PowerShell Cheat Sheet

Files and folders

• List Everything in this folder, hidden files included. ls and dir do the same.Copy Get-ChildItem -Force
• New folder Create a folder. mkdir is the short form.Fill in New-Item -ItemType Directory {{name}}
• New file Create an empty file.Fill in New-Item {{name}}
• Copy Copy a file, or a folder with everything in it.Fill in Copy-Item {{source}} {{target}} -Recurse
• Move or rename Move something, or give it a new name.Fill in Move-Item {{source}} {{target}}
• Delete Delete a file or a whole folder. It does not go to the Recycle Bin.Fill in Remove-Item {{path}} -Recurse -Force

Read and write text

• Print a file Show the file in the terminal.Fill in Get-Content {{file}}
• Follow a log Show the last 20 lines, then new lines as they are written.Fill in Get-Content {{file}} -Wait -Tail 20
• Write a file Replace the contents of a file with this text.Fill in Set-Content {{file}} "{{text}}"
• Append Add a line to the end of a file.Fill in Add-Content {{file}} "{{text}}"
• Output to clipboard Copy what a command prints, ready to paste.Fill in {{command}} | Set-Clipboard
• Count lines How many lines the file has.Fill in (Get-Content {{file}}).Count

Find things

• Search in files Every line containing the text, in this folder and below.Fill in Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Select-String "{{text}}"
• Find by name Files whose name matches, for example *.log.Fill in Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Filter "{{pattern}}"
• Find a command Every command with that word in its name.Fill in Get-Command *{{word}}*
• Show examples Worked examples for a command.Fill in Get-Help {{command}} -Examples
• What's in the output The properties you can filter and sort the output by.Fill in {{command}} | Get-Member
• History The commands you ran in this session.Copy Get-History

Filter and shape output

PowerShell passes objects, not text, between commands. Swap Get-Process for any command and CPU for any of its properties.

• Filter Keep only the rows that pass a test.Copy Get-Process | Where-Object CPU -gt 100
• Pick columns Keep only the properties you name.Copy Get-Process | Select-Object Name, Id, CPU
• Sort Order the rows by a property, largest first.Copy Get-Process | Sort-Object CPU -Descending
• First rows Only the first 10 rows.Copy Get-Process | Select-Object -First 10
• Save as CSV Write the output to a CSV file that Excel opens.Fill in Get-Process | Export-Csv {{file}} -NoTypeInformation
• As JSON Turn the output into JSON.Copy Get-Process | ConvertTo-Json

Processes and services

• List processes Everything running, with CPU and memory.Copy Get-Process
• Stop a process End every process with that name.Fill in Stop-Process -Name {{name}} -Force
• Who uses a port The connection on a port. OwningProcess is the process ID.Fill in Get-NetTCPConnection -LocalPort {{port}}
• Running services The Windows services that are running now.Copy Get-Service | Where-Object Status -eq Running
• Restart a service Stop a service, then start it. Needs an administrator window.Fill in Restart-Service {{name}}
• Open in Explorer Open the current folder in File Explorer.Copy Invoke-Item .

System and network

• Show PATH Every folder on the PATH, one per line.Copy $env:PATH -split ";"
• Set a variable Set an environment variable for this window only.Fill in $env:{{NAME}} = "{{value}}"
• Test a port Check whether a machine answers on a port.Fill in Test-NetConnection {{host}} -Port {{port}}
• Download Download a file.Fill in Invoke-WebRequest {{url}} -OutFile {{file}}
• Call an API Fetch JSON and get it back as objects you can filter.Fill in Invoke-RestMethod {{url}}
• Allow scripts Let your own .ps1 scripts run. The fix for "running scripts is disabled".Copy Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser