Describes how to use alternate names for cmdlets and commands in Windows (about_aliases)
TOPICabout_aliasesSHORT DESCRIPTIONDescribes how to use alternate names for cmdlets and commands in Windows PowerShell.LONG DESCRIPTIONAn alias is an alternate name or nickname for a cmdlet or for a command element, such as a function, script, file, or executable file. You can use the alias instead of the command name in any Windows PowerShell commands. To create an alias, use the New-Alias cmdlet. For example, the following command creates the "gas" alias for the Get-AuthenticodeSignature cmdlet: new-alias -name gas -value Get-AuthenticodeSignature After you create the alias for the cmdlet name, you can use the alias instead of the cmdlet name. For example, to get the Authenticode signature for the SqlScript.ps1 file, type: get-authenticodesignature sqlscript.ps1 Or, type: gas sqlscript.ps1 If you create "word" as the alias for Microsoft Office Word, you can type "word" instead of the following: "c:\program files\microsoft office\office11\winword.exe" BUILT-IN ALIASES Windows PowerShell includes a set of built-in aliases, including "cd" and "chdir" for the Set-Location cmdlet, and "ls" and "dir" for the Get-ChildItem cmdlet. To get all the aliases on the computer, including the built-in aliases, type: get-alias ALIAS CMDLETS Windows PowerShell includes the following cmdlets, which are designed for working with aliases: - Get-Alias. Gets all the aliases in the current session. - New-Alias. Creates a new alias. - Set-Alias. Creates or changes an alias. - Export-Alias. Exports one or more aliases to a file. - Import-Alias. Imports an alias file into Windows PowerShell. For detailed information about the cmdlets, type: get-help <cmdlet-name> -detailed For example, type: get-help export-alias -detailed CREATING AN ALIAS To create a new alias, use the New-Alias cmdlet. For example, to create the "gh" alias for Get-Help, type: new-alias -name gh -value get-help You can use the alias in commands, just as you would use the full cmdlet name, and you can use the alias with parameters. For example, to get detailed Help for the Get-WmiObject cmdlet, type: get-help get-wmiobject -detailed Or, type: gh get-wmiobject -detailed SAVING ALIASES The aliases that you create are saved only in the current session. To use the aliases in a different session, add the alias to your Windows PowerShell profile. Or, use the Export-Alias cmdlet to save the aliases to a file. For more information, type: get-help about_profile GETTING ALIASES To get all the aliases in the current session, including the built-in aliases, the aliases in your Windows PowerShell profiles, and the aliases that you have created in the current session, type: get-alias To get particular aliases, use the Name parameter of the Get-Alias cmdlet. For example, to get aliases that begin with "p", type: get-alias -name p* To get the aliases for a particular item, use the Definition parameter. For example, to get the aliases for the Get-ChildItem cmdlet type: get-alias -definition Get-ChildItem ALTERNATE NAMES FOR COMMANDS WITH PARAMETERS You can assign an alias to a cmdlet, script, function, or executable file. However, you cannot assign an alias to a command and its parameters. For example, you can assign an alias to the Get-EventLog cmdlet, but you cannot assign an alias to the "get-eventlog -logname system" command. However, you can create a function that includes the command. To create a function, type the word "function" followed by a name for the function. Type the command, and enclose it in braces ({}). For example, the following command creates the syslog function. This function represents the "get-eventlog -logname system" command: function syslog {get-eventlog -logname system} You can now type "syslog" instead of the command. And, you can create aliases for the syslog function. For more information about functions, type: get-help about_functions ALIAS OBJECTS Windows PowerShell aliases are represented by objects that are instances of the System.Management.Automation.AliasInfo class. For more information about this type of object, see "AliasInfo Class" in the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) library at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=143644. To view the properties and methods of the alias objects, get the aliases. Then, pipe them to the Get-Member cmdlet. For example: get-alias | get-member To view the values of the properties of a specific alias, such as the "dir" alias, get the alias. Then, pipe it to the Format-List cmdlet. For example, the following command gets the "dir" alias. Next, the command pipes the alias to the Format-List cmdlet. Then, the command uses the Property parameter of Format-List with a wildcard character (*) to display all the properties of the "dir" alias. The following command performs these tasks: get-alias -name dir | format-list -property * WINDOWS POWERSHELL ALIAS PROVIDER Windows PowerShell includes the Alias provider. The Alias provider lets you view the aliases in Windows PowerShell as though they were on a file system drive. The Alias provider exposes the Alias: drive. To go into the Alias: drive, type: set-location alias: To view the contents of the drive, type: get-childitem To view the contents of the drive from another Windows PowerShell drive, begin the path with the drive name. Include the colon (:). For example: get-childitem -path alias: To get information about a particular alias, type the drive name and the alias name. Or, type a name pattern. For example, to get all the aliases that begin with "p", type: get-childitem -path alias:p* For more information about the Windows PowerShell Alias provider, type: get-help alias-psprovider SEE ALSO new-alias get-alias set-alias export-alias import-alias get-psprovider get-psdrive about_functions about_profiles about_providers C:\Windows>powershell get-help about_Arithmetic_Operators -full
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