Powershell Commands for beginners - From the beginner

Powershell commands for beginners..

Hello buddy,welcome to my blog. since powershell is a great stuff to learn ,i had listed some of the

basic commands you can use in powershell..

Don't worry even if you don't know anything like how to start..Just focus on running the below

commands,at the end you will end up as an intermediate.

Open powershell and try it out, don't memorize💭 experiment yourself you will learn better ..

Some of the following Command will only work,when you run Powershell as administrator,so run it

as admin as first step.

[See : How to run Powershell as Administrator]

The first step is to Change your location to C..,type the following command

Set-location c:\ - Will change the location to c directory

if we wish to change the location to d then i need to type the following command set-location d:\

Next,To find all the items in the directory,we can use

get-childitem - It will display all the items like .dll files,.exe files inside the directory,for example

:running get-childitem c:\Windows\System32 will display all the .dll files and other items inside that folder.

Running the command Clear will clear the items in the Powershell window.

Here,comes the main part

[type the following commands after get-help suffix will make you "master of Powershell"

which means,if you wish to become master of powershell then type get-help  followed by the below commands

for example : get-help get-alias

get-help where-object,etc..]

To get all the alias,type the command get-alias

It will display the alias..

the items that are on the left side or the shortcut symbols we can use to do the required tasks,which will be very much useful in minimizing your typing effort..

%  -> Foreach-Object

?  -> Where-Object

ac -> Add-Content

asnp -> Add-PSsnapin

cat -> Get-content

cd -> Change-directory

CFS -> ConvertFrom-String

chdir -> Set-location

clc -> Clear-Content

Clear,cls-> Clear-Host

clhy-> Clear-History

Cli -> Clear-Item

clp-> Clear-ItemProperty

clv-> Clear-Variable

cnsn -> Connect-PSSession

Compare -> Compare-Object

Copy,cp,cpi -> Copy-Item

Cpp ->Copy-ItemProperty

curl -> Invoke-WebRequest

cvpa -> Convert-path


dbp -> disable-PSBreakpoint

del -> Remove-Item

diff -> compare-Object

dir -> get-childitem

dnsn -> disconnect-PSSession

ebp -> enable-PSBreakpoint

echo -> write-Output

epal -> Export-Alias

epcsv -> export-Csv

epsn -> Export-PSSession

erase -> Remove-Item

etsn -> Enter-PSSession

exsn -> Exit-PSSession

fc -> Format-Custom

fhx -> Format-Hex

ft -> Format-table

fw -> Format -Wide

gal -> get-alias

gbp -> Get-PSBreakpoint

gc -> get-Content

gcb -> get-Clipboard

gci -> Get-ChildItem

gc -> get-Content

gcm -> get-command

gcs -> Get-PSStack

gdr -> get-PSdrive

ghy ->get-History

gi -> get-item

gin -> Get-Computerinfo

gjb -> Get-Job

gl ->get-location

gm -> get-member

gmo ->get-Module

gp -> get-ItemProperty

gps -> get-Process

gpv -> Get -ItemPropertyValue

group ->Group-Object

gsn -> get-PSSession

gsnp -> get-PSSnapin

gsv -> get-Service

gtz ->Get-timezone

gu -> Get -Unique

gv -> Get-variable

gwmi -> Get-WmiObject

h,Histroy ->Get-History

icm -> Invoke-Command

iex -> Invoke -Expression

ihy -> Invoke-History

 li => Invoke-Item

ipal -> Import-Alias

ipcsv -> Import-CSV

ipmo ->Import-Module

ipsn -> Import-PSSession

irm -> Import-ResetMethod

ise -> powershell_ise.exe

iwmi -> Invoke-WmiMethod

iwe -> Import-WebRequest

kill -> Stop-Process

ip-> Out-Printer

ls -> Get-ChildItem

man -> help

md -->MkDir

measure -> Measure-Object

mi -> Move-Item

mp -> Move-Property

mv -> Move-Item

nal -> New-Alias

ndr ->New-PSDrive

ni -> New-Item

nmo -> New-Module

npssc -> New-PSSessionConfigurationFile

nsn -> New-PSSession

nv->New-Variable

ogv -> Out-GridView

oh ->Out-Host

popd ->Pop-Location

ps ->Get-Process

pushd->Push-Location

pwd ->Get-Location

r ->Invoke-History

rbp -> Remove-BreakPoint

rcgp ->Receive-job

rm ->Remove-Item

rmo -> Remove-Module

rni -> remove-Item

rnp -> Remove-ItemProperty

rsn -> Remove-PSSession

rsnp ->Remove-PSSnapin

rujb -> Resume-Job

rv -> Remove-Variable

rvpa ->Resolve-path

rwmi -> Remove-WMIObject

sajb -> Start-Job

sal -> Set-Alias

saps -> Start-Process

sasv -> Start-Service

sbp ->Set-BreakPoint

scb -> Set-ClipBoard

select -> Select -Object

set -> Set-Variable

shcm -> Show-Command

si ->Set-Item

sl ->Set-Location

sleep -> Start-Sleep

sls -> Set-String

sort -> Sort-Object

sp -> Set-ItemProperty

spjb -> Stop-Job

spps -> Stop-Process

spsv -> Stop-Services

start -> Start-Service

stz -> Set-TimeZone

sujb -> Suspend-Job

sv -> Set-Variable

swmi -> Set-WmiInstance

tee -> tee-Object

trcm -> Trace-Command

type -> Get-Content

wget -> Invoke-WebRequest

where -> Where-Object

wjb -> Wait-Job

write -> Write-Output

To get the alternative command for the same process,for example if we need to get what are the commands we can use instead of Get-Process(i.e.,we can get the process using two ways),we can use the parameter called Definition

So,running get-alias -Definition get-Process

will display the list of alternative words we can use to get the process,in our case it will display the following items

gps -> GetProcess

ps -> get-process

in the sameway,we can use any cmdlet to check what the alternative is for..

Example 2: Running following command will display the alternative for stop process

get-alias -Definition stop-process

kill -> Stop-Process

spps -> Stop-Process

To get other commands,then simply type get-help followed by the process you wish to do..

for example : if you wish to know the command for write operation,then simply execute

get-help "write" or get-help "*write"

you can also use the word -detailed as suffix to the above command( i.e., get-help "write" -detailed) will display the help in detail.

You can also use the suffix examples to get the examples on how you can use the command.

for example : get-help "write" -examples

will display the list of examples..

in the above way,you can use the help to find everything and code wiser.

I don't like to write and show every other commands & what it will do, because i want you to 

discover yourself. But don't run the type of commands like get-service | stop-service

2) restart-computer,etc  because it will immediately damage your system. on that case you can use -whatif command which won't execute,but will display what will happen when you do such tasks.

 Remember there will get-help command inside the powershell as your trusted friend when

you need help at any time,any where..

Powershell commands for beginners


if you can't find what you need,then search online by running get-help (type your task here) -online.

i.e.,running get-help get-service -online

will collect the resource from internet (microsoft servers)

you can also visit powershell.org community to ask your questions there, there will be people who

loves to help us ( i said us,because not everything will be known to everyone, & there will be suituation

where beginners like you will answer the toughest questions easily.which are very hard to mvp's..So don't forget to give it a try,it will boost your Skills  )


Tip : When you feel why commands are not working or displaying error,then always makesure you are running Powershell as admin.

As,said earlier don't memorize..! just work out, use forums if you need any help ,you will find new way of  mastering yourself✌✌✌✌

Good luck😊😊😊.