{"id":64,"date":"2006-11-24T21:19:37","date_gmt":"2006-11-24T21:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/?p=64"},"modified":"2006-11-26T23:53:57","modified_gmt":"2006-11-26T23:53:57","slug":"windows-command-line-gets-smarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/?p=64","title":{"rendered":"Windows Command Line has got smarter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most die-hard command-line fans tend to agree that the Windows Command Prompt isn’t great. When you consider how old it is, it isn’t all that powerful. This isn’t the end of the world, as there is always cygwin<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But now Microsoft have released their new command prompt PowerShell<\/a>. I tried downloading it this evening, and so far, I really like it. <\/p>\n

I heard of PowerShell last year when Ars Technica published a walkthrough on it<\/a> while it was still in beta. But I hadn’t got round to giving it a try. Actually, despite it’s age, the Ars Technica guide is still the best introduction I’ve found, so if you want to know more about PowerShell is all about, it’s worth a look.<\/p>\n

Some of my favourite features so far:
\n——
\nAccess the Registry in the same way as files<\/strong><\/p>\n

PS C:\\\\>\r\nPS C:\\\\> Get-PSDrive\r\n\r\nName       Provider      Root                                   CurrentLocation\r\n----       --------      ----                                   ---------------\r\nAlias      Alias\r\nC          FileSystem    C:\\\\\r\ncert       Certificate   \\\\\r\nEnv        Environment\r\nFunction   Function\r\nHKCU       Registry      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\r\nHKLM       Registry      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\r\nVariable   Variable\r\nW          FileSystem    W:\\\\\r\nX          FileSystem    X:\\\\\r\nY          FileSystem    Y:\\\\\r\nZ          FileSystem    Z:\\\\\r\n\r\n\r\nPS C:\\\\> cd HKLM:\r\nPS HKLM:\\\\> cd SOFTWARE\\\\IBM\\\\MQSeries\\\\CurrentVersion\\\\Configuration\\\\\r\nPS HKLM:\\\\SOFTWARE\\\\IBM\\\\MQSeries\\\\CurrentVersion\\\\Configuration> dir\r\n\r\n\r\n   Hive: Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\\\\Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\\\SOFTWARE\\\\IBM\\\\MQ\r\nSeries\\\\CurrentVersion\\\\Configuration\r\n\r\nSKC  VC Name                           Property\r\n---  -- ----                           --------\r\n  0   1 ACPI                           {DoDialog}\r\n  0   1 AlertMonitor                   {Startup}\r\n  0   1 AllQueueManagers               {DefaultPrefix}\r\n  0   1 ClientExitPath                 {ExitsDefaultPath}\r\n  0   4 DefaultConfiguration           {V2_MachineName, V2_MQQMName, V2_Mach...\r\n  0   6 LogDefaults                    {LogDefaultPath, LogPrimaryFiles, Log...\r\n  3   0 QueueManager                   {}\r\n  4   0 Services                       {}\r\n  0   0 Trace                          {}\r\n  0   1 WebAdministration              {Trace}\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
You can also access system certificates, environment variables, and more in the same way. Very cool!
\n——
\nSQL-type syntax<\/strong>
\nNo more fighting with awk to get bits that I want out of command output! Instead of returning strings, PowerShell is object-oriented, and you can run a variety of commands with the returned objects. <\/p>\n
For example…<\/p>\n
PS C:\\\\MyFolder\\\\src> Get-ChildItem | select name\r\n\r\nName\r\n----\r\namqssl.h\r\namqsslchk.c\r\namqsslchk.exe\r\namqsslcon.c\r\namqsslenv.c\r\namqsslerr.c\r\namqsslgsk.c\r\namqsslikm.c\r\namqsslpcf.c\r\namqsslper.c\r\namqsslutl.c\r\namqsslwmq.c\r\ncompile.bat\r\ncompile_with_ikeyman.bat\r\nlinux_compile.sh\r\nsolaris_build.sh\r\n\r\nPS C:\\\\MyFolder\\\\src> Get-ChildItem | select name, extension\r\n\r\nName                                    Extension\r\n----                                    ---------\r\namqssl.h                                .h\r\namqsslchk.c                             .c\r\namqsslchk.exe                           .exe\r\namqsslcon.c                             .c\r\namqsslenv.c                             .c\r\namqsslerr.c                             .c\r\namqsslgsk.c                             .c\r\namqsslikm.c                             .c\r\namqsslpcf.c                             .c\r\namqsslper.c                             .c\r\namqsslutl.c                             .c\r\namqsslwmq.c                             .c\r\ncompile.bat                             .bat\r\ncompile_with_ikeyman.bat                .bat\r\nlinux_compile.sh                        .sh\r\nsolaris_build.sh                        .sh\r\n\r\nPS C:\\\\MyFolder\\\\src> Get-ChildItem | select name, extension | sort-object extension\r\n\r\nName                                    Extension\r\n----                                    ---------\r\ncompile_with_ikeyman.bat                .bat\r\ncompile.bat                             .bat\r\namqsslper.c                             .c\r\namqsslpcf.c                             .c\r\namqsslwmq.c                             .c\r\namqsslutl.c                             .c\r\namqsslenv.c                             .c\r\namqsslcon.c                             .c\r\namqsslchk.c                             .c\r\namqsslikm.c                             .c\r\namqsslgsk.c                             .c\r\namqsslerr.c                             .c\r\namqsslchk.exe                           .exe\r\namqssl.h                                .h\r\nsolaris_build.sh                        .sh\r\nlinux_compile.sh                        .sh\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
There is lots more you can do, but if you’re familiar with the sort of FOR, WHILE, SELECT and so on in SQL, then you’ll be in familiar territory. It’s really nice.
\n——
\nYou can use .NET API<\/strong>
\nThere are lots of nice bits of functionality in .NET, and now you can access them interactively at the command-line. For example:<\/p>\n
PS C:\\\\> ([xml](new-object Net.WebClient).DownloadString(\"http:\/\/dalelane.co.\r\nuk\/blog\/?feed=rss2\")).rss.channel.item | select title\r\n\r\ntitle\r\n-----\r\nI can be a C-numptie\r\nMaintaining two blogs is difficult\r\nwii!\r\nThe differences between men and women\r\nwinter has arrived\r\nUsing Scheduled Tasks and batch files to do automatic backups\r\nYoung people make a massive contribution to society\r\nWhat IET members do in the evenings\r\nThe etch-a-sketch approach to legislation<\/code><\/pre>\n
You can use pretty much any function in a .NET library, so even GUIs can be created on-the-fly at the command-line:<\/p>\n
PS C:\\\\> [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName(\"System.Windows.Forms\")\r\n\r\nGAC    Version        Location\r\n---    -------        --------\r\nTrue   v2.0.50727     C:\\\\WINDOWS\\\\assembly\\\\GAC_MSIL\\\\System.Windows.Forms\\\\2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e08...\r\n\r\nPS C:\\\\> $window = new-object Windows.Forms.Form\r\nPS C:\\\\> $window.text = \"This is a Windows form!\"\r\nPS C:\\\\> $button = new-object Windows.Forms.Button\r\nPS C:\\\\> $button.text = \"Click me!\"\r\nPS C:\\\\> $window.controls.add($button)\r\nPS C:\\\\> $window.showDialog()<\/code><\/pre>\n
and up pops a window with a button on it!
\n——<\/p>\n
I’ve still got more to learn, but I’ve already started to knock together some very powerful scripts. If you’ve ever found the Windows Command Prompt a bit limited, I’d recommend you download it and have a play<\/a>. <\/p>\n
Other PowerShell resources that I found useful are tagged on my del.icio.us bookmarks<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Most die-hard command-line fans tend to agree that the Windows Command Prompt isn’t great. When you consider how old it is, it isn’t all that powerful. This isn’t the end of the world, as there is always cygwin. But now Microsoft have released their new command prompt PowerShell. I tried downloading it this evening, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-code"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dalelane.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}