Windows PowerShell Cookbook

Appendix D. Standard PowerShell Verbs

Cmdlets and scripts should be named using a Verb-Noun syntax. For example, Get-ChildItem. The official guidance is that, with rare exception, cmdlets should use the standard PowerShell verbs. They should avoid any synonyms or concepts that can be mapped to the standard. This allows administrators to quickly understand a set of cmdlets that use a new noun.

Verbs should be phrased in the present tense, and nouns should be singular. Tables D-1 through D-6 list the different categories of standard PowerShell verbs.

Table D-1. Standard Windows PowerShell common verbs

Verb	Meaning	Synonyms
Add	Adds a resource to a container, or attaches an element to another element	Append, Attach, Concatenate, Insert
Clear	Removes all elements from a container	Flush, Erase, Release, Unmark, Unset, Nullify
Copy	Copies a resource to another name or container	Duplicate, Clone, Replicate
Get	Retrieves data	Read, Open, Cat, Type, Dir, Obtain, Dump, Acquire, Examine, Find, Search
Hide	Makes a display not visible	Suppress
Join	Joins a resource	Combine, Unite, Connect, Associate
Lock	Locks a resource	Restrict, Bar
Move	Moves a resource	Transfer, Name, Migrate
New	Creates a new resource	Create, Generate, Build, Make, Allocate
Push	Puts an item onto the top of a stack	Put, Add, Copy
Pop	Removes an item from the top of a stack	Remove, Paste
Remove	Removes a resource from a container	Delete, Kill
Rename	Gives a resource a new name	Ren, Swap
Search	Finds a resource (or summary information about that resource)in a collection; ...