Show me the code!
PowerShell (including Windows PowerShell and PowerShell Core) is a task automation and configuration management framework from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language built on the .NET Framework.
The scenario is that we want an overview of our Windows log files. Time is short so we just want a list of the files which contain the most ‘Errors’. We will use PowerShell to achieve this.
This is how you would display “Hello World” in PowerShell.
Note: PowerShell commands also have the ability to be run in a script with the .ps1 extension but running scripts are disabled by default for security purposes. Firstly, you will need to set the Execution Policy. The cmdlet Get-ExecutionPolicy will show you that the initial policy is set to ‘Restricted’. This will prevent scripts from running. You can change it with the Set-ExecutionPolicy cmdlet. There are four options Restricted, Remote-signed, Signed and Unrestricted. We recommend Remote-Signed as it will allow you to run the scripts that you have created locally and still keep your machine secure.
So, just type
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
Now you can use notepad to create your first script. In Notepad type:
Write-Host "Hello World"
This will need to be saved in a file called something like HelloWorld.ps1.
Then from a PowerShell console type
.\HelloWorld.ps1
The reason you need the .\ is because a PowerShell security feature ensures that you are targeting a specific script in a specific location,. And that’s all there is to it.