PowerShell Cheat Sheet

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Basic Commands

Command Description Example
Get-Location Print working directory Get-Location
Get-ChildItem List directory contents Get-ChildItem
Set-Location [path] Change directory Set-Location -Path C:\Users
Copy-Item [source] [destination] Copy files or directories Copy-Item -Path file.txt -Destination C:\Users
Move-Item [source] [destination] Move or rename files or directories Move-Item -Path oldname.txt -Destination newname.txt
Remove-Item [file] Remove files Remove-Item -Path file.txt
New-Item -ItemType File [file] Create a new empty file New-Item -ItemType File -Name newfile.txt
New-Item -ItemType Directory [directory] Create new directory New-Item -ItemType Directory -Name newdirectory
Remove-Item [directory] Remove empty directory Remove-Item -Path olddirectory

File Viewing and Editing

Command Description Example
Get-Content [file] Display file content Get-Content -Path file.txt
Set-Content [file] -Value [content] Write content to a file Set-Content -Path file.txt -Value "Hello, World!"
Add-Content [file] -Value [content] Append content to a file Add-Content -Path file.txt -Value "Hello, World!"

File Permissions

Command Description Example
Get-Acl [file] Get file permissions Get-Acl -Path file.txt
Set-Acl [file] -AclObject [acl] Set file permissions $acl = Get-Acl -Path file.txt; Set-Acl -Path file.txt -AclObject $acl

Searching and Finding

Command Description Example
Get-ChildItem [directory] -Filter [filename] Find files by name Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Users -Filter "*.txt"
Select-String -Path [file] -Pattern [pattern] Search for a pattern within files Select-String -Path file.txt -Pattern "search term"
Get-Command [command] Show the path of a command Get-Command -Name Get-Process

System Information

Command Description Example
Get-ComputerInfo Show all system information Get-ComputerInfo
Get-Process Display running processes Get-Process
Get-Service Display running services Get-Service
Get-HotFix Show installed updates Get-HotFix

Networking

Command Description Example
Test-Connection [host] Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST to network hosts Test-Connection -ComputerName google.com
Get-NetIPAddress Show IP addresses and network interfaces Get-NetIPAddress
Invoke-WebRequest [url] Download files from the web Invoke-WebRequest -Uri http://example.com/file.zip -OutFile file.zip
Enter-PSSession -ComputerName [host] Connect to a remote host via PowerShell Remoting Enter-PSSession -ComputerName remotehost

Package Management

Command Description Example
Get-Package List installed packages Get-Package
Install-Package [package] Install a package Install-Package -Name 7zip
Uninstall-Package [package] Uninstall a package Uninstall-Package -Name 7zip

Disk and File System Management

Command Description Example
Get-Volume List disk volumes Get-Volume
Format-Volume -DriveLetter [letter] Format a volume Format-Volume -DriveLetter D
Check-FileSystem -DriveLetter [letter] Check and repair a file system Check-FileSystem -DriveLetter C

Scripting and Automation

Command Description Example
.\[script].ps1 Run a PowerShell script .\script.ps1
Start-Job -ScriptBlock { [command] } Run a command as a background job Start-Job -ScriptBlock { Get-Process }
Get-Job List background jobs Get-Job
Stop-Job -Id [id] Stop a background job Stop-Job -Id 1

Environment Variables

Command Description Example
Get-ChildItem Env: List all environment variables Get-ChildItem Env:
$Env:[VARIABLE] Print value of a variable $Env:PATH
$Env:[VARIABLE] = "[value]" Set an environment variable $Env:PATH = "C:\Program Files"

User and Group Management

Command Description Example
Get-LocalUser List local users Get-LocalUser
New-LocalUser -Name [user] Add a new local user New-LocalUser -Name newuser
Remove-LocalUser -Name [user] Delete a local user Remove-LocalUser -Name olduser
Get-LocalGroup List local groups Get-LocalGroup
Add-LocalGroupMember -Group [group] -Member [user] Add user to group Add-LocalGroupMember -Group "Administrators" -Member newuser

Archive and Compression

Command Description Example
Compress-Archive -Path [path] -DestinationPath [archive.zip] Create a zip archive Compress-Archive -Path C:\Users\Documents -DestinationPath archive.zip
Expand-Archive -Path [archive.zip] -DestinationPath [path] Extract a zip archive Expand-Archive -Path archive.zip -DestinationPath C:\Users\Documents

Miscellaneous

Command Description Example
New-Alias [alias_name] [command] Create a command alias New-Alias ll Get-ChildItem
Get-History Show command history Get-History
Invoke-History -Id [id] Run the last command again Invoke-History -Id 1
Get-Help [command] Show the manual for a command Get-Help Get-ChildItem
Write-Output [text] Print text to the terminal Write-Output "Hello, World!"
Get-Date Show current date and time Get-Date