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Mastering PowerShell Scripting - Fourth Edition

By : Chris Dent

4 (19)

Mastering PowerShell Scripting

4 (19)

By: Chris Dent

Overview of this book

PowerShell scripts offer a convenient way to automate various tasks, but working with them can be daunting. Mastering PowerShell Scripting takes away the fear and helps you navigate through PowerShell's capabilities.This extensively revised edition includes new chapters on debugging and troubleshooting and creating GUIs (online chapter). Learn the new features of PowerShell 7.1 by working with parameters, objects, and .NET classes from within PowerShell 7.1. This comprehensive guide starts with the basics before moving on to advanced topics, including asynchronous processing, desired state configuration, using more complex scripts and filters, debugging issues, and error-handling techniques. Explore how to efficiently manage substantial amounts of data and interact with other services using PowerShell 7.1. This book will help you to make the most of PowerShell's automation features, using different methods to parse data, manipulate regular expressions, and work with Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).

Preface

Preface

Who this book is for

What this book covers

To get the most out of this book

Get in touch

Introduction to PowerShell

Introduction to PowerShell

What is PowerShell?

PowerShell editors

Getting help

Command naming and discovery

Parameters, values, and parameter sets

Introduction to providers

Introduction to splatting

Parser modes

Experimental features

Summary

Free Chapter

Modules and Snap-Ins

Modules and Snap-Ins

Introducing modules

Finding and installing modules

PowerShellGet 3.0

PowerShell repositories

About snap-ins

Summary

Working with Objects in PowerShell

Working with Objects in PowerShell

Pipelines

Members

Enumerating and filtering

Selecting and sorting

Grouping and measuring

Comparing

Importing, exporting, and converting

Summary

Operators

Operators

Arithmetic operators

Assignment operators

Comparison operators

Regular expression-based operators

Logical operators

Binary operators

Type operators

Redirection operators

Other operators

Summary

Variables, Arrays, and Hashtables

Variables, Arrays, and Hashtables

Naming and creating variables

Objects assigned to variables

Variable commands

Variable provider

Scopes and variables

Types and type conversion

Arrays

Hashtables

Lists, dictionaries, queues, and stacks

Summary

Conditional Statements and Loops

Conditional Statements and Loops

if, else, and elseif

switch

Loops

Loops, break, and continue

Implicit Boolean

Summary

Working with .NET

Working with .NET

Assemblies

Types

Enumerations

Classes

Namespaces

The using keyword

Type accelerators

Members

Reflection in PowerShell

Summary

Strings, Numbers, and Dates

Strings, Numbers, and Dates

Manipulating strings

Converting strings

Manipulating numbers

Manipulating dates and times

Summary

Regular Expressions

Regular Expressions

Regex basics

Anchors

Quantifiers

Character classes

Alternation

Grouping

Look-ahead and look-behind

The .NET Regex type

Regex options

Examples of regular expressions

Summary

Files, Folders, and the Registry

Files, Folders, and the Registry

Working with providers

Items

Windows permissions

Transactions

File catalog commands

Summary

Windows Management Instrumentation

Windows Management Instrumentation

Working with WMI

CIM cmdlets

The WMI Query Language

WMI Type Accelerators

Permissions

Summary

Working with HTML, XML, and JSON

Working with HTML, XML, and JSON

HTML

XML commands

System.Xml

System.Xml.Linq

JSON

Summary

Web Requests and Web Services

Web Requests and Web Services

Technical requirements

Web requests

Working with REST

Working with SOAP

Summary

Remoting and Remote Management

Remoting and Remote Management

Technical requirements

WS-Management

PSSessions

Remoting on Linux

Remoting over SSH

The double-hop problem

CIM sessions

Just Enough Administration

Summary

Asynchronous Processing

Asynchronous Processing

Working with jobs

Reacting to events

Using runspaces and runspace pools

Summary

Graphical User Interfaces

Graphical User Interfaces

About Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)

Designing a UI

About XAML

Displaying the UI

Layout

Naming and locating elements

Handling events

Responsive interfaces

Summary

Scripts, Functions, and Script Blocks

Scripts, Functions, and Script Blocks

About style

Capabilities of scripts, functions, and script blocks

Parameters and the param block

The CmdletBinding attribute

The Alias attribute

begin, process, end, and cleanup

Managing output

Working with long lines

Comment-based help

Summary

Parameters, Validation, and Dynamic Parameters

Parameters, Validation, and Dynamic Parameters

The Parameter attribute

Validating input

Pipeline input

Defining parameter sets

Argument completers

Dynamic parameters

Summary

Classes and Enumerations

Classes and Enumerations

Defining an enumeration

Creating a class

Classes for parameters

Classes and DSC

Summary

Building Modules

Building Modules

Technical requirements

Creating a module

Publishing a module

Multi-file module layout

Module scope

Initializing and removing modules

Summary

Testing

Testing

Technical requirements

Static analysis

Testing with Pester

Summary

Error Handling

Error Handling

Error types

Error actions

Raising errors

Catching errors

Summary

Debugging and Troubleshooting

Debugging and Troubleshooting

Common problems

Debugging in the console

Debugging in Visual Studio Code

Summary

Other Books You May Enjoy

Other Books You May Enjoy

Index

Index

Comparing

You can use the Compare-Object command to compare collections of objects with one another.

Compare-Object must be supplied with values for the ReferenceObject and DifferenceObject parameters, which are normally collections or arrays of objects. If either value is null, then an error will be displayed. If both values are equal, Compare-Object does not return anything by default. For example, the reference and difference objects in the following example are identical:

Compare-Object -ReferenceObject 1, 2 -DifferenceObject 1, 2

If there are differences, Compare-Object displays the results, as shown here:

PS> Compare-Object -ReferenceObject 1, 2, 3, 4 -DifferenceObject 1, 2
InputObject SideIndicator
----------- -------------
          3 <=
          4 <=

This shows that ReferenceObject (the collection on the left, denoted by the direction of the <= arrow) has the values, but DifferenceObject (the collection on the right) does not.

Compare...

CONTINUE READING

83

Tech Concepts

36

Programming languages

73

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