{"id":2311,"date":"2012-06-20T19:49:28","date_gmt":"2012-06-20T19:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/powershell\/2012\/06\/20\/running-show-command-to-discover-cmdlets\/"},"modified":"2024-02-26T14:21:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-26T22:21:25","slug":"running-show-command-to-discover-cmdlets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/running-show-command-to-discover-cmdlets\/","title":{"rendered":"Running show-command to discover cmdlets"},"content":{"rendered":"

This blog post applies to the Windows PowerShell\u00a0Version 3.0.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

Problem: How can I find out what cmdlets are available for a given task?\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

Finding cmdlets in the traditional way<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/span>If you know the basics of get-command, feel free to skip this section.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are searching for a cmdlet to add a printer, you could star with something like:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PS C:\\Users\\mspuser> get-command *printer*<\/span><\/p>\n

CommandType\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Name\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ModuleName<\/span><\/p>\n

———–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 —-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ———-<\/span><\/p>\n

Function\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Add-Printer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 PrintManagement<\/span><\/p>\n

Function\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Add-PrinterDriver\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 PrintManagement<\/span><\/p>\n

Function\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Add-PrinterPort\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 PrintManagement<\/span><\/p>\n

Function\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Get-Printer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 PrintManagement<\/span><\/p>\n

Function\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Get-PrinterDriver\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 PrintManagement<\/span><\/p>\n

Function\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Get-PrinterPort\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 PrintManagement<\/span><\/p>\n

Function\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Get-PrinterProperty\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 PrintManagement<\/span><\/p>\n

Function\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Remove-Printer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 PrintManagement<\/span><\/p>\n

Function\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Remove-PrinterDriver\u00a0\u00a0 PrintManagement<\/span><\/p>\n

Function\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Remove-PrinterPort\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 PrintManagement<\/span><\/p>\n

Function\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rename-Printer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 PrintManagement<\/span><\/p>\n

Function\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Set-Printer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 PrintManagement<\/span><\/p>\n

Function\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Set-PrinterProperty\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 PrintManagement<\/span><\/p>\n

Cmdlet\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Out-Printer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Notice the choice of the noun \u201cprinter\u201d, as opposed to the verb \u201cadd\u201d. \u201cAdd\u201d could be adding anything, so reducing the scope to \u201cprinter\u201d allows for a more precise initial search.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For this simple case of adding a printer, it is very possible that the first guess would be \u201cadd-printer\u201d, but the verb is not always as simple to guess. Also, it is nice to look around and see what other printer related cmdlets are available. Chances are one task leads to another and we will need another cmdlet soon like get-printer to see that the printer we added is there.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first * in *printer* allows finding cmdlets with any verb or noun prefix. By \u201cnoun prefix\u201d I mean the cmdlet developers could have called them System<\/b>Printers, PS<\/b>Printers, or other name. The second * allows for any noun suffix like \u201cDriver\u201d and \u201cProperty\u201d in the list above. <\/span><\/p>\n

After looking at the list, we might conclude that we are not interested in \u201cPrinterDriver\u201d or \u201cPrinterPort\u201d so that the second * made our search less precise. We can issue the command again without the second * for less results but, for the generic case of searching for any other noun, using both * will guarantee we will not miss anything.<\/span><\/p>\n

After you found the cmdlet, you can explorer it a bit further with one of the following: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 get-help add-printer<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 get-command add-printer<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Finding cmdlets with show-cmdlet<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

We saw in Running show-command for a cmdlet<\/a>, how to use show-command for a specific cmdlet. If you run just \u201cshow-command\u201d this is what you get:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n

Note:<\/span><\/p>\n