To see the help of a particular parameter you don’t need to use Get-Help with -Detailed or -Full, you can simply use it with the -Parameter… Get-Help -Name Get-SmbShare -Parameter ScopeName One last example, to see only the properties of an object you don’t need to simply use Get-Member alone, you can use it along with -MemberType parameter… Get-Date | Get-Member -MemberType Properties That’s all with the examples, now let’s see various use cases from the above three CmdLets… Listing/Finding the commands using Get-Command # To list all the commands availble in the current session Get-Command <# Search the commands with the name using wildcard, and it returns all types of commands matching the name with the given pattern, you can also filter further down the commands using -Module, -CommandType or both #> Get-Command -Name *VHD* Get-Command -Name *VHD* -CommandType Function Get-Command -Name *VHD* -Module Hyper-V Get-Command -Name *VHD* -CommandType Cmdlet -Module Hyper-V <# Search the commands with Verb or Noun, or both using direct names or wildcards as well, also with -Module as well #> Get-Command -Verb Get Get-Command -Noun SmbShare Get-Command -Verb Set -Noun Smb* Get-Command -Verb Get -Noun Smb* -Module SmbShare <# List the commands in a module, again you can filter further down using -Name or -Verb & -Noun, and -CommandType #> Get-Command -Module SqlServer Get-Command -Module SqlServer -CommandType Alias <# Search commands by either the parameter name or parameter type, or both You can still filter further down using -Name, or -Verb & -Noun, -Module and -CommandType #> Get-Command -ParameterName VMName Get-Command -ParameterType System.Boolean Get-Command -ParameterName Scoped -ParameterType System.Boolean <# List the commands from the modules loaded in the current session You can still filter further down using -Name, or -Verb & -Noun, -Module -CommandType, -ParameterName and -ParameterType #> Get-Command -ListImported <# To limit the output count. You can use with all ParameterSets Works with all possible parameter combination #> Get-Command -TotalCount 10 Get-Command -ListImported -TotalCount 10 <# Search the commands from closest match to least likely match. You can use this switch if you are not sure about exact name of the command, and you can't use this with wildcard search, and works only with -Name parameter combination #> Get-Command -Name gotcemmand -UseFuzzyMatching <# List the commands with the same name from different sources To test this, create an empty Write-Error function and then run the command below To create an empty function: Function Write-Error {} #> Get-Command -Name Write-Error -All # Or to list all Get-Command -All <# List the commands using the FullyQualifiedModule parameter to list the commands from the specific version of the module -FullyQualifiedModule and -Module are mutually exclusive #> Get-Command -FullyQualifiedModule @{ModuleName = "UEV"; ModuleVersion = "2.1.639.0" } <# Get the command count Get-Command can be used with all possible parameter combinations #> Get-Command | Measure-Object -Line | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Lines <# List commands return output, and its output type Get-Command can be used with all possible parameter combinations #> Get-Command | Where-Object OutputType | Format-List Get information about a specific CmdLet using Get-Command # Get the command basic info Get-Command -Name Get-ComputeProcess # Get the syntax(s) of a given command Get-Command -Name Get-Counter -Syntax # Get complete information about the given command Get-Command -Name New-NetIPAddress | Format-List * # Get all the parameters of a given command Get-Command -Name Get-ControlPanelItem | ` Select-Object -ExpandProperty Parameters # Or (Get-Command -Name Get-ControlPanelItem).Parameters # Get the module name of a given command Get-Command -Name Show-ControlPanelItem | ` Select-Object -ExpandProperty ModuleName # Or (Get-Command -Name Show-ControlPanelItem).ModuleName # Get the definition of a given command # For CmdLets you see only systax, it works only for Functions Get-Command -Name Get-NetAdapterStatistics | ` Select-Object -ExpandProperty Definition # Or (Get-Command -Name Get-NetAdapterStatistics).Definition # Get the command output type Get-Command -Name Get-NetAdapterHardwareInfo | ` Select-Object -ExpandProperty OutputType # Or (Get-Command -Name Get-NetAdapterHardwareInfo).OutputType # Get the command's default parameter set Get-Command -Name Get-Disk | ` Select-Object -ExpandProperty DefaultParameterSet # Or (Get-Command -Name Get-Disk).DefaultParameterSet # Get the type of a given command Get-Command -Name Get-NetRoute | Select-Object -ExpandProperty CommandType # Or (Get-Command -Name Get-NetRoute).CommandType # Get the dynamic parameter list of a given command (if any) Get-Command -Name Get-Package -ArgumentList 'Cert:' | ` Select-Object -ExpandProperty ParameterSets | ` ForEach-Object {$_.Parameters} | ` Where-Object {$_.IsDynamic} | ` Select-Object -Property Name -Unique You can also try Show-Command  instead of Get-Command Get Help of a specific CmdLet or about topic using Get-Help # To get the basic help Get-Help -Name Get-WULastInstallationDate # To get the parameter description & examples in-addition to the basic help Get-Help -Name Test-WSMan -Detailed # To get the comprehensive help includes parameter descriptions and attributes, # examples, input and output object types, and additional notes. Get-Help -Name Invoke-Expression -Full # To get the help with examples only Get-Help -Name New-LocalGroup -Examples # To get the online help in a browser seperately Get-Help -Name Test-Connection -Online # To get the full help in a seperate window Get-Help -Name Get-Process -ShowWindow # To get the help of a specific parameter of a command Get-Help -Name Get-NetConnectionProfile -Parameter InterfaceIndex # To get the help of all the parameters of a command Get-Help -Name Compress-Archive -Parameter * # You can use alias name as well, and works with all the above parameter combination Get-Help -Name ls # To get the help of a script (if available), and works with all the above parameter combination Get-Help -Name C:\GitRepo\Test-Script.ps1 # To list the available help matching with a specific word Get-Help -Name netconnection # To list all the conceptual topics Get-Help -Name about_* # To get the help of a specific conceptual topic Get-Help -Name about_ForEach-Parallel Get members of an object using Get-Member # Get all the member of an output object of Get-StartApps Get-StartApps | Get-Member # Get all the members and the intrinsic members and compiler-generated # members of the objects to the display, but by default they are hidden. $FirewallRules = Get-NetFirewallRule -Name FPS-* $FirewallRules | Get-Member -Force $FirewallRules.psbase # Get all the extended members of an InputObject, works with pipeline as well $VMProcessors = Get-VMProcessor -VMName Lab-ClientX Get-Member -InputObject $VMProcessors -View Extended # Get all the details of a member by name Get-NetTCPConnection | Get-Member -Name State | Format-List * ## Get the members by type Get-NetAdapter | Get-Member -MemberType Properties # All types of properties Get-NetAdapter | Get-Member -MemberType ScriptProperty # ScriptProperties Only Get-NetAdapter | Get-Member -MemberType Methods # All methods Get-NetAdapter | Get-Member -MemberType Method # Only method type