PowerShell is a command-line shell and scripting language built into Windows. It’s useful for managing files, processes, services, users, networking, and system configuration.

If you’re new to PowerShell, you don’t need to memorize hundreds of commands. Start with the commands below and learn what each one does.

1. Get-Help

Get-Help is one of the most important commands for beginners. It lets you learn how PowerShell commands work without leaving the terminal.

Get-Help Get-Process

For more detailed information:

Get-Help Get-Process -Detailed

To see examples:

Get-Help Get-Process -Examples

If you don’t know how to use a command, try Get-Help first.

2. Get-Command

Get-Command helps you find commands available in PowerShell.

Get-Command

You can search for commands related to a particular task:

Get-Command *process*

Or search for commands that start with Get:

Get-Command Get-*

This is particularly useful when you know what you want to do but don’t know the exact command.

3. Get-Location

Get-Location shows your current working directory.

Get-Location

Example output:

Path
----
C:UsersAdmin

The PowerShell equivalent of the traditional pwd command is also available as an alias:

pwd

4. Set-Location

Set-Location lets you move to another directory.

Set-Location C:UsersAdminDocuments

You can also use the shorter alias:

cd C:UsersAdminDocuments

To move up one directory:

cd ..

To move to the root of the current drive:

cd

5. Get-ChildItem

Get-ChildItem lists files and folders in the current directory.

Get-ChildItem

The common aliases are:

dir

and:

ls

To see files inside a specific directory:

Get-ChildItem C:UsersAdminDocuments

To include hidden items:

Get-ChildItem -Force

6. New-Item

New-Item creates files and directories.

Create a folder:

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Name Projects

Create a file:

New-Item -ItemType File -Name notes.txt

You can also specify a complete path:

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path C:Projects

7. Copy-Item

Use Copy-Item to copy files or folders.

Copy a file:

Copy-Item notes.txt C:Backup

Copy a folder and its contents:

Copy-Item C:Projects C:Backup -Recurse

The -Recurse parameter is important when you’re copying directories containing files and subdirectories.

8. Move-Item

Move-Item moves files and folders.

Move-Item notes.txt C:Documents

You can also rename a file with Move-Item:

Move-Item oldname.txt newname.txt

9. Rename-Item

Rename-Item is specifically designed for renaming files and directories.

Rename-Item notes.txt notes-old.txt

For a folder:

Rename-Item Projects Projects-2026

10. Remove-Item

Remove-Item deletes files and directories.

Delete a file:

Remove-Item notes.txt

Delete a folder:

Remove-Item Projects

To delete a folder and everything inside it:

Remove-Item Projects -Recurse

Be careful with Remove-Item. PowerShell can permanently delete items without sending them to the Recycle Bin.

11. Get-Content

Get-Content reads the contents of a text file.

Get-Content notes.txt

You can also read a file using its full path:

Get-Content C:Logsapplication.log

This is useful for quickly checking configuration files and log files.

12. Set-Content

Set-Content writes content to a file.

Set-Content notes.txt "PowerShell is useful."

If the file already contains text, Set-Content replaces it.

For example:

Set-Content notes.txt "First line"

13. Add-Content

Add-Content adds text to an existing file without replacing its existing contents.

Add-Content notes.txt "Second line"

This is useful for simple logging.

Example:

Add-Content application.log "Application started"

14. Get-Process

Get-Process displays running processes.

Get-Process

To find a specific process:

Get-Process chrome

You can also search using Where-Object:

Get-Process | Where-Object CPU -gt 100

15. Stop-Process

Stop-Process stops a running process.

Stop-Process -Name notepad

You can also specify a process ID:

Stop-Process -Id 1234

Use this carefully, especially when working with system processes.

16. Get-Service

Get-Service shows Windows services.

Get-Service

To check a particular service:

Get-Service -Name Spooler

To find services that aren’t running:

Get-Service | Where-Object Status -ne Running

17. Start-Service

Start-Service starts a Windows service.

Start-Service -Name Spooler

You may need to run PowerShell as Administrator depending on the service and your system permissions.

18. Stop-Service

Stop-Service stops a Windows service.

Stop-Service -Name Spooler

Don’t stop services simply because you don’t recognize them. Some services are required by Windows or installed applications.

19. Restart-Service

Instead of stopping and starting a service manually, you can restart it:

Restart-Service -Name Spooler

This is commonly useful when troubleshooting Windows services.

20. Get-ComputerInfo

Get-ComputerInfo displays detailed information about the computer.

Get-ComputerInfo

This can return information about Windows, the operating system, hardware, BIOS, and other system details.

For a specific property:

Get-ComputerInfo | Select-Object WindowsProductName, WindowsVersion

21. Get-Member

PowerShell commands often return objects rather than plain text. Get-Member helps you understand what properties and methods those objects have.

Get-Process | Get-Member

For example, you might discover properties such as:

Name
Id
CPU
Path

Understanding objects is one of the biggest differences between PowerShell and traditional command-line tools.

22. Select-Object

Select-Object lets you choose specific properties from an object.

Instead of displaying everything about a process:

Get-Process

you can select only the name and ID:

Get-Process | Select-Object Name, Id

You can also select the first few results:

Get-Process | Select-Object -First 5

23. Where-Object

Where-Object filters objects based on a condition.

Find running services:

Get-Service | Where-Object Status -eq "Running"

Find stopped services:

Get-Service | Where-Object Status -eq "Stopped"

Find processes using more than 100 MB of working memory:

Get-Process | Where-Object WorkingSet64 -gt 100MB

The pipeline makes this especially powerful:

Get-Process | Where-Object CPU -gt 100 | Select-Object Name, CPU

24. Sort-Object

Sort-Object sorts results.

For example, sort processes by CPU usage:

Get-Process | Sort-Object CPU -Descending

Sort files by size:

Get-ChildItem | Sort-Object Length -Descending

You can sort by multiple properties as well.

25. Measure-Object

Measure-Object can count, measure, and calculate statistics.

Count files:

Get-ChildItem | Measure-Object

Count files recursively:

Get-ChildItem -File -Recurse | Measure-Object

You can also measure numeric properties:

Get-Process | Measure-Object CPU -Sum

26. Get-Command With -Verb and -Noun

PowerShell commands generally follow a Verb-Noun naming convention.

For example:

Get-Process
Get-Service
Set-Location
New-Item
Remove-Item

You can search for commands by verb:

Get-Command -Verb Get

Or by noun:

Get-Command -Noun Service

This naming system makes PowerShell commands easier to discover once you understand it.

27. The PowerShell Pipeline |

The pipeline is one of the most important concepts to learn.

The pipe symbol:

|

passes the output of one command to another command.

For example:

Get-Process | Sort-Object CPU -Descending

Here, Get-Process produces process objects, and Sort-Object sorts those objects by CPU usage.

Another example:

Get-Service | Where-Object Status -eq "Running"

This gets all services and then keeps only services whose status is Running.

You can chain multiple commands:

Get-Process |
    Where-Object CPU -gt 100 |
    Sort-Object CPU -Descending |
    Select-Object -First 10 Name, CPU

This is where PowerShell becomes much more powerful than simply running individual commands.

28. Get-Variable

PowerShell uses variables to store values.

You can create a variable like this:

$name = "John"

Then use it:

$name

You can view existing variables with:

Get-Variable

Variables are essential once you start writing PowerShell scripts.

29. Clear-Host

To clear the PowerShell terminal:

Clear-Host

The common alias is:

cls

This doesn’t delete your commands or files. It simply clears the visible console.

30. Get-History

PowerShell keeps a history of commands you’ve entered.

View your command history:

Get-History

You can use:

history

as an alias.

To run a command from history:

Invoke-History 5

Replace 5 with the history ID you want to execute.

A Few Commands Worth Learning Next

Once you’re comfortable with the commands above, move on to:

Get-Item
Test-Path
Join-Path
Resolve-Path
Get-ChildItem
Get-EventLog
Get-WinEvent
Get-NetIPConfiguration
Test-Connection
Get-ExecutionPolicy
Set-ExecutionPolicy
Get-Module
Import-Module
Get-PSDrive
Get-Date
Get-Random
ForEach-Object
ForEach

Don’t try to memorize all of them at once. Learn them as you encounter problems that require them.

Five Commands to Remember First

If you’re completely new to PowerShell, start with these five:

Get-Help
Get-Command
Get-Location
Get-ChildItem
Get-Process

Then learn the pipeline:

|

Once you understand how to combine commands with the pipeline, PowerShell becomes much easier to use.

Example: Putting It All Together

Suppose you want to find the five processes using the most CPU.

You could write:

Get-Process |
    Sort-Object CPU -Descending |
    Select-Object -First 5 Name, CPU

Or find stopped Windows services:

Get-Service |
    Where-Object Status -eq "Stopped" |
    Select-Object Name, DisplayName, Status

Or find the largest files in the current directory:

Get-ChildItem -File |
    Sort-Object Length -Descending |
    Select-Object -First 10 Name, Length

These examples demonstrate the basic PowerShell pattern:

Get something → filter it → sort it → select what you need.

Final Thoughts

PowerShell has a large number of commands, but beginners don’t need to learn everything immediately.

Focus on understanding:

  1. Commands such as Get-Process and Get-Service
  2. Parameters such as -Name, -Path, and -Recurse
  3. Objects returned by PowerShell commands
  4. The pipeline using |
  5. Filtering with Where-Object
  6. Selecting properties with Select-Object
  7. Sorting with Sort-Object
  8. Getting help with Get-Help

Once these concepts become familiar, you can start writing scripts and automating repetitive Windows administration tasks.

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References

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