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Catalog / Windows Scripting Cheatsheet

Windows Scripting Cheatsheet

A quick reference guide for Windows scripting using PowerShell and Batch scripting, covering essential commands, syntax, and automation techniques.

PowerShell Basics

Core Commands (Cmdlets)

Get-Command

Lists all available PowerShell commands (cmdlets).

Get-Help <command>

Displays help information for a specific command.

Set-ExecutionPolicy

Configures the PowerShell execution policy (e.g., RemoteSigned).

Get-Process

Retrieves information about running processes.

Stop-Process

Stops a running process (e.g., Stop-Process -Id <PID>).

Get-Service

Retrieves information about Windows services.

Start-Service

Starts a Windows service.

Stop-Service

Stops a Windows service.

Restart-Service

Restarts a Windows service.

Variables and Operators

$

Indicates a variable (e.g., $name = "John").

=

Assignment operator (e.g., $x = 10).

-eq, -ne, -gt, -lt

Equality, inequality, greater than, and less than operators.

-and, -or, -not

Logical AND, OR, and NOT operators.

+, -, *, /

Arithmetic operators (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division).

+=, -=

Shorthand for incrementing/decrementing the value of a variable.

Basic Syntax & Structures

if ($condition) { ... } elseif ($condition) { ... } else { ... } - Conditional statement.

for ($i = 0; $i -lt 10; $i++) { ... } - For loop.

foreach ($item in $collection) { ... } - Foreach loop.

while ($condition) { ... } - While loop.

function My-Function { ... } - Function definition.

PowerShell Advanced

Working with Objects

Get-Member

Displays the properties and methods of an object.

Select-Object

Selects specific properties of an object (e.g., Get-Process | Select-Object Name, Id).

Where-Object

Filters objects based on a condition (e.g., Get-Process | Where-Object {$_.CPU -gt 1}).

ForEach-Object

Performs an action on each object in a collection (e.g., Get-Process | ForEach-Object {Write-Host $_.Name}).

Export-Csv

Exports objects to a CSV file (e.g., Get-Process | Export-Csv -Path processes.csv -NoTypeInformation).

Import-Csv

Imports objects from a CSV file (e.g., $data = Import-Csv -Path data.csv).

Modules and Script Execution

Import-Module

Imports a PowerShell module (e.g., Import-Module ActiveDirectory).

Get-Module

Lists imported modules.

. <script_path>

Executes a PowerShell script in the current scope.

& <script_path>

Executes a PowerShell script in a new scope.

.<script_path>

Executes a PowerShell script.

Publish-Module

Publishes a module to a repository.

Error Handling

try { ... } catch { ... } finally { ... } - Try-Catch-Finally block for error handling.

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' - Sets the error action preference to stop execution on error.

Write-Error "Error message" - Writes an error message.

Batch Scripting Basics

Basic Commands

echo

Displays text on the console.

@echo off

Turns command echoing off (usually at the beginning of the script).

pause

Pauses script execution until a key is pressed.

cls

Clears the console screen.

title

Sets the title of the console window.

exit

Exits the script.

rem or ::

Comment a line (rem is compatible with older versions).

Variables and Operators

set <variable>=<value>

Sets a variable (e.g., set name=John).

%<variable>%

Accesses a variable’s value (e.g., echo %name%).

==, EQU, NEQ, GTR, LSS

Equality, not equal, greater than, and less than operators (string comparison).

if <condition> ( ... ) else ( ... )

Conditional statement.

for %%i in (<set>) do ( ... )

For loop (e.g., for %%i in (a b c) do echo %%i). Use %i in command line

goto <label>

Jumps to a labeled section of the script.

File and Directory Operations

dir

Lists files and directories in the current directory.

cd

Changes the current directory (e.g., cd C:\Windows).

mkdir or md

Creates a new directory (e.g., mkdir NewDirectory).

rmdir or rd

Removes a directory (e.g., rmdir NewDirectory).

copy

Copies files (e.g., copy file.txt C:\Backup).

del

Deletes files (e.g., del file.txt).

Batch Scripting Advanced

Conditional Statements and Loops

if <condition> ( ... ) else ( ... ) - Conditional execution.
Example:

if "%ERRORLEVEL%" == "0" (
  echo Success
) else (
  echo Failure
)```

for %%i in (<set>) do ( ... ) - Looping through a set of items.
Example:

for %%i in (*.txt) do (
  echo Processing %%i
)```

goto <label> - Jump to a specific label in the script.
Example:

:start
echo Starting...
goto end
:end
echo Ending...

Working with Strings

%variable:~start,length%

Substring extraction from a variable (e.g., %string:~0,5%).

set variable=%variable:old=new%

String replacement (e.g., replace ‘old’ with ‘new’ in %variable%).

set variable=%variable:<search>=%

Delete search string

Calling External Programs

start <program> - Starts an external program.
Example:

start notepad.exe file.txt```

call <batch_file> - Calls another batch file.
Example:

call other_script.bat```
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