Power Shell Study Notes

Building an Automation Script

A walkthrough of designing a real PowerShell automation script end to end, from parameters to scheduled execution.

Conditionals in PowerShell

Learn how PowerShell evaluates true/false logic with if/elseif/else, switch statements, and comparison/logical operators to control which code actually runs.

Desired State Configuration (DSC)

Learn how PowerShell DSC declaratively defines and enforces the configuration state of servers and services.

Error Handling with Try/Catch

Understand PowerShell's terminating vs non-terminating errors and how try/catch/finally, -ErrorAction, and $ErrorActionPreference work together to handle failu…

Filtering and Selecting

Master Where-Object for keeping only the rows you need and Select-Object for keeping only the properties you need, plus the operators that power both.

Formatting Output

Learn why PowerShell keeps data and display separate, how to shape output with Format-Table and Format-List, and when to use ConvertTo-* instead.

Functions and Parameters

Learn to write reusable PowerShell functions with typed, validated, pipeline-aware parameters, and understand how advanced functions behave like native cmdlets.

Installing and the Console

How to install PowerShell 7+ on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and get productive in the console using tab completion, history, and profiles.

Loops in PowerShell

Master PowerShell's iteration constructs — foreach, for, while, do-while, and pipeline-based ForEach-Object — along with break and continue for controlling rep…

Managing Active Directory with PowerShell

Use the ActiveDirectory module to query, create, and modify users, groups, and organizational units at scale.

Modules and the PowerShell Gallery

Learn how PowerShell packages reusable code into modules and how to discover, install, and publish them via the PowerShell Gallery.

PowerShell and REST APIs

Use Invoke-RestMethod and Invoke-WebRequest to consume, authenticate against, and automate workflows around HTTP REST APIs.

PowerShell Best Practices

Practical conventions for writing PowerShell scripts and functions that stay readable, safe, and maintainable as they grow.

PowerShell for Azure

Use the Az PowerShell module to authenticate, provision, and automate Azure resources at scale.

PowerShell Interview Questions

Common PowerShell interview topics — from the object pipeline to scoping and remoting — with the reasoning behind each answer.

PowerShell Quick Reference

A condensed reference of the PowerShell syntax, operators, and cmdlets you reach for most often day to day.

PowerShell Syntax and Cmdlets

Master the Verb-Noun cmdlet naming convention, parameters, aliases, and the pipeline that make PowerShell commands predictable and discoverable.

PowerShell vs Bash

How PowerShell's object pipeline compares to Bash's text pipeline, and when to reach for each shell.

Processes and Services

Learn how to inspect, start, stop, and control Windows processes and services using PowerShell's process and service management cmdlets.

Registry and Environment

Learn how PowerShell exposes the Windows Registry and environment variables as navigable drives, and how to safely read and modify both.

Remoting with PowerShell

Learn how PowerShell Remoting uses WinRM to run commands on remote machines, including interactive sessions, one-off invocations, and persistent connections.

Scheduled Tasks and Jobs

Learn the difference between PowerShell background jobs and Windows Scheduled Tasks, and how to create, monitor, and manage both from the command line.

Script Blocks and Scopes

Understand PowerShell script blocks as first-class values, how scoping (global, script, local, private) governs variable visibility, and how closures capture v…

Sorting and Grouping

Learn to order pipeline output with Sort-Object and cluster it into buckets with Group-Object, including combining both with Measure-Object for reports.