Using Windows PowerShell as an IT Pro – Part 3

Using Windows PowerShell as an IT Pro – Part 3

Expiration Time In my last post I talked about the Get-Command cmdlet and how it helps you discover what cmdlets are available. Now we will review the Get-Help cmdlet and how it gives you detailed information on how the cmdlets are used.
Windows PowerShell provides a robust online Help system that can be accessed by typing get-help. This provides basic information about how the Windows PowerShell Help system works, along with examples of how to get more specific help in using Windows PowerShell.
Get-Help

To get help about a specific cmdlet, use Get-Help, followed by the name of the cmdlet. We will get help on the Get-Command cmdlet, which will display a list of built-in PowerShell commands that are available to us.
Get-Help Get-Command

The synopsis explains conceptually what a PowerShell command does, and the syntax section gives details about how to actually use the command and what parameters it takes.
The most detailed Help level in Windows PowerShell is available when you use the full parameter. This not only gives syntax and examples, it also describes each argument in great detail, including whether an argument is required, whether it will accept input from the command pipeline, and whether wildcard characters can be used.
Where a parameter accepts only particular values, the full parameter of Get-Help will also show you the valid values for the parameter.
Get-Help Get-Command -full


In my next Post we will look talk about snapins in Windows PowerShell.