PowerShell in Depth
Learn PowerShell from your first command to tools of your own: find your way around, organize files, filter and sort anything with objects and the pipeline,…
Updated
Module 1: Meet PowerShell
What PowerShell is and how to install and open it, how its commands are named and how to find help for any of them, and finding your way around a computer: where you are, what is there, how to get somewhere and how to read a file.
- Welcome to PowerShell (4 topics, 7 lessons)
- Commands That Explain Themselves (3 topics, 6 lessons)
- Finding Your Way (4 topics, 6 lessons)
Module 2: Working with Files
Make, copy, move, rename, zip and delete files and folders, many at once, with -WhatIf before anything that removes; write to files, edit them in the terminal, and watch a log grow.
- Making and Moving (4 topics, 5 lessons)
- Deleting, Writing and Editing (4 topics, 5 lessons)
- Archives, Checks and Links (4 topics, 4 lessons)
Module 3: Objects and the Pipeline
PowerShell's big idea: everything it shows you is an object with properties. Filter, sort, count, group and act on files and programs with the pipeline, and search text and files.
- Everything Is an Object (3 topics, 5 lessons)
- The Pipeline (4 topics, 7 lessons)
- Searching (4 topics, 4 lessons)
Module 4: Working with Data
Turn spreadsheet exports, JSON settings files and web APIs into objects, then into clean data and reports.
- Spreadsheets, JSON and Reports (4 topics, 5 lessons)
- Talking to the Web (2 topics, 3 lessons)
Module 5: PowerShell, Your Way
Variables, text, numbers and dates, environment variables and PATH; the execution policy, your profile, aliases, a prompt in your colors, apps and modules; and the shortcuts that make you fast.
- Variables and Values (3 topics, 6 lessons)
- Making It Yours (4 topics, 6 lessons)
- Working Fast (3 topics, 4 lessons)
Module 6: Scripts Are Applications
A script is an application: write .ps1 files in VS Code, run them from anywhere, give them parameters, make decisions, repeat work, handle errors and debug them.
- Your First Script (2 topics, 5 lessons)
- Input and Decisions (3 topics, 5 lessons)
- Loops (2 topics, 4 lessons)
- When Things Go Wrong (4 topics, 5 lessons)
Module 7: Building Real Tools
Turn scripts into tools that behave like PowerShell's own commands: advanced functions with validation, pipeline input, -WhatIf and help, objects of your own, saved data, and a module with tests.
- Functions Like Cmdlets (3 topics, 7 lessons)
- A Real Tool (3 topics, 5 lessons)
- Modules and Tests (3 topics, 4 lessons)
Module 8: Administering Windows
Look after Windows computers: processes, services and background jobs, the computer's facts, event logs, the registry, users and apps, scheduled tasks, backups, and remote computers.
- Processes, Services and Jobs (4 topics, 5 lessons)
- Inside Windows (4 topics, 6 lessons)
- On a Schedule (3 topics, 4 lessons)
- Other Computers (3 topics, 4 lessons)
Module 9: The Developer's PowerShell
The scripts every software project has, calling other programs, keeping secrets out of scripts, using .NET directly, sharing your tools, and knowing when a script should become a program.
- Project Scripts (2 topics, 4 lessons)
- Going Further (3 topics, 4 lessons)