book

PowerShell Fundamentals

Name: PowerShell Fundamentals
Author: Chris Dent
ISBN: 9781808761393

by Chris Dent

September 2026

Beginner

318 pages

6h 10m

English

Packt Publishing

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Preface
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Chapter 1: Introduction to PowerShell
What is PowerShell?Installing PowerShellAbout execution policyThe command linePowerShell editorsAbout AIGetting helpUpdatable helpThe Get-Help commandSyntaxExamplesParameterDetailed and Full switchesSave-HelpUpdate-HelpAbout_* help filesCommand naming and discoveryVerbsNounsFinding commandsAliasesAbout profile scriptsParameters, values, and parameter setsParametersOptional parametersOptional positional parametersMandatory parametersMandatory positional parametersSwitch parametersParameter valuesParameter setsCommon parametersConfirm and WhatIfConfirm and ConfirmPreferenceWhatIf and WhatIfPreferenceForce parameterPassThru parameterIntroduction to providersDrives and providersIntroduction to splattingSplatting to avoid long linesConditional use of parametersSplatting to avoid repetitionSplatting and positional parametersParser modesExperimental featuresSummary
Chapter 2: Modules
Introducing modulesThe Get-Module commandThe Import-Module commandThe Remove-Module commandPSModulePath in PowerShellModule contentUsing Windows PowerShell modules in PowerShell 7Finding and installing modulesWhat is the PowerShell Gallery?Getting PSResourceGetThe Find-PSResource commandVersion rangesThe Install-PSResource commandThe Update-PSResource commandThe Save-PSResource commandThe Uninstall-PSResource commandPowerShell repositoriesCreating an SMB repositoryNuGet repositoriesAbout snap-insSummary
Chapter 3: Variables, Arrays, and Hashtables
Naming and creating variablesProvider variablesVariables in stringsVariable typesAssignment with types on the rightAssignment with types on the leftValue and reference typesType conversionVariable commandsGet-VariableNew-VariableSet-VariableRemove-VariableClear-VariableVariable providerVariable scopeAccessing variablesScope modifiersNumeric scopesPrivate variablesAbout arraysArray typeCreation by assignmentCreating an arrayArrays with a typeAdding elements to an arrayList and ArrayListSelecting elements from an arrayChanging element values in an arrayRemoving elementsRemoving elements by indexFilling variables from arraysMulti-dimensional and jagged arraysAbout hashtablesCreating a hashtableAdding, changing, and removing keysUsing a hashtable to filterEnumerating a hashtableAbout OrderedSummary
Chapter 4: Working with Objects in PowerShell
PipelinesSuccess streamOther streamsThe Object pipelineMembersThe Get-Member commandAccessing object propertiesAccess modifiersUsing methodsReturn types and argument typesCreating and modifying objectsUsing PSCustomObjectThe New-Object commandThe Add-Member commandAdd-Member and custom objectsEnumerating and filteringThe ForEach-Object commandBegin and End parametersThe Parallel parameterThe MemberName parameterThe Where-Object commandSelecting and sortingThe Select-Object commandCalculated propertiesThe ExpandProperty parameterThe Unique parameterProperty setsThe Sort-Object commandThe Unique parameterGrouping and measuringThe Group-Object commandThe Measure-Object commandComparingImporting, exporting, and convertingThe Export-Csv and ConvertTo-Csv commandsThe Import-Csv and ConvertFrom-Csv commandsThe Clixml commandsThe Tee-Object commandFormattingFormatting and exportingThe Format-Table commandThe Format-List commandSelect-Object, Write-Host, and inline outputFormat-only propertiesSummary
Chapter 5: Operators
Precedence, grouping, and sub-expressionsOperator precedenceGroupingSub-expression operatorArray sub-expression operatorUnary, Binary, and Ternary operatorsAbout the ternary operatorArithmetic operatorsAddition operatorSubtraction operatorMultiplication operatorDivision operatorRemainder operatorIncrement and decrement operatorsComparison operatorseq and nelike and notlikeGreater than and less thanCase sensitivityComparison operators and arraysComparisons to nullcontains and inRegular expression-based operatorsmatch and notmatchreplacesplitLogical operatorsandornotxor (eXclusive OR)Bitwise operatorsband (Bitwise AND)bor (Bitwise OR)bxor (Bitwise eXclusive OR)bnot (Bitwise NOT)shl and shr (Shift left and right operators)Assignment operatorsAssign, add and assign, and subtract and assignMultiply and assign, divide and assign, and modulus and assignStatements can be assigned to a variableAssignment and other operatorsType operatorsasis and isnotRedirection operatorsAbout Write-HostRedirection to a filePowerShell and default file encodingRedirecting streams to the Success streamOnly Success streamRedirection to nullOther operatorsCommaIndexRangeCallFormatjoinNull coalescingNull coalescing assignmentNull conditionalPipeline chainBackgroundSummary
Chapter 6: Conditional Statements and Loops
if, else, and elseifAssignment within if statementsImplicit Booleanswitch statementsswitch statement casesenum casesswitch case comparisonsScript block casesswitch statements and arraysswitch statements and filesWildcard and Regex parametersswitch, break, and continueLoopsforeach loopforeach keyword and foreach aliasfor loopdo-until and do-while loopswhile loopLoops, break, and continuebreak and continue outside loopsLoops and labelsLoops, queues, and stacksSummary
Chapter 7: Unlock Your Exclusive Benefits
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Index

Content preview from PowerShell Fundamentals

4 Working with Objects in PowerShell

Everything in PowerShell revolves around working with objects. An object is a representation of a thing, and realistically that can be anything. However, at this stage it is better to stick with things PowerShell already does.

The Get‑Process command in PowerShell returns objects that represent running processes in the operating system. The processes are broadly described by the Process Type.

Type is a term .NET uses to describe the abstract representation of a thing. It is abstract because it does not represent any single process (in this case), but how a process should look to the programming language (like PowerShell).

A single specific process is represented by an instance of the Type.

At this point, ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781808761393

Cloud Computing

Data Engineering

Data Science

AI & ML

Programming Languages

Software Architecture

IT/Ops

Security

Design

Business

Soft Skills

PowerShell Fundamentals

by Chris Dent

4

Working with Objects in PowerShell

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.