PowerShellTips.json
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[
{ "CreatedDate": "2023-07-16T00:00:00", "Title": "PowerShell is open source", "TipText": "Did you know that PowerShell is open source? You can contribute to the project on GitHub.", "Example": "", "Urls": [ "https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell" ], "MinPowerShellVersion": "0.0", "Category": 0 }, { "CreatedDate": "2023-07-17T00:00:00", "Title": "Set Strict Mode on your scripts", "TipText": "Enforce coding rules and raise errors for common coding mistakes by declaring strict mode at the top of your scripts.", "Example": "Set-StrictMode -Version Latest", "Urls": [ "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/set-strictmode" ], "MinPowerShellVersion": "0.0", "Category": 4 }, { "CreatedDate": "2023-08-28T00:00:00", "Title": "View your command line history", "TipText": "PowerShell lets you view your session history with `Get-History` and it's alias `h`.\r\n`Get-PSReadLineOption` used with `Get-Content` takes history reading further by allowing you to read your current users lifetime history.", "Example": "Get-Content (Get-PSReadLineOption).HistorySavePath", "Urls": [ "https://learn.microsoft.com/powershell/module/psreadline/about/about_psreadline", "https://learn.microsoft.com/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/get-history" ], "MinPowerShellVersion": "0.0", "Category": 5 }, { "CreatedDate": "2023-09-05T00:00:00", "Title": "When checking for $null, put $null on the left", "TipText": "When checking if a variable or expression is null, put the $null on the left side of the comparison.\r\n\r\nIf the variable you are checking is an array that contains a null value, the comparison may not return the expected result if you put the $null on the right side of the comparison.\r\n\r\nDo this: if ($null -eq $variable)\r\nNot this: if ($variable -eq $null)", "Example": "if ($null -eq $variable) { \"The variable really is null.\" }", "Urls": [ "https://powershellexplained.com/2018-12-23-Powershell-null-everything-you-wanted-to-know/", "https://stackoverflow.com/a/60996703/602585" ], "MinPowerShellVersion": "0.0", "Category": 4 }, { "CreatedDate": "2023-09-06T00:00:00", "Title": "Use Ctrl+R to search your terminal history", "TipText": "When in your command prompt, press Ctrl+R to reverse search your terminal history. As you type, it will show the most recent matching command. This is a great way to find a command you ran previously, but can't remember the exact command or parameters.\r\n\r\nIf you press Ctrl+R again, it will show the next most recent matching command. You can keep pressing Ctrl+R to cycle through all matching commands. If you go past the command you wanted, press Ctrl+S and it will cycle through the matching commands in the opposite direction.\r\n\r\nNote: Requires the `PSReadLine` module, which is included in PowerShell 5.1 and newer.", "Example": "", "Urls": [ "https://woshub.com/powershell-commands-history/" ], "MinPowerShellVersion": "0.0", "Category": 5 }, { "CreatedDate": "2023-09-06T00:00:00", "Title": "Use Ctrl+Space to list all parameters, properties, and possibilities", "TipText": "In the terminal, when you are typing a command, parameter, or property, press Ctrl+Space to see a list of all the possible options. If there is only a single option, it will auto-complete the field for you. If there are many options, it will list them all for you to choose from and you can use the arrow keys to navigate the list and select one.\r\n\r\nCtrl+Space is similar to tab completion, except it will show you all of the options instead of just one option at a time and having to tab cycle through them.\r\n\r\nNote: Requires the `PSReadLine` module, which is included in PowerShell 5.1 and newer.", "Example": "- Type `Get-Process -` and press Ctrl+Space to list all the possible parameters you can use with the `Get-Process` command.\r\n- Type `$variableName.` and press Ctrl+Space to list all the properties and methods for the variable.\r\n- Type `Get-Pro` and press Ctrl+Space to list all the commands that start with `Get-Pro`, including their parameter sets.\r\n- Type part of a variable name (e.g. $var) and press Ctrl+Space to list all the variables that start with `$var`, including their type if available (e.g. [string], [int]).", "Urls": [ "https://blog.danskingdom.com/PowerShell-intellisense-on-the-command-line/" ], "MinPowerShellVersion": "0.0", "Category": 5 }, { "CreatedDate": "2023-09-11T00:00:00", "Title": "Ensure prerequisites are met by using #Requires", "TipText": "Use the #Requires statement to ensure that the environment meets the prerequisites for your script to run. You can use #Requires to check that:\r\n- A minimum PowerShell version is being used\r\n- PowerShell Desktop or PowerShell Core is being used\r\n- Specific modules or snap-ins are installed\r\n- The script is running as Administrator\r\n\r\nIf one of the required prerequisites are not met, PowerShell will throw an error and the script will not run.", "Example": "#Requires -Version 7.2\r\n#Requires -PSEdition Core\r\n#Requires -Modules @{ ModuleName=\"Az.KeyVault\"; ModuleVersion=\"4.0.0\" }\r\n#Requires -RunAsAdministrator", "Urls": [ "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_requires" ], "MinPowerShellVersion": "0.0", "Category": 4 }, { "CreatedDate": "2023-09-11T00:00:00", "Title": "Join the monthly PowerShell community call!", "TipText": "The PowerShell Community Call is held on the 3rd Thursday of every month at 9:30 AM US Pacific Time. Topics include PowerShell 7, Windows OpenSSH, PSEditorServices/VSCode-PowerShell, PSScriptAnalyzer, PowerShell Gallery, and any other projects owned by the PowerShell Team.\r\n\r\nYou can join the Teams live event at https://aka.ms/JoinPSCall. The call is recorded and posted on YouTube.", "Example": "", "Urls": [ "https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell-RFC/blob/master/CommunityCall/README.md", "https://powershell.org/series/powershell-community-call/", "https://www.youtube.com/@powershellanddscteamchanne5739" ], "MinPowerShellVersion": "0.0", "Category": 0 }, { "CreatedDate": "2023-09-11T00:00:00", "Title": "Read and write Excel spreadsheets with ImportExcel", "TipText": "Need to share large data sets with colleagues or your boss? Excel is still a popular way to do that. ImportExcel is a PowerShell module that makes it easy to read and write Excel spreadsheets. Use it to export your data to Excel, and even add charts and pivot tables. It's fast and doesn't require Excel to be installed on your computer. It's also cross-platform, so you can use it on Windows, macOS, and Linux.", "Example": "[PSCustomObject[]] $data = @(\r\n\t[PSCustomObject] @{\r\n\t\tFirstName = 'John'\r\n\t\tLastName = 'Doe'\r\n\t\tAge = 42\r\n\t}\r\n\t[PSCustomObject] @{\r\n\t\tFirstName = 'Jane'\r\n\t\tLastName = 'Doe'\r\n\t\tAge = 39\r\n\t}\r\n)\r\n$data | Export-Excel -Path 'C:\\Temp\\Results.xlsx' -WorksheetName 'People' -FreezeTopRow -AutoFilter -AutoSize", "Urls": [ "https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/ImportExcel", "https://github.com/dfinke/ImportExcel" ], "MinPowerShellVersion": "0.0", "Category": 3 }, { "CreatedDate": "2023-09-12T00:00:00", "Title": "Get text file updates in realtime with Get-Content", "TipText": "Get-Content provides a `-Wait` switch that can be used to get updates to a text file in realtime. This is useful for monitoring log files from the terminal, or any other text file that is updated over time.\r\n\r\nIn addition, if you want to get the last N lines of a file, you can use the `-Tail` parameter. This is useful for getting only the last few lines of a very large text file.\r\n\r\nOnce you are done monitoring the file, you can press `Ctrl+C` to stop the command.", "Example": "Get-Content -Path $filePath -Wait -Tail 10", "Urls": [ "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.management/get-content", "https://4sysops.com/archives/parse-log-files-with-powershell/" ], "MinPowerShellVersion": "0.0", "Category": 1 }, { "CreatedDate": "2023-09-16T00:00:00", "Title": "Use Out-GridView to view and select tabular data", "TipText": "Instead of piping data to Out-Table, use Out-GridView. This opens a window with the data in a grid view, allowing you to interactively sort and filter the data. If you provide the -PassThru parameter, you can select one or more rows and the selected data will be returned to the pipeline, allowing you to save it to a variable or pipe it to other commands.\r\n\r\nNOTE: Out-GridView is only available on Windows.", "Example": "Get-Process | Out-GridView -PassThru -Title \"Select processes to return\" | Select-Object -Property ProcessName,Id", "Urls": [ "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.utility/out-gridview", "https://woshub.com/using-out-gridview-table-powershell/" ], "MinPowerShellVersion": "0.0", "Category": 1 }, { "CreatedDate": "2023-09-17T00:00:00", "Title": "Use F2 to toggle PSReadLine predictions to list view", "TipText": "PSReadLine v2.1.0 introduced history-based predictions. As you type, PSReadLine will show you a command that you previously typed, thinking that you may want to run the same command again. You can use the right-arrow to accept the suggestion.\r\n\r\nIf you want to see more predictions, you can press the F2 key to swap from Inline View (which only shows a single suggestion), to List View, which shows many. You can then use the up and down arrow keys to select a command from the list.\r\n\r\nUse 'Update-Module -Name PSReadLine' to update to the latest version of PSReadLine and use these features.", "Example": "Type \"Get-\" and then press F2 to see a list of commands that you have previously typed that start with \"Get-\"", "Urls": [ "https://devblogs.microsoft.com/powershell/announcing-psreadline-2-1-with-predictive-intellisense/", "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/psreadline/" ], "MinPowerShellVersion": "0.0", "Category": 5 }, { "CreatedDate": "2023-09-18T00:00:00", "Title": "Split long lines of code into multiple lines", "TipText": "Long lines of code can be difficult to read, especially when doing code reviews in a web browser and for users not using word-wrap in their editors. It is good practice to try and avoid long lines of code.\r\n\r\nPowerShell lines can naturally be split into multiple lines at many operators, such as =, +, -, |, {, -eq, etc.\r\n\r\nIf you need to split a line at an unnatural location, you can use the backtick character (`) at the end of each line. This is generally discouraged though as the backtick can be hard to see, easy to forget, and a space after the backtick breaks the line continuation. However, there are times when it may still be useful.", "Example": "# Split into multiple lines using natural operators.\r\n[bool] $arrayIsNullOrEmpty =\r\n $null -eq $myIntegerArray -or\r\n $myIntegerArray.Length -eq 0\r\n\r\n[int[]] $valuesGreaterThan10AndSorted =\r\n $myIntegerArray |\r\n Where-Object {\r\n $_ -gt 10\r\n } |\r\n Sort-Object\r\n\r\n[string] $myString =\r\n 'This is a very long string that is split into multiple lines ' +\r\n 'using the + operator.'\r\n\r\n# Split into multiple lines at an unnatural locations using the backtick.\r\nGet-ChildItem `\r\n -Path 'C:\\' `\r\n -Recurse `\r\n -File `\r\n -Filter '*.txt'", "Urls": [ "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_parsing?view=powershell-7.3#line-continuation" ], "MinPowerShellVersion": "0.0", "Category": 4 } ] |