This topic is a little long but I strongly encourage you to walk through it and master the techniques it illustrates. I can assure you that you’ll will use them a couple thousand times in the next couple of years.<\/p>\n
.Net provides a wonderful class called System.Environment that tells you all about your environment. It is well worth taking a few minutes to stop what you are doing and explore this class so that you understand its capabilities. That way when a relevant issue comes up, you’ll know that there is very simple way to get the answer. <\/p>\n
First thing to remember is that they way you specify a type in PowerShell is with square brackets:<\/p>\n
PS> [System.Environment]<\/strong> <\/font><\/p>\n IsPublic IsSerial Name BaseType <\/p>\n The next thing to remember is that PowerShell allows you to drop the "SYSTEM" from types:<\/p>\n PS> [System.Diagnostics.Process]<\/strong> <\/font><\/p>\n IsPublic IsSerial Name BaseType PS> [Diagnostics.Process]<\/strong> <\/font><\/p>\n IsPublic IsSerial Name BaseType PS> [Environment]<\/strong> <\/font><\/p>\n IsPublic IsSerial Name BaseType <\/p>\n The next thing to remember is that types can have STATIC properties and methods. What are a "static properties and methods"? Most properties are methods that you deal with are OBJECT properties and methods which is to say that they are the "properties of THAT object" or the "methods that can be invoked on THAT object". Static properties and methods do not require an object to be invoked. There are lots of reasons why programmers use statics but the thing you need to know is that it is well worth exploring static properties and methods because they often contain gems of functionality. Not all types have statics in fact most don’t but those that do are often super useful so it is worth the explore. <\/p>\n So how do you explore? Well with PowerShell of course. Remember that PowerShell is designed to allow you to explore the system. We want to to cultivate a strong sense of curiosity about your system and want to make it easy and safe (where possible) for you to go splunking around. So the tool to explore Statics is Get-Member. Here is what you need to know:<\/p>\n 1) Get-Member has a -STATIC parameter. Let’s explore:<\/p>\n PS> Get-Date |Get-Member -Static<\/strong> <\/font><\/p>\n TypeName: System.DateTime <\/font><\/p>\n Name MemberType Definition PS> Get-Date |gm -s<\/strong> <\/font><\/p>\n TypeName: System.DateTime <\/font><\/p>\n Name MemberType Definition PS> [DateTime] |gm -s<\/strong> <\/font><\/p>\n TypeName: System.DateTime <\/font><\/p>\n Name MemberType Definition <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now lets explore how you access these. You use "::" on types to invoke statics:<\/p>\n PS> [Datetime]::Today<\/strong> <\/font><\/p>\n Saturday, December 13, 2008 12:00:00 AM <\/font><\/p>\n PS> [Datetime]::IsLeapYear(2008)<\/strong> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n So with that background, let’s explore some of SYSTEM.ENVIRONMENT properties:<\/p>\n PS> [Environment] |gm -s<\/strong> <\/font><\/p>\n TypeName: System.Environment <\/font><\/p>\n Name MemberType Definition PS> [Environment]::MachineName Platform ServicePack Version VersionString PS> [Environment]::ProcessorCount<\/strong> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now let’s explore some methods:<\/p>\n PS> [Environment]::GetLogicalDrives() PS><\/font><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Notice the error I got for GetFolderPath() – it’s complaining about the number of arguments it got. So now let’s learn the technique to discover method signatures. If you specify a method and use "()", it invokes the method. If you don’t provide the "()" and just specify the name, it give you information about the method:<\/p>\n PS> [Environment]::GetFolderPath<\/strong> <\/font><\/p>\n MemberType : Method <\/font><\/p>\n <\/font><\/p>\n <\/font><\/p>\n <\/font><\/p>\n This tells you that the method takes one argument whose name is "folder" and whose type is System.Environment+SpecialFolder. What the heck is that? <\/p>\n PS> [System.Environment+SpecialFolder]<\/strong> <\/font><\/p>\n IsPublic IsSerial Name BaseType <\/p>\n Notice that it is an ENUM. The great things about ENUMS is that when you specify an invalid value – it tells you what the valid values are:<\/p>\n PS> <\/font>[Environment]::GetFolderPath("burp") <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n So let’s try some of those values:<\/p>\n PS> [Environment]::GetFolderPath("cookies")<\/strong> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n But wait – it’s gets even better! <\/p>\n Now let’s pull it all together by realizing that ENUM is a type and that it has statics as well use that to find all the folderpaths:<\/p>\n PS> [Enum] |gm -s<\/strong> <\/font><\/p>\n TypeName: System.Enum <\/font><\/p>\n Name MemberType Definition PS> [Enum]::GetValues([System.Environment+SpecialFolder]) PS> foreach ($f in [Enum]::GetValues([System.Environment+SpecialFolder])) { <\/p>\n Is that cool or what?<\/p>\n Enjoy!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jeffrey Snover [MSFT] This topic is a little long but I strongly encourage you to walk through it and master the techniques it illustrates. I can assure you that you’ll will use them a couple thousand times in the next couple of years. .Net provides a wonderful class called System.Environment that tells you all about your environment. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":600,"featured_media":13641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[177,4,325],"class_list":["post-17840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-powershell","tag-get-member","tag-howto","tag-system-environment"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":" This topic is a little long but I strongly encourage you to walk through it and master the techniques it illustrates. I can assure you that you’ll will use them a couple thousand times in the next couple of years. .Net provides a wonderful class called System.Environment that tells you all about your environment. It […]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/600"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
——– ——– —- ——–
True False Environment System.Object<\/font><\/p>\n
——– ——– —- ——–
True False Process System.ComponentModel.Component <\/font><\/p>\n
——– ——– —- ——–
True False Process System.ComponentModel.Component <\/font><\/p>\n
——– ——– —- ——–
True False Environment System.Object<\/font><\/p>\n
2) You can pipe INSTANCES or TYPES to get-member
3) "Get-Member -Static" can be invoked as "gm -s"<\/p>\n
—- ———- ———-
Compare Method static int Compare(System.DateTime t1, System.DateTime t2)
DaysInMonth Method static int DaysInMonth(int year, int month)
Equals Method static bool Equals(System.DateTime t1, System.DateTime t2), static bool Eq
FromBinary Method static System.DateTime FromBinary(long dateData)
FromFileTime Method static System.DateTime FromFileTime(long fileTime)
FromFileTimeUtc Method static System.DateTime FromFileTimeUtc(long fileTime)
FromOADate Method static System.DateTime FromOADate(double d)
IsLeapYear Method static bool IsLeapYear(int year)
Parse Method static System.DateTime Parse(string s), static System.DateTime Parse(strin
ParseExact Method static System.DateTime ParseExact(string s, string format, System.IFormatP
ReferenceEquals Method static bool ReferenceEquals(System.Object objA, System.Object objB)
SpecifyKind Method static System.DateTime SpecifyKind(System.DateTime value, System.DateTimeK
TryParse Method static bool TryParse(string s, System.DateTime&, mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0
TryParseExact Method static bool TryParseExact(string s, string format, System.IFormatProvider
MaxValue Property static System.DateTime MaxValue {get;}
MinValue Property static System.DateTime MinValue {get;}
Now Property System.DateTime Now {get;}
Today Property System.DateTime Today {get;}
UtcNow Property System.DateTime UtcNow {get;} <\/font><\/p>\n
—- ———- ———-
Compare Method static int Compare(System.DateTime t1, System.DateTime t2)
DaysInMonth Method static int DaysInMonth(int year, int month)
Equals Method static bool Equals(System.DateTime t1, System.DateTime t2), static bool Eq
FromBinary Method static System.DateTime FromBinary(long dateData)
FromFileTime Method static System.DateTime FromFileTime(long fileTime)
FromFileTimeUtc Method static System.DateTime FromFileTimeUtc(long fileTime)
FromOADate Method static System.DateTime FromOADate(double d)
IsLeapYear Method static bool IsLeapYear(int year)
Parse Method static System.DateTime Parse(string s), static System.DateTime Parse(strin
ParseExact Method static System.DateTime ParseExact(string s, string format, System.IFormatP
ReferenceEquals Method static bool ReferenceEquals(System.Object objA, System.Object objB)
SpecifyKind Method static System.DateTime SpecifyKind(System.DateTime value, System.DateTimeK
TryParse Method static bool TryParse(string s, System.DateTime&, mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0
TryParseExact Method static bool TryParseExact(string s, string format, System.IFormatProvider
MaxValue Property static System.DateTime MaxValue {get;}
MinValue Property static System.DateTime MinValue {get;}
Now Property System.DateTime Now {get;}
Today Property System.DateTime Today {get;}
UtcNow Property System.DateTime UtcNow {get;} <\/font><\/p>\n
—- ———- ———-
Compare Method static int Compare(System.DateTime t1, System.DateTime t2)
DaysInMonth Method static int DaysInMonth(int year, int month)
Equals Method static bool Equals(System.DateTime t1, System.DateTime t2), static bool Eq
FromBinary Method static System.DateTime FromBinary(long dateData)
FromFileTime Method static System.DateTime FromFileTime(long fileTime)
FromFileTimeUtc Method static System.DateTime FromFileTimeUtc(long fileTime)
FromOADate Method static System.DateTime FromOADate(double d)
IsLeapYear Method static bool IsLeapYear(int year)
Parse Method static System.DateTime Parse(string s), static System.DateTime Parse(strin
ParseExact Method static System.DateTime ParseExact(string s, string format, System.IFormatP
ReferenceEquals Method static bool ReferenceEquals(System.Object objA, System.Object objB)
SpecifyKind Method static System.DateTime SpecifyKind(System.DateTime value, System.DateTimeK
TryParse Method static bool TryParse(string s, System.DateTime&, mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0
TryParseExact Method static bool TryParseExact(string s, string format, System.IFormatProvider
MaxValue Property static System.DateTime MaxValue {get;}
MinValue Property static System.DateTime MinValue {get;}
Now Property System.DateTime Now {get;}
Today Property System.DateTime Today {get;}
UtcNow Property System.DateTime UtcNow {get;}<\/font><\/p>\n
True<\/font><\/p>\n
—- ———- ———-
Equals Method static bool Equals(System.Object o…
Exit Method static System.Void Exit(int exitCode)
ExpandEnvironmentVariables Method static string ExpandEnvironmentVar…
FailFast Method static System.Void FailFast(string…
GetCommandLineArgs Method static System.String[] GetCommandL…
GetEnvironmentVariable Method static string GetEnvironmentVariab…
GetEnvironmentVariables Method static System.Collections.IDiction…
GetFolderPath Method static string GetFolderPath(System…
GetLogicalDrives Method static System.String[] GetLogicalD…
ReferenceEquals Method static bool ReferenceEquals(System…
SetEnvironmentVariable Method static System.Void SetEnvironmentV…
CommandLine Property static System.String CommandLine {…
CurrentDirectory Property static System.String CurrentDirect…
ExitCode Property static System.Int32 ExitCode {get;…
HasShutdownStarted Property static System.Boolean HasShutdownS…
MachineName Property static System.String MachineName {…
NewLine Property static System.String NewLine {get;}
OSVersion Property static System.OperatingSystem OSVe…
ProcessorCount Property static System.Int32 ProcessorCount…
StackTrace Property static System.String StackTrace {g…
SystemDirectory Property static System.String SystemDirecto…
TickCount Property static System.Int32 TickCount {get;}
UserDomainName Property static System.String UserDomainNam…
UserInteractive Property static System.Boolean UserInteract…
UserName Property static System.String UserName {get;}
Version Property static System.Version Version {get;}
WorkingSet Property static System.Int64 WorkingSet {get;} <\/font><\/p>\n
<\/strong>JPSW7-5
PS> [Environment]::OSVersion<\/strong> <\/font><\/p>\n
——– ———– ——- ————-
Win32NT 6.1.7004.0 Microsoft Windo… <\/font><\/p>\n
2
PS> [Environment]::UserInteractive<\/strong>
True
PS> [Environment]::UserDomainName<\/strong>
NTDEV
PS> [Environment]::UserName
<\/strong>jsnover
PS> [Environment]::SystemDirectory<\/strong>
C:\\Windows\\system32
PS><\/font><\/p>\n
<\/strong>C:\\
D:\\
E:\\
PS> [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH")<\/strong>
%SystemRoot%\\system32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\;C:\\Windows\\system32;C:\\Window
s;C:\\Windows\\System32\\Wbem;C:\\Windows\\System32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\;C:\\P
rogram Files\\WTT 2.2\\Client\\;C:\\PROGRA~1\\CA\\SHARED~1\\SCANEN~1;C:\\Program Fi
les\\CA\\eTrust Antivirus;c:\\ps
PS> [Environment]::GetFolderPath()<\/strong>
Cannot find an overload for "GetFolderPath" and the argument count: "0".
At line:1 char:29
+ [Environment]::GetFolderPath <<<< ()
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodCountCouldNotFindBest<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n
OverloadDefinitions : {static string GetFolderPath(System.Environment+Speci
alFolder folder)}
<\/font>TypeNameOfValue : System.Management.Automation.PSMethod
Value : static string GetFolderPath(System.Environment+Specia
lFolder folder)
Name : GetFolderPath
IsInstance : True<\/font><\/p>\n
——– ——– —- ——–
False True SpecialFolder System.Enum<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n
<\/font><\/strong>Cannot convert argument "0", with value: "burp", for "GetFolderPath" to typ
e "System.Environment+SpecialFolder": "Cannot convert value "burp" to type
"System.Environment+SpecialFolder" due to invalid enumeration values. Speci
fy one of the following enumeration values and try again. The possible enum
eration values are<\/font> <\/u>"Desktop, Programs, Personal, MyDocuments, Favorites, St
artup, Recent, SendTo, StartMenu, MyMusic, DesktopDirectory, MyComputer, Te
mplates, ApplicationData, LocalApplicationData, InternetCache, Cookies, His
tory, CommonApplicationData, System, ProgramFiles, MyPictures, CommonProgra
mFiles"."<\/font><\/em><\/strong>
At line:1 char:29
+ [Environment]::GetFolderPath <<<< ("burp")
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodArgumentConversionInvalidCastArgument<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n
C:\\Users\\jsnover\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Cookies
PS> [Environment]::GetFolderPath("mypictures")<\/strong>
C:\\Users\\jsnover\\Pictures<\/font><\/p>\n
—- ———- ———-
Equals Method static bool Equals(System.Object objA, Syst…
Format Method static string Format(type enumType, System….
GetName Method static string GetName(type enumType, System…
GetNames Method static System.String[] GetNames(type enumType)
GetUnderlyingType Method static type GetUnderlyingType(type enumType)
GetValues Method static array GetValues(type enumType)
IsDefined Method static bool IsDefined(type enumType, System…
Parse Method static System.Object Parse(type enumType, s…
ReferenceEquals Method static bool ReferenceEquals(System.Object o…
ToObject Method static System.Object ToObject(type enumType… <\/font><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Desktop
Programs
Personal
Personal
Favorites
Startup
Recent
SendTo
StartMenu
MyMusic
DesktopDirectory
MyComputer
Templates
ApplicationData
LocalApplicationData
InternetCache
Cookies
History
CommonApplicationData
System
ProgramFiles
MyPictures
CommonProgramFiles <\/p>\n
>> "{0,-20} – {1}" -f $f, [Environment]::GetFolderPath($f) }
<\/strong>>>
Desktop – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\Desktop
Programs – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Windows\\S
tart Menu\\Programs
Personal – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\Documents
Personal – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\Documents
Favorites – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\Favorites
Startup – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Windows\\S
tart Menu\\Programs\\Startup
Recent – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Windows\\R
ecent
SendTo – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Windows\\S
endTo
StartMenu – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Windows\\S
tart Menu
MyMusic – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\Music
DesktopDirectory – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\Desktop
MyComputer –
Templates – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Windows\\T
emplates
ApplicationData – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\AppData\\Roaming
LocalApplicationData – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\AppData\\Local
InternetCache – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Tem
porary Internet Files
Cookies – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Windows\\C
ookies
History – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\Windows\\His
tory
CommonApplicationData – C:\\ProgramData
System – C:\\Windows\\system32
ProgramFiles – C:\\Program Files
MyPictures – C:\\Users\\jsnover\\Pictures
CommonProgramFiles – C:\\Program Files\\Common Files<\/font><\/p>\n
Windows Management Partner Architect
Visit the Windows PowerShell Team blog at: http:\/\/blogs.msdn.com\/PowerShell<\/a>
Visit the Windows PowerShell ScriptCenter at: http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/technet\/scriptcenter\/hubs\/msh.mspx<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"