PowerShell is the new command-line/scripting
environment from Microsoft.
The goal for this project was to provide the
best shell scripting environment possible
for Microsoft Windows.
Shell is the piece of software that sits over
an operating system’s core functionality.
This core functionality is known as the
operating system kernel (Kernel is actually the
fundamental part of the Operating System. It manages the
I/O requests and translates them into data instructions
for the CPU and other components.).
Shell is the piece of software that helps you access the functionality
provided by the operating system.
PowerShell is an object-based shell as opposed to an object-oriented
language. In object-based scripting, we typically use objects somebody
else has already defined for you. Although it’s possible to build our own
objects in PowerShell, it isn’t something that we need to worry about at
least not for most basic PowerShell tasks.
PowerShell commands, called cmdlets, use verb-noun pairs like Get-Date .
Microsoft operating systems beginning with Windows 7 include Power-Shell
as part of the system. PowerShell was included with Windows Server 2008
but as an optional component that will need to be turned on before we can use
it. For earlier Microsoft operating systems, we’ll have to download and
install the PowerShell package on our computer.
PowerShell is composed of two main parts: 1) The PowerShell engine, which
interprets the commands. 2) A host application that passes commands from the
user to the engine Although there’s only one PowerShell engine, there can be
many hosts, including hosts written by third parties. In PowerShell v1,
Microsoft provided only one basic PowerShell host based on the old-fashioned
Windows console. Version 2 introduced a much more modern host environment,
called the PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment (PowerShell ISE).
Ctrl-left arrow & Ctrl-right arrow Holding the Ctrl key down while
pressing the left and right arrow keys moves the editing cursor through the
current command line one word at a time, instead of one characterat a time.
Command completion : Partially enter a command, then press
the Tab key, and have PowerShell try to fill in the rest of the command.
