PowerShell Community Extensions (PSCX) V1.1.1 - Windows PowerShell Blog - Site Home

Keith Hill reports in his blog HERE , that the PowerShell Community Extensions project has release Version 1.1.1.

If you aren't already turned on to PSCX, this is a good time to start. This is a maintenance release which resolves 30 issues but it also adds 5 new features. I'm going to include their Help topic below so you can get a feel for what it does. I think most people will find something there that will tempt them.

One thing to note, when you dot-source PSCX's profile, it customizes your environment to a pretty extensive degree. If you already have some customizations that you like (like your own prompt), they get overridden. As such, you might want to start out by editing the profile file and running each line by itself and checking its effects and then just comment out those sections that you don't want.

Here is another trick you might want to try:

PS> SET-PSDebug -step
PS> . $env:pscxhome:\profile\profile.ps1
Continue with this operation?
1+ <<<< . $env:pscxhome\profile\profile.ps1
[Y] Yes [A] Yes to All [N] No [L] No to All [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is "Y"):
DEBUG: 1+ <<<< . $env:pscxhome\profile\profile.ps1

Continue with this operation?
20+ $MaximumHistoryCount = <<<< 512
[Y] Yes [A] Yes to All [N] No [L] No to All [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is "Y"):

At any given point you can SUSPEND which drops you into a nested prompt and you can explore the system up to that point. When you exit, you continue running the script. This is a pretty useful technique to be aware of.

Enjoy!

Jeffrey Snover [MSFT]
Windows Management Partner Architect
Visit the Windows PowerShell Team blog at: http://blogs.msdn.com/PowerShell
Visit the Windows PowerShell ScriptCenter at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/hubs/msh.mspx

TOPIC
PowerShell Community Extensions (version 1.1.1.0)

SHORT DESCRIPTION
Describes the Windows PowerShell Community Extensions (PSCX) snapin and
how to use the contained cmdlets and scripts that ship with PSCX.

LONG DESCRIPTION
PowerShell Community Extensions is a PowerShell Snapin that provides a
number of widely useful cmdlets. PSCX is not affiliated with Microsoft
or the Windows PowerShell team at Microsoft. We are a few (at the moment)
passionate PowerShell users who wanted more cmdlets than Microsoft was
able to deliver in v1.0. So we have taken it upon ourselves to create
some of those cmdlets and make them available to the community.

PROFILE
PSCX comes with a basic profile script that you can easily install
and use. If you didn't install it during PSCX installation, just copy
the follow PowerShell command to the prompt and execute it. However if
you already have a Profile.ps1 script, be sure to rename it or back it
up first.

Copy-Item $env:PscxHome\Profile\Profile.ps1 (Split-Path $Profile -Parent)

This profile script dot sources a number of function and filter scripts
that provide a more sophisticated prompt, CD function as well as number of
useful functions like a TabExpansion function that auto-completes
on .NET namespaces and type names filters and filters like
Get-TypeName (gtn) and Get-PropertyValue (gpv).

To examine and/or customize the PSCX profile just execute "Edit-Profile"
or the alias "ep" at the PowerShell prompt.

If you choose to use the PSCX profile then the following "PROFILE"
features will be available in your PowerShell environment.

PREFERENCE VARIABLES
The following preference variables allow you to customize the behavior
of certain PSCX functions and cmdlets. These are defined or present
but commented out at the top of the PSCX provide profile.

$PscxDirForcePreference
Dir function always specifies -Force. Will cause hidden and system
file system items to be returned.
$PscxDirHideSystemPreference
Dir function filters out files with the system attribute set. The
performance may suffer on high latency networks or in folders with
many files.
$PscxFileSizeInUnitsPreference
Display file sizes in KB, MB, GB multiples.
$PscxSmtpFromPreference
Not defined by default. Set to something like "j_doe@some.domain.com"
and you will not need to specify the corresponding parameter on the
Send-SmtpMail cmdlet.
$PscxSmtpHostPreference
Not defined by default. Set to something like "smtp.some.domain.com"
and you will not need to specify the corresponding parameter on the
Send-SmtpMail cmdlet.
$PscxSmtpPortPreference
Not defined by default. Set to something like 587 if you SMTP server
doesn't use the default port (25) and you will not need to specify
the corresponding parameter on the Send-SmtpMail cmdlet.
$PscxTextEditorPreference
Defines which editor is started by the EditFile function (alias "e").
Defaulted to "Notepad". Change to your favorite text editor.
$PscxTranscribeSessionPreference
Set to true to create a transcript of the entire PowerShell session.

CMDLETS
To see what cmdlets are provided by PSCX, execute the alias "gcmpscx" at
the PowerShell prompt. The current PSCX cmdlets are listed below:

Get-ADObject
Search for objects in the Active Directory/Global Catalog.

Resolve-Assembly
Resolve and optionally import Assemblies by partial name with optional
Version.

Test-Assembly
Tests whether or not the specified file is a .NET assembly.

ConvertFrom-Base64
Converts base64 encoded string to byte array.

ConvertTo-Base64
Converts byte array or specified file contents to base64 string. By
default, this cmdlet inserts line breaks every 76 characters and outputs
the result in a single string. For very large files, you may run into
OutOfMemoryExceptions. In this case, use the -Stream parameter which will
generate multiple string outputs that, combined together, result in the
equivalent base 64 text.

Export-Bitmap
Exports a bitmap object to a specified file format.

Import-Bitmap
Loads bitmap files.

Resize-Bitmap
Resizes bitmaps.

Format-Byte
Turns numbers into nicely formatted byte count, using the highest
possible unit.

Write-BZip2
Create BZIP2 format archive files from pipline or parameter input.

Get-Clipboard
Gets data from the clipboard.

Out-Clipboard
Formats text via Out-String before placing in clipboard.

Set-Clipboard
Puts the specified object into the system clipboard.

Write-Clipboard
Writes objects to the clipboard using their string representation,
bypassing the default PowerShell formatting.

Get-DhcpServer
The Get-DhcpServer cmdlet gets all authorized DHCP server from the Active
Directory Forest.

Get-DomainController
Gets a list of available domain controller in the current forest/domain.

Get-ExportedType
Displays public types for a given AssemblyName by loading the associated
assembly into a reflection-only context and dumping all publicly
accessible Type objects to the pipeline. This cmdlet is typically used in
conjunction with AssemblyName objects returned from the GAC provider to
display potential candidates for the New-Object cmdlet. Dependent
assemblies are not automatically resolved by default as the primary
assembly is loaded into a specialized "reflection-only" context; this
aids with debugging versioning and/or dependency issues. Providing the
ResolveDependencies SwitchParameter will cause the cmdlet to try to load
dependent assemblies automatically; if not present, you will be prompted
to load them. See notes at footer for more information.

Set-FileTime
Sets a file or folder's created and last accessed/write times.

Get-FileVersionInfo
Attempts to get the FileVersionInfo object for the specified path.
Usually only executable files include file version information.

Get-ForegroundWindow
Returns the hWnd or handle of the window in the foreground on the current
desktop. See also Set-ForegroundWindow.

Set-ForegroundWindow
Given an hWnd or window handle, brings that window to the foreground.
Useful for restoring a window to uppermost after an application which
seizes the foreground is invoked. See also Get-ForegroundWindow

Write-GZip
Create GNU ZIP (GZIP) format files from pipeline or parameter input.

New-Hardlink
Creates filesystem hard links. The hardlink and the target must reside on
the same NTFS volume.

Get-Hash
Gets the hash value for the specified file or byte array via the
pipeline. The default hash algorithm is MD5, although you can specify
other algorithms using the -Algorithm parameter (MD5, SHA1, SHA256,
SHA384, SHA512 and RIPEMD160). This cmdlet emits a HashInfo object that
has properties for Path, Algorithm, HashString and Hash.

Format-Hex
The Format-Hex command displays the contents of the specified files in
hex format. This cmdlet will also accept pipeline input in the form of a
byte stream. The output can be controlled via various parameters to
indicate the number of columns that should be displayed or alternatively
you can specify the width of the output. The header, address and ASCII
portions of the display can also be turned off individually. The offset
and count can also be specified via parameters to control where in the
input to start displaying and how much to display.

Ping-Host
Sends ICMP echo requests to network hosts.

Resolve-Host
Resolves host names to IP addresses.

New-Junction
Creates NTFS directory junctions.

ConvertTo-MacOs9LineEnding
Converts the line endings in the specified file to Mac OS9 and earlier
style line endings "\r". You can convert a single file to a new file
name. Or you can convert multiple files and specify a destination
directory. By default, this cmdlet will overwrite existing files unless
you specify -NoClobber. If you want to force the overwrite of read only
files use the -Force option.

Get-MountPoint
Returns all mount points defined for a specific root path.

Remove-MountPoint
Removes a mount point, dismounting the current media if any. If used
against the root of a fixed drive, removes the drive letter assignment.

Get-PEHeader
The PE header for Windows executables includes various useful bits of
information including the image base address, subsystem, linker version,
etc.

Get-Privilege
Lists privileges held by the session and their current status.

Set-Privilege
Adjusts privileges held by the session.

Start-Process
Starts a new process. This cmdlet can be used with documents to invoke
their default verb or the verb can be specified using the -Verb
parameter. You can also specify the -Credential parameter to run the
process as a different user.

Get-PSSnapinHelp
Generates a XML file containing all documentation data.

Get-Random
Returns a random integer in a specified interval, a double-precision
number between 0 and 1, or a buffer of random bytes. It may use the
cryptographically strong random number generator, if desired.

Get-ReparsePoint
Gets NTFS reparse point data.

Remove-ReparsePoint
Removes NTFS reparse junctions and symbolic links.

New-Shortcut
Creates shell shortcuts.

Get-ShortPath
Gets the short, 8.3 name for the given path. This cmdlet emits a
ShortPathInfo object that contains a ShortPath property as well as a Path
property which contains the original long path.

Send-SmtpMail
Sends email via specified SMTP server to specified recipients. This
cmdlet checks for existence of several preference that if set can make
this cmdlet much easier to use. Those preference variables are: *
$PscxSmtpHostPreference="smtp.example.net" * $PscxSmtpPortPreference=587
* $PscxSmtpFromPreference="john_doe@example.net"

Join-String
Joins an array of strings into a single string.

Split-String
Splits a single string into an array of strings.

New-Symlink
Creates filesystem symbolic links. Requires Microsoft Windows Vista or
later.

Get-TabExpansion
This command provides access to the PSCX tab expansion engine. If you are
not using the PSCX profile, call this command from your TabExpansion
function.

Start-TabExpansion
Initializes the caches used by Get-TabExpansion. These may include the
.NET namespace and type cache, the WMI class cache, and more.

Write-Tar
Create Tape Archive (TAR) format files from pipeline or parameter input.

Disconnect-TerminalSession
Disconnects a specific remote desktop session on a system running
Terminal Services/Remote Desktop

Get-TerminalSession
Gets information on terminal services sessions.

Stop-TerminalSession
Logs off a specific remote desktop session on a system running Terminal
Services/Remote Desktop

ConvertTo-UnixLineEnding
Converts the line endings in the specified file to Unix line endings
"\n". You can convert a single file to a new file name. Or you can
convert multiple files and specify a destination directory. By default,
this cmdlet will overwrite existing files unless you specify -NoClobber.
If you want to force the overwrite of read only files use the -Force
option.

Set-VolumeLabel
Modifies the label shown in Windows Explorer for a particular disk
volume.

ConvertTo-WindowsLineEnding
Converts the line endings in the specified file to Windows line endings
"\r\n". You can convert a single file to a new file name. Or you can
convert multiple files and specify a destination directory. By default,
this cmdlet will overwrite existing files unless you specify -NoClobber.
If you want to force the overwrite of read only files use the -Force
option.

Convert-Xml
Performs XSLT transforms on the specified XML file or XmlDocument. Use
the EnableScript parameter to enable script embedded in the XSLT file.

Format-Xml
Pretty print for XML files and XmlDocument objects.

Select-Xml
Select-Xml provides an easy way to define namespace prefix to namespace
mappings. It handles creating a NamespaceManager and associating that
with the XPath queries executed against the supplied XML.

Test-Xml
Tests for well formedness and optionally validates against XML Schema. It
doesn't handle specifying the targetNamespace. To see validation error
messages, specify the -Verbose flag.

Write-Zip
Create ZIP format archive files from pipline or parameter input.

PROVIDERS
AssemblyCache
Provides access to the .NET Global Assembly Cache and the assemblies it
contains. The assemblies are exposed as AssemblyName objects.

DirectoryServices
Provides access to LDAP servers like Active Directory or AD Lightweight
Directory Services.

FeedStore
Provides access to the Internet Explorer 7 RSS feed store.

FILTERS
Get-PropertyValue
This filter is different from the Select-Object cmdlet in that it doesn't
create a wrapper object (PSCustomObject) around the property. If you just
want to get the property's value to assign it to another variable this
filter will come in handy. If you assigned the result of the
Select-Object operation you wouldn't get the property's value. You would
get an object that wraps that property and its value.

Usage:
$start = Get-History -Id 143 | Get-PropertyValue StartExecutionTime

Invoke-NullCoalescing
Similar to the C# ?? operator e.g. name = value ?? String.Empty; where
value would be a Nullable<T> in C#. Even though PowerShell doesn't
support nullables yet we can approximate this behavior. In the example
below, $LogDir will be assigned the value of $env:LogDir if it exists and
it's not null, otherwise it get's assigned the result of the second
script block (C:\Windows\System32\LogFiles). This behavior is also
analogous to Korn shell assignments of this form: LogDir =
${$LogDir:-$WinDir/System32/LogFiles}

Usage:
$LogDir = ?? {$env:LogDir} {"$env:windir\System32\LogFiles"}

Invoke-Ternary
Similar to the C# ? : operator e.g. name = (value != null) ? String.Empty
: value;

Usage:
1..10 | ?: {$_ -gt 5} {"Greater than 5";$_} {"Not greater than 5";$_}

New-HashObject
Use when you need to create a PSObject from a dictionary. The keys-value
pairs are turned into NoteProperties.

Usage:
$ht = @{fname='John';lname='Doe';age=42}
$ht | New-HashObject

Remove-Accessors
This filter is intended to be used to filter the Get-Member output to
eliminate display of compiler generated accessor methods.

Usage:
Get-Process | Get-Member | Remove-Accessors

FUNCTIONS
Add-PathVariable
This function adds the specified paths to the specified environment
variable.

Usage:
Add-PathVariable Path C:\Bin,C:\Users\John\Bin

cd
CD function that handles location history via a backward and forward
stack mechanism that can be navigated using "cd -" to go backwards in the
stack and "cd +" to go forwards in the stack. Executing "cd" without any
parameters will display the current stack history. For more information
execute "cd -?".

Usage:
cd $pscxhome; cd -; cd +; cd -0

cd-
Auto-correct function for 'cd -' which changes location backwards in the
stack.

cd..
Auto-correct function for 'cd ..' which changes location up one level.

cd...
Auto-correct function for 'cd ...' which changes location up two levels.

cd....
Auto-correct function for 'cd ....' which changes location up three
levels.

cd.....
Auto-correct function for 'cd .....' which changes location up four
levels.

cd?
Auto-correct function for 'cd ?' which displays usage information.

cd\
Auto-correct function for 'cd \' which changes location to the root of
the current drive.

cd~
Auto-correct function for 'cd ~' which changes location to your Home dir.

cd+
Auto-correct function for 'cd +' which changes location forwards in the
stack.

Collect
Simple alias for the [System.GC]::Collect() static method. This comes in
handy when a .NET object hasn't been disposed and is causing a file
system handle to not be released.

Usage:
collect

dird
Displays just containers (directories).

Usage:
dird
dird -first 5
dird C:\,$env:windir -combine

dirs
Displays folder contents sorted by size descending.

Usage:
dirs
dirs -first 10
dirs C:\,$Home -combine -f 20

dirt
Displays folder contents sorted by time descending.

Usage:
dirt
dirt -first 10
dirt C:\,$Home -combine -last 20

dirw
Displays folder contents in wide format.

Usage:
dirw
dirw C:\,$env:windir -combine

dirx
DIRX is an extended dir function that is used by dird, dirs and dirt. It
provides shortcuts for displaying files/dirs with particular attributes.
For more information execute "dirx -?".

Usage:
dirx
dirx -set Directory,Hidden

Disable-Breakpoints
Globally disables breakpoints.

Edit-File
Opens up the specified text file in the text editor specified by
$PscxTextEditorPreference variable. If not specified or the specified
editor isn't found then notepad is used.

Usage:
Edit-File foo.txt
gci -r -filter *.make | edit-file

Edit-GlobalHostProfile
Opens the machine wide, host specific profile into the editor defined by
$PscxTextEditorPreference variable. If not specified or the specified
editor isn't found then notepad is used.

Edit-GlobalProfile
Opens the machine wide generic (non-host specific) profile into the
editor defined by $PscxTextEditorPreference variable. If not specified or
the specified editor isn't found then notepad is used.

Edit-HostProfile
Opens the user's host specific profile into the editor defined by
$PscxTextEditorPreference variable. If not specified or the specified
editor isn't found then notepad is used.

Edit-Profile
Opens the user's generic (non-host specific) profile into the editor
defined by $PscxTextEditorPreference variable. If not specified or the
specified editor isn't found then notepad is used.

Elevate
Runs the specified command via an elevated PowerShell instance on Vista.
To get debug info, set $DebugPreference temporarily to 'Continue'.

Usage:
elevate
elevate notepad c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
elevate gci c:\windows\temp
elevate {gci c:\windows\temp | export-clixml tempdir.xml; exit}
elevate {gci c:\windows\temp | export-clixml tempdir.xml; exit} |
%{$_.WaitForExit(5000)} | %{Import-Clixml tempdir.xml}

Enable-Breakpoints
Globally enables breakpoints.

Get-CallStack
Displays the function invocation callstack.

Get-ExceptionForHR
Returns an exception object for a HRESULT code.

Usage:
hrexc -2147023293
Fatal error during installation. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070643)

Get-ExceptionForWin32
Returns an exception object for a windows error code.

Usage:
winexc 5
Access is denied

Get-PscxAlias
Displays all of the aliases created by PSCX.

Get-PscxCmdlet
Displays all of the cmdlets provided by PSCX.

Get-PscxDrive
Displays all of the drives created by PSCX.

Get-PscxVariable
Displays the variables defined by PSCX.

Get-TabExpansion
TabExpansion enhances the built-in tab expansion feature of PowerShell.
This function does nothing more than call the PSCX cmdlet
Get-TabExpansion. NOTE: This function is invoked by PowerShell. You
shouldn't need to invoke it directly.

Usage:
Place the following command in your profile if it isn't present:
. "$Env:PscxHome\Profile\TabExpansion.ps1"

Get-VariableSorted
Behaves just like Get-Variable except that the output is sorted by name.

glp
Gets the current location's path. This is handy if you just want to see
what your location is in a very terse format.

Less
Provides easy PowerShell access to the external Less-394 paging
application. NOTE: Be careful using less with large amounts of output
e.g. gci $env:windir\System32 | less. It appears that PowerShell buffers
up all the gci output before converting it to strings to pass to less.

Usage:
Get-Content foo.txt | less

Prompt
Replacement prompt function. See $PscxHome\Profile\EyeCandy.Jachym.ps1
and $PscxHome\EyeCandy.Keith.ps1 for examples on how to configure the
prompt function. Or just comment out the dot sourced EyeCandy scripts in
$UserProfile if you have your own prompt function.

Quote-List
Use as a wrist friendly way of creating an array of strings without
having to type extraneous commas and quotes:

Usage:
ql foo bar baz # equivalent of "foo", "bar", "baz"

Quote-String
Use as a wrist friendly way of create a string from a set of items where
each item will be separated by $OFS. Eliminates having to type extraneous
quotes:

Usage:
qs $a $b $c # equivalent of "$a $b $c"

Set-Breakpoint
This function sets a breakpoint in a script that causes a nested prompt
to be entered.

Usage:
Set-Breakpoint

Skip-Breakpoints
Skips over specified number of breakpoints before breaking.

Usage:
Skip-Breakpoints 5

Update-Profile
Reloads the user's generic (non-host specific) profile.

SCRIPTS
Add-DirectoryLength
Calculates the sizes of the specified directory and adds that size as a
"Length" NoteProperty to the input DirectoryInfo object. This script is
pipeline oriented.

Usage:
Get-ChildItem . -recurse | Add-DirectoryLength | sort Length

Add-ShortPath
Adds the file or directory's short path as a "ShortPath" NoteProperty to
the input DirectoryInfo object. NOTE: This filter requires the PSCX
cmdlet Get-ShortPath

Usage:
dir | Add-ShortPath | Format-Table ShortPath,FullName

Clip
This function enables quick access to the text data in the clipboard.

Usage:
dir | clip
clip | ConvertTo-WindowsLineEnding | sc D:\Mary\file.txt

Connect-VirtualServer
Invokes URL to Virtual Server's VSWebApp.exe.

ConvertFrom-WmiDateTime
Uses the PowerShell ManagementDateTimeConverter to converter between WMI
and .NET DateTime. This is a pipeline oriented script.

Usage:
gwmi win32_operatingsystem | gpv LastBootUpTime | ConvertFrom-WmiDateTime

ConvertFrom-WmiTimeSpan
Uses the PowerShell ManagementDateTimeConverter to converter between WMI
and .NET TimeSpan. This is a pipeline oriented script.

ConvertTo-DmtfDateTime
Uses the PowerShell ManagementDateTimeConverter to converter between DMTF
and .NET DateTime.

ConvertTo-DmtfTimeInterval
Uses the PowerShell ManagementDateTimeConverter to converter between DMTF
and .NET TimeSpan.

Export-History
Exports your entire command history to a clixml file.

Usage:
Export-History
Export-History $home\hist.xml

Get-DiskUsage
Gets the disk info (free,used,etc) for each drive.

Get-HelpMatch
Search the PowerShell help documentation for a given keyword or regular
expression.

Usage:
Get-HelpMatch hashtable
Get-HelpMatch "(datetime|ticks)" -verbose

Get-LoremIpsum
Lorem ipsum generator.

Usage:
Get-LoremIpsum
Get-LoremIpsum 20 -Language Spanish

Get-PagedHelp
Pages help using LESS.

Get-ScreenCss
Generate CSS header for HTML "screen shot" of the host buffer.

Usage:
$css = Get-ScreenCss

Get-ScreenHtml
Functions to generate HTML "screen shot" of the host buffer.

Usage:
Get-ScreenHtml
Get-ScreenHtml 25

Get-TypeName
This filter is handy for finding out what types are being passed down the
pipeline quickly. Normally you would use Get-Member to determine this but
if you are only interested in the type name this filter produces much
less output. Also, since Get-Member accumulates multiple instances of the
same type into a single output record for that type, you don't get any
sense of how many objects of that type are traversing the pipeline. With
this filter, you will see the type name of *every* object passed into it.
NOTE: If you specify any arguments then all pipeline input is ignored.
This is due to the fact that PowerShell executes the Process function
even if there isn't any input so it is impossible to distinguish between
$null pipeline input and no pipeline input.

Usage:
gcm get-* | Get-TypeName
Get-TypeName "hi" 1 3.14 $false
Get-Command get-* | Get-TypeName -FullName

Get-Url
This script scrapes the web page of the supplied web URL and outputs a
string containing the contents of the web page.

Usage:
Get-Url http://www.codeplex.com/PowerShellCX/Project/ProjectRss.aspx

Get-ViewDefinition
Gets the possible alternate views for the specified object.

Usage:
Get-ViewDefinition
Get-ViewDefinition System.Diagnostics.Process
Get-ViewDefinition Pscx.Commands.HashInfo $pscxhome\formatdata\*.ps1xml
Get-Process | Select -first 1 | Get-ViewDefinition | ft Name,Style -groupby SelectedBy

Import-Assembly
Imports the specified assembly via LoadWithPartialName or LoadFrom.

Usage:
Import-Assembly System.Windows.Forms
Import-Assembly .\Foo.dll

Import-History
Imports command history from a clixml file.

Usage:
Import-History
Import-History $home\hist.xml

Out-Speech
Outputs text as spoken words

Usage:
Out-Speech "Hello World"

Reduce-Object
Applies the supplied reduce function against the pipeline objects. If a
reduce function isn't applied the following default function is used:
{param($1,$2) $1 + $2}. The first parameter to this function is the seed
value to use send to the reduce function as the first parameter. The
reduce function is the second parameter.

Usage:
1..5 | Reduce-Object 0
1..5 | Reduce-Object 1 {param($1,$2)$1*$2}

Resolve-Error
Use when reporting an error or ask a question about a exception you are
seeing. This function provides all the information we have about the
error message making it easier to diagnose what is actually going on.

Search-Transcript
Searches your session transcript files for the specified pattern.

Usage:
Search-Transcript fxml

Select-History
Selects individual history info objects or ranges of them.

Usage:
Select-History (1..5+8,9+14..20)

Select-Random
Selects a random element from the collection either passed as a parameter
or input via the pipeline.

Usage:
$arr = 1..5; Select-Random $arr
1..5 | Select-Random

Set-ReadOnly
This filter can be used to change a file's read only status.

Usage:
Set-ReadOnly foo.txt
Set-ReadOnly [a-h]*.txt -passthru
Get-ChildItem bar[0-9].txt | Set-ReadOnly

Set-Writable
This filter can be used to change a file's read only status.

Usage:
Set-Writable foo.txt
Set-Writable [a-h]*.txt -passthru
Get-ChildItem bar[0-9].txt | Set-Writable

PROFILE DEFINED ALIASES
To see what aliases get created by PSCX, execute the alias "galpscx" at
the PowerShell prompt. The current PSCX defined aliases are listed below:

: alias for

UTILITY APPLICATIONS
Less-394
Less-394 is a paging utility that PSCX installs and hooks into the
help and man aliases. Using Less to browse help topics is
significantly nicer than the default paging in PowerShell. PSCX does
not however redefine PowerShell's "more" function to use Less because
the way PowerShell interops with legacy applications causes all output
to be rendered to text before it is sent to a legacy application.
That makes commands like the following take too much time to generate
any output:

PS> gci '$env:windir -rec | more'

EchoArgs
This is a simple legacy console application that can be very useful
when you are troubleshooting the invocation of a legacy application
with complex parameters. The typical problem is that you may think
the parameters are being passed literally to the legacy application
when in fact PowerShell is parsing the parameters via its standard
parameter parsing and then passing the result to the legacy
application e.g.:

PS> echoargs a /b -c -d:user /e:foo.cs;405
Arg 0 is <a>
Arg 1 is </b>
Arg 2 is <-c>
Arg 3 is <-d:>
Arg 4 is <user>
Arg 5 is </e:foo.cs>

405

Notice that PowerShell passes '-d:user' as two different
parameters. And since ';' is the statement separator in PowerShell
the 405 part of the parameter '/e:foo.cs;405' is not even considered
a parameter to the legacy application. These sort of problems are
typically solved by quoting the arguments to legacy applications e.g.:

5> echoargs a /b -c '-d:user' '/e:foo.cs;405'
Arg 0 is <a>
Arg 1 is </b>
Arg 2 is <-c>
Arg 3 is <-d:user>
Arg 4 is </e:foo.cs;405>

MISCELLANOUS FEATURES
An "Open PowerShell Prompt" here Windows Explorer context menu item is
created for folders and drives. A PowerShell script icon is also
registered for the PS1 file extension as well as a user friendly name
for the file type - "Windows PowerShell Script". Note: PSCX does *not*
change the default verb association. PS1 files will still open in
Notepad when they are double-clicked or invoked with the "Open" or
"Edit" verbs.

FEEDBACK
Please submit any feedback, including defects and enhancement requests,
to either the discussions forums at:

http://www.codeplex.com/PowerShellCX/Thread/List.aspx

or via the Issue Tracker at:

http://www.codeplex.com/PowerShellCX/WorkItem/List.aspx

We are also interested in suggestions you may have for cmdlets. Over
time, we hope to be able to add some custom providers but that greatly
depends on recruiting some more developers for the PSCX project.

CONTRIBUTING TO PSCX
If you are:

A) A software developer with experience programming in C#
B) Passionate about Windows PowerShell
C) Interested in contributing your coding talents to the project, please
drop me an email at:

r_keith_hill@hotmail.com.

SEE ALSO
For more information, most of the cmdlets have help associated with
them e.g.:

PS> help Get-Clipboard

The definitive information on a cmdlet's parameters can be obtained
by executing:

PS> Get-Command Split-String | Format-List *

or more tersely:

PS> gcm split-string | fl *