# Short Names: Aliases

An alias is a short second name for a command, such as ls or dir for Get-ChildItem, and Get-Alias shows what an alias really runs, so you can use short names at the prompt and full names in scripts.

Novice · PowerShell · Updated November 10, 2026

## After this lesson you can

- Find what an alias really runs, or a command's aliases, with Get-Alias
- Choose short names at the prompt and full names in scripts, and explain why

## Key takeaways

- An alias is a second, shorter name for a command. `ls`, `dir` and `gci` all run `Get-ChildItem`.
- `Get-Alias ls` shows what an alias runs, and `Get-Alias -Definition Get-ChildItem` shows a command's aliases.
- An alias changes only the name. The parameters are still the full command's, so `ls -la` doesn't work in PowerShell.
- Use short names at the prompt to save typing, and full names in scripts, so anyone can read them on any computer.

You're following three tutorials. The first says to type `ls`, the second `dir`, and the third `gci`. One was written by someone who learned on a Mac, one by someone who grew up with the old Windows Command Prompt, and one by someone who uses PowerShell every day. All three run the same command, `Get-ChildItem`, the one that lists what's inside a folder. Reading other people's commands means knowing their short names, and this lesson shows you how to look them up.

## Nicknames for commands

Elizabeth's friends call her Liz. It's the same person, and a shorter name. PowerShell has nicknames too, called **aliases**: a second, shorter name for a command. `Get-Alias` shows what an alias stands for:

```powershell
Get-Alias ls
```

```text
CommandType     Name                                               Version    Source
-----------     ----                                               -------    ------
Alias           ls -> Get-ChildItem
```

The arrow `->` is read "points to": `ls` points to `Get-ChildItem`. You can ask about several at once, with commas between them:

```powershell
Get-Alias dir, cd, cat, cls, pwd, gsv, gps
```

```text
CommandType     Name                                               Version    Source
-----------     ----                                               -------    ------
Alias           dir -> Get-ChildItem
Alias           cd -> Set-Location
Alias           cat -> Get-Content
Alias           cls -> Clear-Host
Alias           pwd -> Get-Location
Alias           gsv -> Get-Service
Alias           gps -> Get-Process
```

On Windows, PowerShell 7.6 starts with 135 aliases. Many are the names people already knew from other shells (`dir` and `cls` from Command Prompt; `ls`, `cat` and `pwd` from the Mac and Linux). Others are made from the verb's and noun's first letters: `gsv` is **g**et-**s**er**v**ice.

## A command's short names

The question also goes the other way: "does this command have a short name?" `-Definition` asks it:

```powershell
Get-Alias -Definition Get-Process
```

```text
CommandType     Name                                               Version    Source
-----------     ----                                               -------    ------
Alias           gps -> Get-Process
Alias           ps -> Get-Process
```

Not every command has one. `Get-Alias -Definition Get-Date` says that no alias with that definition exists.

## An alias changes only the name

On a Mac or in Linux, `ls -la` lists everything in a folder, hidden files included. Try it in PowerShell on Windows:

```powershell
ls -la
```

```text
Get-ChildItem: A parameter cannot be found that matches parameter name 'la'.
```

The error starts with `Get-ChildItem`, not `ls`, because that's what really ran. An alias gives a command a new name, but the parameters are still the full command's own. `Get-ChildItem`'s parameter for hidden files is `-Force`, so the PowerShell way is `ls -Force`.

## Short names at the prompt, full names in scripts

Both kinds of name are right; each fits a different place.

- **At the prompt**, use whichever you like. You're the only reader, and fewer keystrokes is faster.
- **In a script**, a file of commands that you save and run again (Module 6 is all about them), write the full names. A script is read by other people, or by you in six months, and `Get-ChildItem` says what it does where `gci` doesn't. Tab types the long name for you anyway.

There's a second reason. **On a Mac or Linux**, `ls`, `cat`, `ps` and a few others aren't aliases in PowerShell: they run the system's own programs, which take different parameters and print text instead of PowerShell's tables. A script that says `Get-ChildItem` works the same everywhere. Aliases can also differ between versions: Windows PowerShell 5.1 has `curl` and `wget` as aliases for `Invoke-WebRequest`, and PowerShell 7 dropped them so the real `curl` program runs.

That's why this course writes full names in its code. You can make aliases of your own, too: *Aliases and Small Functions*, in Module 5, shows how.

**Try it.** Run `Get-Alias -Definition Get-Content`. Which of its short names have you seen in a tutorial?

## Check yourself

2 questions to try on the lesson page.

## So what

Short names make you quick at the prompt, and `Get-Alias` turns any short name you meet back into a full name that explains itself.

## Key terms

- [Alias](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/alias-powershell)
- [Get-Alias](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/get-alias)

## Cheat sheets

- [Short Names: Aliases](https://www.ask-codey.com/cheat-sheets/powershell-aliases-cheat-sheet)

## Related

- [Verb-Noun: Names That Explain Themselves](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-verb-noun-names)
- [Finding a Command: Get-Command](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-get-command)

Source: https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-aliases