Chapter 1. Getting Started with PowerShell

This chapter will provide introduction to Windows PowerShell that is required for the rest of the chapters of this book. You will learn about the usage of Windows PowerShell cmdlets, variables, arrays, and loops. You will also learn the use of the PowerShell Help system. We will cover the concept of filtering and exporting objects using pipelines and the usage of loops and conditional statements. This chapter will create a foundation, and we will use subsequent chapters to build this foundation.

The following topics will be discussed in this chapter:

• Introducing Windows PowerShell
• Understanding PowerShell syntax
• Understanding the help system
• Understanding logging and transcripts
• Using variables
• Using pipelines
• Using looping
• Using arrays
• Using filters and exporting data
• Using If statements
• Writing a basic script