How to use the Get-Help command in PowerShell

Using the Get­­-Help Command in PowerShell

Automation, configuration, and management of tasks still seem strenuous for system administrators, even with the explosion of AI programs and apps. Most programs have some built-in assistance functionality to direct you through the instructions, albeit with tiresome navigation. PowerShell is a program that solves all these problems with just texts known as command lines or cmdlets. To help use other cmdlets, we will describe how to utilize the Get-Help command throughout this article.

According to computer professionals who frequently do monotonous tasks, the graphic user interface offered by most operating systems takes a long time to finish. Command line interfaces were sought after to hasten their jobs.  Automation, therefore, comes as a “solve it all” to them. Microsoft PowerShell is used in this situation.

What is PowerShell?

Before delving into PowerShell itself, we need to have a deeper understanding of what a shell is. A shell is a user interface that grants you access to various operating system services. A graphical user interface and a command line interface are made possible.

We are now able to define Windows PowerShell effectively. PowerShell is a cross-platform automation and configuration tool that integrates well with your current tools. PowerShell is designed to handle structured data and can also be used to update node package manager (NPM).

It comes with a command line shell, a scripting language that runs along with it, and an interface for handling cmdlets.

The Get-Help Command

Using PowerShell, the Get-Help cmdlet offers a comprehensive collection of details and instructions for any command, function module, or script. The output contains Names, Syntaxes, Aliases, and Examples of how to use the command. In Essence, Get-help is an excellent tool to determine the cmdlet of various other commands, even if you know little about a command. However, the wrong execution of certain commands could result in specific errors.

When executing the Get-Help command for the first time, you must type this command, “Get-Help Get-Process,” so that PowerShell can get online resources for the command.

The technical info displayed by Get-help is taken from help files on your computer. Without the help files, Get-Help shows the most basic details about cmdlets. Help files are included in specific PowerShell modules. The modules that come with the Windows operating system don’t provide help files as of PowerShell 3.0. Use the Update-Help cmdlet in PowerShell 3.0 to download or update a module’s help files.

The PowerShell help files are also available online. To access the online version of a help file, use the Online parameter with the command: Get-Help Get-Process -Online.

PowerShell parameters allow users to choose or supply values for commands, functions, and scripts. The names, data types, and properties of parameters define and restrict the inputs. The command name is followed by parameters, denoted by a hyphen (-). The Get-help command has multiple parameters and syntaxes, which will be described and explained using the syntax below:

   [[-Name] <String>]

   [[-Path] <String>]

   [[-Category] <String[]>]

   [-Full]

   [[-Component] <String[]>]

   [[-Functionality] <String[]>]

   [[-Role] <String[]>]

• [-Name]: Because of the -Name parameter’s zero (0) position, most users won’t specify it. Because of this, PowerShell recognizes any string you write next to Get-Help as the name of a cmdlet, even if you do not specify this argument.

• [-Path]: The Path parameter describes accessing a provider. PowerShell provides directives for using the cmdlet in the designated provider path when specified.

• [-Category]: The category parameter, when specified, displays help just for objects and their aliases that fall under the given category.  Alias, Cmdlet, Provider, General, FAQ, Glossary, HelpFile, ScriptCommand, Function, Filter, ExternalScript, All, DefaultHelp, Workflow, DscResource, Class, and Configuration are among the values that you can specify.

• [-Component]: Entering the component name will cause the PowerShell Get-Help command to provide help topics for cmdlets that you can use for that particular component. Enter Exchange, for instance, to find a help topic for Exchange-related cmdlets. A wildcard can also be used.

• [-Functionality]: Use the Functionality argument to display help for items with the specified functionality. Wildcards can also be used with this option.

• [-Role]: To display help tailored to the user role you provide, use the Role option in the PowerShell Get-Help command. Then enter the role. This argument accepts wildcards, much like the last two parameters.

• [-Full]: This gives detailed help with examples and parameter explanations. The conceptual (“About_”) help displays are unaffected by this setting. You can do more than obtain the explanation and syntax with the Get-Help module. You can pass on some extra help parameters in PowerShell to better grasp the data you see. Using the [-Full] command, you can add parameters such as the -Detailed and -Examples flags at the end of the command in your terminal.

• -Detailed: Parameters are explained in great detail. However, examples are not included.

 The cmdlet is Get-Help -Service -Detailed

• -Examples: The PowerShell screen will only show help that is specific to the examples.

The cmdlet is  Get-Help -Service -Examples

The set of examples based on the numerous commands accessible in the query command will be displayed in the output.

Get-Help -Parameter parameter: Unlike the –Detailed and –Full parameters display additional help articles for a cmdlet, the -Parameter cmdlet displays specific information.

The best strategy for utilizing the –parameter command to obtain information is first to list all the parameters. Then, use the same –Parameter cmdlet to focus on a single parameter.

The command below displays all the help topics for their parameters.

Get-Help Get-Command -Parameter*

This lists all of the Get-Command cmdlet’s parameters’ descriptions. Ultahost offers the best Windows Hosting to aid in system configuration and task automation.

Conclusion

This should help you understand how to utilize the PowerShell Get-Help command to find examples and information about any command. Wherever you run into trouble and need to understand the modules, rather than resulting to safe mode, think about using the help command.