Essential Powershell commands

Key commands for navigating the file system

Command alias = pwd, Cmdlet name = Get-Location

The pwd command prints the current working directory to the screen. 

Command alias = ls, Cmdlet name = Get-ChildItem

The ls command displays the names of the files and directories in the current working directory.

Command alias = cd, Cmdlet name = Set-Location

The cd command sets the current working location to a specified location.

Key commands for reading file content

Command alias = cat, Cmdlet name = Get-Content

The cat command gets the contents of a file.

Key commands for managing directories and Files

mkdir

The mkdir command creates a new directory.

rmdir

The rmdir command removes, or deletes, an empty directory.

Command alias = rm, Cmdlet name =  Remove-Item

The rm command deletes files and folders.

Command alias = mv, Cmdlet name = Move-Item

The mv command moves an item from one location to another.

Command alias = cp, Cmdlet name = Copy-Item

The cp command copies an item from one location to another

Key commands to view users and groups

Cmdlet name = Get-LocalUser

This cmdlet lists local user accounts.

Cmdlet name = Get-LocalGroup

The cmdlet lists local groups on the local machine.

Cmdlet name = Get-LocalGroupMember Administrators

The cmdlet lists all the members of the local Administrators group.

Piping, filterting, and sorting data

Sort-Object

Get-ChildItem | Sort-Object Length

Where-Object

Get-ChildItem | Where-Object -Property "Extension" -eq ".txt"

Select-Object

Get-ChildItem | Select-Object Name,Length 

Select-String

Select-String -Path ".\name_of_the_file.txt" -Pattern "string_you_are_looking_for" 

Other key commands