PowerShell Tips to Write By
PowerShell Tips to Write By
Building better PowerShell scripts one tip at a time
About the Book
Hi,
I'm Adam Bertram. I've been writing PowerShell for over ten years. I was one of the first Microsoft PowerShell MVPs. I am a published author on PowerShell, avid learn PowerShell blogger and have authored dozens of courses on PowerShell. I'm a bit obsessed with this language.
For this eBook, I've teamed up with Bryce Mcdonald, another PowerShell expert. We're bringing you an eBook that covers hundreds of tips and tricks to teach you how to write PowerShell code.
You don't have to waste time watching dozens of courses or poring over hundreds of articles to write better PowerShell. You'll never catch all the tips anyway.
We've boiled down our collective PowerShell experience and knowledge into easily-referenceable, bite-sized form. We've also included dozens of tips from the PowerShell community! This eBook is the biggest collection of tips available to help you write better PowerShell scripts.
-------------------------------------------------
Learn Best Practices
PowerShell is flexible to the developer (maybe a little too flexible). There are dozens of ways to get tasks done. But how do you know it's the best way? See how PowerShell experts solve PowerShell problems in snackable, knowledge nuggets. Don't get immediately bogged down in the specifics.
Discover New PowerShell Articles, Courses, Videos and More
Rather than diving deep into topics, we cover all the best PowerShell tips and tricks in tip form. Not only will you see what's possible, but we'll also give you a link to a hand-picked resource (paid or free). These resources will cover a topic in-depth — no more Googling around for how-to articles!
Think of this book as your gateway to being a PowerShell pro. Discover new resources you may not know exist that go in-depth on topics you'd like to learn more about.
Build Better PowerShell Code One Tip at a Time
Use this book as a reference. Use the book as a guide to help you remember the basics or learn new tricks. Encourage co-workers to buy this book to ensure your entire team writes better code. Learn better ways to write PowerShell one tip at a time!
Bundles that include this book
About the Contributors

Table of Contents
- About This Book
- About the Authors
- Feedback
-
Introduction
- Tip Format
-
Do The Basics
- Plan Before you Code
- Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
- Build Functions as Building Blocks
- Build Re-usable Tools
- Don’t Focus Purely on Peformance
- Build Pester tests
- Implement Error handling
- Build Manageable Code
- Don’t Skimp on Security
- Log Script Activity
- Parameterize Everything
- Limit Script and Function Input
- Maintain Coding Standards
- Code in Context
- Return Informative Output
- Understand Your Code
- Use Version Control
- Write for Cross Platform
- Write for the Next Person
- Use a Code Editor
-
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
- Use Community Modules
- Leverage Others’ work
-
Plan Before you Code
- Write Comments Before Coding
- Use your Code as a Todo List
-
Create Building Blocks with Functions
- Write Functions with One, Single Goal
- Build Functions with Pipeline Support
- Save Commonly-Used, Interactive Functions to Your Profile
-
Parameterize Everything
- Don’t Hardcode. Always Use Parameters
- Use Parameter Sets When All Parameters Should Not be Used at Once
- Use a PSCredential Object Rather than a Separate Username and Password
-
Log Script Activity
- Use a Logging Function
- Clean up Verbose Messages
-
Build with Manageability in Mind
- DRY: Don’t Repeat Yourself
- Don’t Store Configuration Items in Code
- Always Remove Dead Code
-
Be Specific
- Use Strict Mode
- Don’t Ignore Errors
- Validate Input Parameters
- Explicitly Define Parameter Types
- Enforce Mandatory Parameters
- Use the #requires Statement
-
Write for the Next Person
- Give your Variables Meaningful Names
- String Substitution
- Don’t use Aliases in a Script
- Put functions in Alphabetical Order in a Module
- Explain Regular Expressions with Comments
- Write Comment-Based Help
- Weigh the Difference Between Performance and Readability
-
Handle Errors Gracefully
- Force Hard-Terminating Errors
- Avoid Using $?
-
Copy
$Error[0]
to your Own Variable
-
Don’t Skimp on Security
- Sign Scripts
- Use Scriptblock Logging
- Never Store Sensitive Information in Clear Text in Code
- Don’t use Invoke-Expression
- Use PowerShell Constrained Language Mode
-
Stick to PowerShell
- Use Native PowerShell Where Possible
- Use PowerShell standard cmdlet naming
-
Build Tools
- Code for Portablity
- Wrap Command-Line Utilities in Functions
- Force Functions to Return Common Object Types
- Ensure Module Functions Cover all the Verbs
-
Return Stndardized, Informative Output
- Use Progress Bars Wisely
- Leave the Format Cmdlets to the Console
- Use Write-Verbose
- Use Write-Information
- Ensure a Command Returns One Type of Object
- Only Return Necessary Information to the Pipeline
-
Build Scripts for Speed
- Use an ArrayList or GenericList .NET Class when Elements Need to be Added to an Array
- Use a Regular Expression to Search Multiple String Values
-
Don’t use
Write-Host
in Bulk - Don’t use the Pipeline
-
Use the
.foreach()
and.where()
Methods - Use Parallel Processing
- Use the .NET StreamReader Class When Reading Large Text Files
-
Build Tests
- Learn the Pester Basics
- Leverage Infrastructure Tests
- Automate Pester Tests
- Use PSScriptAnalyzer
-
Miscellaneous Tips
- Write for Cross Platform
- Don’t Query the Win32_Product CIM Class
- Create a Shortcut to run PowerShell as Administrator
- Store ‘Formatable’ Strings for Use Later
- Use Out-GridView for GUI-based Sorting and Filtering
- Don’t Make Automation Scripts Interactive
- Summary
- Release Notes
The Leanpub 60-day 100% Happiness Guarantee
Within 60 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.
See full terms
80% Royalties. Earn $16 on a $20 book.
We pay 80% royalties. That's not a typo: you earn $16 on a $20 sale. If we sell 5000 non-refunded copies of your book or course for $20, you'll earn $80,000.
(Yes, some authors have already earned much more than that on Leanpub.)
In fact, authors have earned$12,307,240writing, publishing and selling on Leanpub.
Learn more about writing on Leanpub
Free Updates. DRM Free.
If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).
Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers) and EPUB (for phones, tablets and Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.
Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.
Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them
Top Books
OpenIntro Statistics
David Diez, Christopher Barr, Mine Cetinkaya-Rundel, and OpenIntroA complete foundation for Statistics, also serving as a foundation for Data Science.
Leanpub revenue supports OpenIntro (US-based nonprofit) so we can provide free desk copies to teachers interested in using OpenIntro Statistics in the classroom and expand the project to support free textbooks in other subjects.
More resources: openintro.org.
Personal Finance
Jason AndersonThis textbook provides an in-depth analysis on personal finance that is both practical and straightforward in its approach. It has been written in such a way that the readers can gain knowledge without getting overwhelmed by the technical terms. Suitable for both beginners and advanced learners.
Getting to Know IntelliJ IDEA
Trisha Gee and Helen ScottIf we treat our IDE as a text editor, we are doing ourselves a disservice. Using a combination of tutorials and a questions-and-answers approach, Getting to Know IntelliJ IDEA will help you find ways to use IntelliJ IDEA that enable you to work comfortably and productively as a professional developer.
R Programming for Data Science
Roger D. PengThis book brings the fundamentals of R programming to you, using the same material developed as part of the industry-leading Johns Hopkins Data Science Specialization. The skills taught in this book will lay the foundation for you to begin your journey learning data science. Printed copies of this book are available through Lulu.
C++20 - The Complete Guide
Nicolai M. JosuttisAll new language and library features of C++20 (for those who know previous C++ versions).
The book presents all new language and library features of C++20. Learn how this impacts day-to-day programming, to benefit in practice, to combine new features, and to avoid all new traps.
Buy early, pay less, free updates.
Other books:
Mastering STM32 - Second Edition
Carmine NovielloWith more than 1200 microcontrollers, STM32 is probably the most complete ARM Cortex-M platform on the market. This book aims to be the most complete guide around introducing the reader to this exciting MCU portfolio from ST Microelectronics and its official CubeHAL and STM32CubeIDE development environment.
Stats One
William FooteMachine Learning Q and AI
Sebastian Raschka, PhDHave you recently completed a machine learning or deep learning course and wondered what to learn next? With 30 questions and answers on key concepts in machine learning and AI, this book provides bite-sized bits of knowledge for your journey to becoming a machine learning expert.
Ansible for DevOps
Jeff GeerlingAnsible is a simple, but powerful, server and configuration management tool. Learn to use Ansible effectively, whether you manage one server—or thousands.
Gradual Modularization for Ruby and Rails
Stephan HagemannGet yourself a new tool to manage your Rails application and your growing engineering organization! Prevent the ball-of-mud (and fix it!). Go for microservices or SOA if it makes sense not just because you don't have any other tool. Do all this through a low-overhead tool: packages. Enable better conversations to make practical changes today.
Top Bundles
- #1
Software Architecture
2 Books
"Software Architecture for Developers" is a practical and pragmatic guide to modern, lightweight software architecture, specifically aimed at developers. You'll learn:The essence of software architecture.Why the software architecture role should include coding, coaching and collaboration.The things that you really need to think about before... - #2
CCIE Service Provider Ultimate Study Bundle
2 Books
Piotr Jablonski, Lukasz Bromirski, and Nick Russo have joined forces to deliver the only CCIE Service Provider training resource you'll ever need. This bundle contains a detailed and challenging collection of workbook labs, plus an extensively detailed technical reference guide. All of us have earned the CCIE Service Provider certification... - #3
1500 QUIZ COMMENTATI (3 libri)
3 Books
Tre libri dei QUIZ MMG Commentati al prezzo di DUE! I QUIZ dei concorsi ufficiali di Medicina Generale relativi agli anni: 2000-2001-2003-2012-2013-2014-2015-2016-2017-2018-2019-2020-2021 +100 inediti Raccolti in unico bundle per aiutarvi nello studio e nella preparazione al concorso. All'interno di ogni libro i quiz sono stati suddivisi per... - #4
Pattern-Oriented Memory Forensics and Malware Detection
2 Books
This training bundle for security engineers and researchers, malware and memory forensics analysts includes two accelerated training courses for Windows memory dump analysis using WinDbg. It is also useful for technical support and escalation engineers who analyze memory dumps from complex software environments and need to check for possible... - #5
Practical FP in Scala + Functional event-driven architecture
2 Books
Practical FP in Scala (A hands-on approach) & Functional event-driven architecture, aka FEDA, (Powered by Scala 3), together as a bundle! The content of PFP in Scala is a requirement to understand FEDA so why not take advantage of this bundle!? - #7
Linux Administration Complet
4 Books
Ce lot comprend les quatre volumes du Guide Linux Administration :Linux Administration, Volume 1, Administration fondamentale : Guide pratique de préparation aux examens de certification LPIC 1, Linux Essentials, RHCSA et LFCS. Administration fondamentale. Introduction à Linux. Le Shell. Traitement du texte. Arborescence de fichiers. Sécurité... - #9
Development and Deployment of Multiplayer Online Games, Part ARCH. Architecture (Vol. I-III)
3 Books
What's the Big Idea? The idea behind this book is to summarize the body of knowledge that already exists on multiplayer games but is not available in one single place.And quite a fewof the issues discussed within this series (planned as three nine volumes ~300 pages each), while known in the industry, have not been published at all (except for... - #10
Modern C++ Collection
3 Books
Get All about Modern C++C++ Standard Library, including C++20Concurrency with Modern C++, including C++20C++20Each book has about 200 complete code examples. Updates are included. When I update one of the books, you immediately get the updated bundle. You can expect significant updates to each new C++ standard (C++23, C++26, .. ) and also...