Windows PowerShell Tip of the Week

Accessing specific values – and ranges of values – within an array.

Tips and tricks for creating new arrays (including empty arrays and strongly-typed arrays) in Windows PowerShell.

How can you tell if a given value exists in a Windows PowerShell array? Here’s how.

Who said you can’t remove an item from an array? You just need to use the right type of array.

Store key-value pairs, add and remove items, and sort on key or value.

Modifying the display of date-time values.

Format numbers and dates to a specific culture setting, no matter what the current machine settings are.

How to use the Get-Date cmdlet to retrieve many different elements of dates and times. Plus, a bonus script that looks at using the .NET Framework to retrieve date and time information.

Converting bytes to megabytes to gigabytes, etc.

Creating custom tables using the Format-Table cmdlet.

Find out how useful the ConvertTo-HTML cmdlet can really be.

Displaying numbers in a more-readable format.

Format numbers and dates to a specific culture setting, no matter what the current machine settings are.

Use command-line arguments, text files, and even a prompt to read in computer names and run a script against each computer.

Running scripts against all the computers in a domain; all the computers in an OU; or all the computers listed in an Excel spreadsheet.

Retrieve hidden files; retrieve files from multiple folders; and much, much more.

A simple task that turns out not to be so simple, then turns out to be simple again.

This tip shows you how to – well, how to find all the empty folders in a directory tree.

Get information about the logged-on user and the local computer, the easy way.

Here’s the real “PowerShell” way to get all the TrueType fonts on the computer, and list them in an Internet Explorer window.

Don’t let them kid you: you really can modify a read-write property using Get-WMIObject.

Find out if files, folders, variables, etc. exist by using the Test-Path cmdlet.

Setting security descriptors gets a lot easier when you use the .NET Framework.

Find the Security Identifiers (SIDs) for local and Active Directory users; or, conversely, find the user associated with a SID.

Tired of writing your own PowerShell scripts? Then ask the Get-History cmdlet to write those scripts for you.

Want to know how much longer your script will be running? Try displaying a progress bar.

Change the background and foreground color of messages (warning, error, etc.).

Need to work with filenames and paths with odd charactesr in them? Not a problem in Windows PowerShell.

Create a form that displays a list box from which users can select.

You know how to create a list box (or at least you do if you read the tip directly above this one), now find out how to fancy it up a bit by making it multi-selectable and even a little colorful.

Display options to the user and take actions based on the option chosen.

An introduction to creating graphical user interfaces with Windows PowerShell.

Learn how to display a date control that allows the user to choose a date.

Display the “Press and key to continue…” message and wait.

Create and modify process-level, user-level, and machine-level environment variables.

Display an icon and a message, and even change the message, in the Windows Notification area.

Data retrieval for those times when the wildcard character just isn’t enough.

Sometimes COM objects stick around a little longer than we’d like. Find out how to get rid of them for good.

An entire tip devoted to strings. Compare two strings, change casing, read parts of strings – even turn a string into an array.

Default values, piping, scope…all that plus some bonus information, all things you should know about working with functions in Windows PowerShell.

No kilobytes? No problem. At least not when using calculated properties?

Using PowerShell’s range operator in conjunction with cmdlets such as Get-ChildItem.

Learn about one of the coolest things about Windows PowerShell – the switch statement.

Create – and use – custom objects within your PowerShell scripts.

Determine the number of words, lines, and characters in a text file.

Don’t feel bad: everyone you know still uses text files, too.

Embedding variables directly in your strings.

Assigning multi-line string values to a variable.