Professional Windows® PowerShell

4.3. Using Abbreviated Commands

Many commands in Windows PowerShell have compact or abbreviated forms, which allow you to carry out tasks with less typing. These abbreviated commands are particularly convenient when you are working from the command line.

There are two ways to save on typing—by using command completion or by using aliases.

4.3.1. Command Completion

Windows PowerShell commands allow you to use the Tab key to complete commands once you have typed the verb part of a cmdlet name plus the hyphen. For example, if you want to use the get-process cmdlet, you can type it in fully as in the examples earlier in this chapter. However, if you type

get-pr

and then press the Tab key, you will see

Get-Process

on the screen. When carrying out tab completion, Windows PowerShell, typically, gives an initial uppercase letter to both the verb and noun parts of a cmdlet name. Since PowerShell is case-insensitive for cmdlet names this doesn't cause any undesired change in behavior.

Similarly, if you type

get-se

then press Tab, you will see

Get-Service

on the screen.

If you press the Tab key when there is more than one option available—for example when you hit Tab after typing

get-p

you will see the earliest option, as judged by alphabetical order, in this case:

Get-PfxCertificate

If you press Tab again, you will see the next option, which is

Get-Process

If you continue to press Tab, you will see the other options for command completion in that setting. Pressing Tab multiple times in ...