Windows PowerShell Tips

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

Need to work with file names and paths with odd characters in them? Not a problem in Windows PowerShell.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An introduction to creating graphical user interfaces with Windows PowerShell.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Modifying the display of date-time values.

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

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

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

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

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

Displaying numbers in a more-readable format.

Creating custom tables using the Format-Table cmdlet.

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

Assigning multi-line string values to a variable.

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

Embedding variables directly in your strings.

Converting bytes to megabytes to gigabytes, etc.