# Exercise: The Moving-Day List

Clear the hallway of a new apartment with Remove-Item and -WhatIf, write and add to its lists with Set-Content, Add-Content, > and >>, fix a settings file with edit, and read the ends of two long files, while a Pester check tells you which jobs are done.

Apprentice · PowerShell · Operating System · Updated November 10, 2026

You've moved into apartment 4B. The movers left a broken vase and a pile of cardboard in the hallway, your smart speaker still has your old address, and the to-do list keeps growing. You'll do seven moving-day jobs with the commands from this chapter, and a check tells you which ones are done.

## Get the exercise code

Open this lesson's GitHub repository, [github.com/ask-codey/exercise-powershell-the-moving-day-list](https://github.com/ask-codey/exercise-powershell-the-moving-day-list), also linked from the **Exercise** box beside the lesson. Click **Code**, then **Download ZIP**, and unzip it into your `terminal-practice` folder. Or clone it with Git.

The folder holds:

- `apartment`: the new apartment's files. This is where you work.
- `Check.Tests.ps1`: the check that looks at the apartment folder. You don't need to change it.

## What to do

Open PowerShell 7, go into the exercise folder with `Set-Location`, then into `apartment`. The jobs are in the folder's `README.md`, in this order:

1. Throw out `hallway\broken-vase.txt` and `hallway\bubble-wrap.txt`. The spare key and the lamp stay.
2. Get rid of the folder `hallway\cardboard`, with everything in it. The hallway itself stays.
3. Make `door-sign.txt`, with one line: `Apartment 4B`.
4. Add `- water the plants` to the end of `todo.txt`, keeping the three lines it has.
5. Open `speaker-settings.ini` with `edit`, and change its last line to `address=48 Maple Avenue, Apt 4B`.
6. Save the first three lines of `packing-list.txt` into a new file, `unpack-first.txt`, with one command.
7. Add the last line of `movers.log`, which says where box 14 ended up, to the end of `todo.txt`, with one command.

Every new file goes inside `apartment`, next to `todo.txt`. Deleting can't be undone, but this folder is a download: if a job goes wrong, unzip a fresh copy and start again.

## Check your work

The check uses Pester, PowerShell's test tool. If you haven't installed it yet, install it once:

```powershell
Install-PSResource Pester
```

Then, from the exercise folder (the one with `Check.Tests.ps1` in it, not `apartment`):

```powershell
Invoke-Pester
```

At first all seven tests fail. That's expected: each job you do turns its test green. A failing test names its job and what it looked for, for example *Expected path '…\apartment\hallway\cardboard' to not exist, because job 2 removes hallway\cardboard and the boxes in it, which needs -Recurse, but it did exist.*

If PowerShell says the check can't be loaded because running scripts is disabled or the file is not digitally signed, Windows has marked the downloaded files as coming from the internet. From the exercise folder, run `Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Unblock-File` once, then `Invoke-Pester` again. *Why a Script Won't Run: The Execution Policy*, in Module 5, explains what that does.

## Hints

- **Rehearse every delete.** Run it with `-WhatIf` first, as in *Deleting Safely: Remove-Item, -WhatIf and -Confirm*. A wildcard such as `hallway\*.txt` would take the spare key and the lamp too.
- **A full folder needs `-Recurse`.** Without it, PowerShell stops and asks.
- **Replace or add?** `Set-Content` and `>` replace a whole file; `Add-Content` and `>>` add to its end. Jobs 4 and 7 both add to `todo.txt`.
- **Two commands in one.** Jobs 6 and 7 read part of a file and send it into another: `Get-Content` with `-TotalCount` or `-Tail`, then `>` or `>>`, all on one line, as in *The Start and End of a File: -TotalCount, -Tail and -Wait* and *Writing to Files: Set-Content, Add-Content and >*.
- **Look after every job.** `Get-Content` shows what a file holds now, and `Get-ChildItem hallway` what's left in the hallway.

## When you're done

Every test is green, and Pester's last line says:

```text
Tests Passed: 7, Failed: 0, Skipped: 0, Inconclusive: 0, NotRun: 0
```

Now look back at job 5. Could you have made that change with `Set-Content` instead of an editor? What would you have had to type, and what could have gone wrong?

## Submit your exercise

The exercise is how you finish this lesson. When your work is done, put it on GitHub in a repo of your own, then submit that repo's address here.

1. On GitHub, click **+**, then **New repository**. Name it (for example `exercise-powershell-the-moving-day-list`), choose **Public**, and click **Create repository**. Leave out the README: your folder already has one.
2. In a terminal in your exercise folder (PowerShell works), send your work to your new repo. If you downloaded the ZIP:

   ```powershell
   git init -b main
   git add .
   git commit -m "My solution"
   git remote add origin https://github.com/your-name/exercise-powershell-the-moving-day-list.git
   git push -u origin main
   ```

   If you cloned the starter instead, point your copy at your own repo, then commit and push:

   ```powershell
   git remote set-url origin https://github.com/your-name/exercise-powershell-the-moving-day-list.git
   git add .
   git commit -m "My solution"
   git push -u origin main
   ```

3. Paste your repo's address, such as `https://github.com/your-name/exercise-powershell-the-moving-day-list`, into **Submit your exercise** on this page. The site checks that the repo is public and holds your commits, and then the lesson is complete.

Changed something after you submitted? Push it, and submit again: your latest submission is the one that counts.

## So what

Clearing out, writing lists and fixing one line are the jobs you'll do in a terminal most often. You've now done all of them from the prompt, and rehearsed every delete before it happened.

## Key terms

- [Remove-Item](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/remove-item)
- [-WhatIf and -Confirm](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/whatif-and-confirm)
- [Set-Content](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/set-content)
- [Add-Content](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/add-content)
- [Microsoft Edit](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/microsoft-edit)
- [Get-Content](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/get-content)

## Related

- [Deleting Safely: Remove-Item, -WhatIf and -Confirm](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-deleting-safely)
- [Writing to Files: Set-Content, Add-Content and >](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-writing-to-files)
- [Editing in the Terminal: edit](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-editing-with-edit)
- [The Start and End of a File: -TotalCount, -Tail and -Wait](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-head-and-tail)

Source: https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/exercise-powershell-the-moving-day-list