Windows Server® 2012 Unleashed

Command Types

When a command is executed in PowerShell, the command interpreter looks at the command name to figure out what task to perform. This process includes determining the type of command and how to process that command. There are four types of PowerShell commands: cmdlets, shell function commands, script commands, and native commands.

Cmdlet

The first command type is a cmdlet (pronounced “command-let”), which is similar to the built-in commands in other CLI-based shells. The difference is that cmdlets are implemented by using .NET classes compiled into a dynamic link library (DLL) and loaded into PowerShell at runtime. This difference means there’s no fixed class of built-in cmdlets; anyone can use the PowerShell Software Developers ...