(Reference Guide) Mastering Windows PowerShell Scripting - Second Edition

Book Description

PowerShell scripts offer a handy way to automate various chores. Working with these scripts effectively can be a difficult task.

This comprehensive guide starts from scratch and covers advanced-level topics to make you a PowerShell expert. The first module, PowerShell Fundamentals, begins with new features, installing PowerShell on Linux, working with parameters and objects, and also how you can work with .NET classes from within PowerShell.

In the next module, you’ll see how to efficiently manage large amounts of data and interact with other services using PowerShell. You’ll be able to make the most of PowerShell’s powerful automation feature, where you will have different methods to parse and manipulate data, regular expressions, and WMI.

After automation, you will enter the Extending PowerShell module, which covers topics such as asynchronous processing and, creating modules. The final step is to secure your PowerShell, so you will land in the last module, Securing and Debugging PowerShell, which covers PowerShell execution policies, error handling techniques, and testing.

By the end of the book, you will be an expert in using the PowerShell language.

What You Will Learn

• Optimize code through the use of functions, switches, and looping structures
• Install PowerShell on your Linux system
• Utilize variables, hashes, and arrays to store data
• Work with Objects and Operators to test and manipulate data
• Parse and manipulate different data types
• Write .NET classes with ease within the PowerShell
• Create and implement regular expressions in PowerShell scripts
• Deploy applications and code with PowerShell’s Package management modules
• Leverage session-based remote management
• Manage files, folders, and registries through the use of PowerShell

Table of Contents

1: Introduction to PowerShell

• What is PowerShell?
• Quick reference
• PowerShell editors
• PowerShell on Linux
• Summary

2: Working with PowerShell

• Getting help
• Command naming and discovery
• Parameters and parameter sets
• Providers
• Summary

3: Modules and Snap-Ins

• What is a module?
• What is the PowerShell Gallery?
• The Get-Module command
• The Import-Module command
• The Remove-Module command
• The Find-Module command
• The Install-Module command
• The Save-Module command
• What is a snap-in?
• Using snap-ins
• Summary

4: Working with Objects in PowerShell

• Pipelines
• Members
• Enumerating and filtering
• Selecting and sorting
• Grouping and measuring
• Comparing
• Importing, exporting, and converting
• Summary

5: Operators

• Arithmetic operators
• Assignment operators
• Comparison operators
• Regular-expression-based operators
• Binary operators
• Logical operators
• Type operators
• Redirection operators
• Other operators
• Summary

6: Variables, Arrays, and Hashtables

• Naming and creating variables
• Variable commands
• Variable scope
• Type and type conversion
• Objects assigned to variables
• Arrays
• Hashtables
• Lists, dictionaries, queues, and stacks
• Summary

7: Branching and Looping

• Conditional statements
• Loops
• Summary

8: Working with .NET

• Assemblies
• Namespaces
• Types
• Classes
• Constructors
• Properties and methods
• Static properties
• Static methods
• Non-public classes
• Type accelerators
• Using
• Summary

9: Data Parsing and Manipulation

• String manipulation
• Converting strings
• Number manipulation
• Converting strings to numeric values
• Date and time manipulation
• Summary

10: Regular Expressions

• Regex basics
• Anchors
• Repetition
• Character classes
• Alternation
• Grouping
• Examples of regular expressions
• Summary

11: Files, Folders, and the Registry

• Working with providers
• Items
• Item properties
• Permissions
• Transactions
• File catalogs
• Summary

12: Windows Management Instrumentation

• Working with WMI
• CIM cmdlets
• The WMI cmdlets
• Permissions
• Summary

13: HTML, XML, and JSON

• HTML
• XML
• System.Xml
• System.Xml.Linq
• JSON
• Summary

14: Working with REST and SOAP

• Web requests
• Working with REST
• Working with SOAP
• Summary

15: Remoting and Remote Management

• WS-Management
• CIM sessions
• PS sessions
• The double-hop problem
• Summary

16: Testing

• Static analysis
• Testing with Pester
• Summary

17: Error Handling

• Error types
• Error action
• Raising errors
• Catching errors
• Summary