PowerShell is a command-line shell and scripting language created by Microsoft for Windows 10. It provides an interactive console, which can be used to automate tasks in the operating system. CMD is the default command line interface on Windows 10, but it has been superseded by PowerShell.
The how to open command prompt instead of powershell is a question that has been asked many times. PowerShell vs CMD is a common debate among users.
What is the primary difference between PowerShell and Command Prompt (CMD) on Windows? These two command-line tools, on the other hand, serve distinct objectives. In this post, we’ll show you how to tell the difference between Windows PowerShell and CMD.
Let’s get this party started.
What is Windows PowerShell and how does it work? What is the purpose of it?
The PowerShell command line is a scripting language, not a shell program. It is more similar to Perl than C if you compare it to another computer language. PowerShell, unlike the previous CMD command prompt, is object-oriented and provides a large library of.NET classes. It also includes an interactive terminal with real-time feedback and the ability to script any job you’re working on. This is especially helpful for complicated jobs where a single mistake may cost you hours of debugging and repeating the procedures required for a good result.
PowerShell is a versatile shell that lets you create programs and do routine tasks. It’s one-of-a-kind in that it can interact with almost every element of the Windows operating system, both in terms of itself and any other process running on the same machine. Without writing a single line of code, you may access a wealth of information from your operating system. This is a very useful tool that may assist you in identifying compatibility problems between components on your computer.
If we look at snap-ins, which are one way PowerShell interacts with other parts of the OS, we can see that PowerShell 3 on Windows 7 has over 60 distinct snap-ins accessible. The option to build a new snap-in from inside PowerShell is one of the greatest capabilities. If you want to test a particular application or system component with PowerShell but don’t have access to that program or component, this may be extremely useful. You may now script any functionalities you need without having to install any software on your system by creating your own snap-ins on your own time.
PowerShell also had a significant impact on desktop application development. For example, we have an application named Management Reporter (MR) running on our Windows 7 computer in the picture below. MR is one of the rare apps that understands how PowerShell works. On order to gather the necessary data in Windows XP, you would have to manually change the arguments against each machine. This script was written in a couple of minutes and may be reused by anybody who uses the same application. There is no need for extra coding, which saves time and money.
PowerShell has strong roots in UNIX scripting, so if you’re acquainted with Bash or any other UNIX-based scripting language, the transfer will be smooth. PowerShell was created to address issues with the Windows operating system. If you operate a UNIX server, your batch files have most certainly been replaced by something similar to PowerShell on Windows. This is because PowerShell makes it simple to automate repetitive operations and reduces the risk of human mistake.
PowerShell is rapidly becoming a must-have for every Windows desktop, and we can anticipate it to be completely incorporated into all Microsoft products in the future. Indeed, I am certain that PowerShell will be included in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.
What is the Difference Between PowerShell and CMD?
It’s critical to recognize that PowerShell and the command prompt (CMD) are two distinct tools. Some fundamental commands, such as del and copy, are compatible with both shells. However, they are polar opposites for the most part.
I’ll try to clarify the distinctions in each tool as we go through this post, as well as the typical jobs that you may face with both shells. When you’ve finished reading this article, you’ll be ready to start creating Windows shell scripts in PowerShell. You’ll be able to create scripts that do anything from basic operations (like deleting or transferring files) to sophisticated functions that interface with other programs or systems (such as Microsoft SQL Server).
Even if you aren’t a full-time developer, having a fundamental knowledge of how the tools you use on a daily basis operate is essential. It’s critical to understand the technology underlying scripts if you’re executing them on production servers. When your systems behave in an unexpected manner, this may help you diagnose issues and suggest remedies.
One of the primary benefits of PowerShell is that it exposes a large number of.NET objects. This implies that if you have any program or service installed on your Windows 7 system, there is almost certainly a PowerShell object for it, as well as its components.
When we look at some of the most popular PowerShell commands, we can see that there is an object for every major Windows subsystem. The Get-Process cmdlet, for example, may be used to get information about any process running on your system. This enables you to query information about particular processes running on your system without needing to utilize external tools like Task Manager, which may be very useful while troubleshooting.
Querying or changing system settings is another frequent PowerShell operation. If you execute ipconfig /all on your system from a command prompt, you’ll see that it contains information unique to 192.168.1.70 (my computer’s IP address). With the Get-NetIPConfiguration cmdlet in PowerShell, you can accomplish the same thing. To get the computer’s IP address, just run the Get-NetIPAddress cmdlet with the interface name “Ethernet” as the parameter.
Get-NetIPConfiguration -InterfaceAlias Ethernet | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -eq “IPv4” AddressFamily
If you’ve used ping or ipconfig at a command prompt before, you should be able to figure out how to do this. In fact, we can take it a step further by utilizing the same technique to query our local DNS server from PowerShell:
(Get-DnsClientServerAddress). HostName
Of course, this doesn’t tell us our local hostname, but it does tell us all we need to know about our present DNS configuration. We might use PowerShell to query for a particular DNS record by using the Get-DnsServerRecord cmdlet. We’d need to provide the DNS record’s name (such as A or CNAME) as well as the TTL value, which may range from 0 to 1 hour:
Where $_.Type -eq “A” -AND $_.Ttl –ne “0” | Get-DnsClientServerAddress -ZoneName ‘Default’ | Get-DnsServerRecord -Name ‘A’ |? $_.Type –eq “A” –AND $_.Ttl –ne “1”)
You can perform things using PowerShell that would be very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve with a command prompt. Administrators and developers often execute a single command in a single window, which is not only inconvenient but may also result in a script blowup. If you attempt to execute several commands from a tiny window, like as cmd.exe (the default command shell), you’ll soon find that on the Command Prompt window, one command may output many things without any problems.
You may use the same cmdlets you used in Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to execute tasks against multiple objects because.NET exposes its objects to the PowerShell session. Scripts may even be executed on distant systems:
select -First 3 | ft Name, DisplayName | where $_.Status -eq “Running” Get-Service | ft Name, DisplayName | select -First 3 | ft Name, DisplayName | where $_.Status -eq “Running”
The Get-Service cmdlet collects information about your system’s services. In this instance, it retrieves three services that are now operating and, by default, shows them in a text box.
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The powershell vs cmd vs bash is a debate that has been going on for years. Some say that the PowerShell is better than the CMD and Bash, while others believe that it’s all about preference.
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