Getting Started with Polyglot Notebooks
Today's topic is a little outside the box. This isn't necessarily a PowerShell topic, but one I think you might get value from. I want to give you a brief...
ForEach vs. ForEach
I know I cover some advanced topics in this newsletter, which I know for some of you can be a bit overwhelming. I'll admit that I am often uncertain about...
Discovering PowerShell DNS Management
Not too long ago, a reader asked how to use PowerShell to manage DNS. Normally, I keep the newsletter content more broadly focused on PowerShell. I tend not...
Winget Package Management with PowerShell
I've been sharing my thoughts and code for managing my work environment with PowerShell. It's not that I am paranoid about security, but I like having...
Behind the PowerShell Pipeline - The Book
I've been writing this newsletter going on three years, and I'm deeply appreciative of those of you who have been with me from the beginning. In order to...
More Module Management
Last time, we started looking at PowerShell techniques to manage PowerShell modules. Even though I know how to use the commands in the...
January 2025 PowerShell Potluck
Time to wrap up the first month of the new year. I hope you are off to a good start. I have a few things to share with you this month. Top Process Recently,...
A PowerShell Scripting Solution for December 2024
At the end of last month, I left you with another PowerShell scripting challenge. It was admittedly a difficult challenge. But I gave you a few suggestions....
Module and Package Management Tools
When I started my IT career, we didn't have to worry much about the pace of change. Operating systems were released on a 3 to 5-year cycle, and software...
Positioning with the PowerShell AST
I've been slowly diving into the world of the PowerShell Abstract Syntax Tree (AST). In the last issue, we looked at parsing PowerShell input. I demonstrated...
PowerShell Parsing and Processing
Let's continue diving down the rabbit hole to see what we can do with the PowerShell Abstract Syntax Tree (AST). And believe me, this is a very deep rabbit...
Creating AST-Based PowerShell Tools
Over the last few articles, we've been exploring the world of Abstract Syntax Trees (ASTs) in PowerShell. We've seen how to parse PowerShell scripts into...
Climbing Higher in the Abstract Syntax Tree
We've started an exploration of using the Abstract Syntax Tree` (AST) to analyze PowerShell code. You can use the AST to dissect PowerShell code to its...
Going Out on a Limb on the Abstract Syntax Tree
I thought I'd start out the new year by revisiting a topic I haven't covered in quite awhile. This is a topic that definitely fits the theme of this...
PowerShell Potluck December 2024
You've done it. You've reached the end of another month and for that matter, an entire year of hopefully interesting and useful PowerShell content. I'll keep...
A Profile Scripting Challenge Solution
Because of the Christmas holiday this week, I'm sending this out a little early, and there will only be one issue this week. 🎁 I hope you have a wonderful...
Creating GitHub Extension PowerShell Tools
In the last newsletter, I introduced you to extensions in the gh.exe command-line tool for managing GitHub. I showed you some PowerShell code I had written...
Extending the GitHub CLI
I know I've mentioned the GitHub command line tool, gh.exe, in the past. This is a great tool for working with GitHub repositories from the command line. I...
Taking It Apart with PowerShell
In the last issue, I explored techniques and concepts for putting things together with PowerShell. This time, I'm going to take things apart. There's nothing...
Putting It Together in PowerShell
It should come as no surprise that we often use PowerShell to build things, and I mean more than custom object output. We often need to build strings,...
Learning How to Learn
Photo by Kaushal Moradiya: https://www.pexels.com I have always valued the importance of learning how to learn or how to teach yourself. This concept is much...
Super Size Your Snippets
Today I want to return to a topic I've covered, at least briefly, in the past and that is taking advantage of snippets in Visual Studio Code. The PowerShell...
November 2024 PowerShell Potluck
I'm back with another PowerShell Potluck! This month, I have a variety of topics to share with you. I have a new module for working with Bluesky, a new...
October 2024 Scripting Challenge Solution
Last month I left you with a PowerShell scripting challenge. I hope you take the time to at least begin working on a solution. I believe that the best way to...
Dynamic Parameter Validation - Part 2
Last time I demonstrated a technique you can use in PowerShell 7 as an alternative to the static [ValidateSet()] parameter validation attribute. There is an...
Dynamic Parameter Validation
I want to continue exploring parameter validation with a new technique introduced in PowerShell 7. If you are still on Windows PowerShell, don't run away....
PowerShell Parameter Validation Part 2
Let's continue exploring the world of parameter validation in your PowerShell scripts and functions. As I mentioned in the previous article, you can't make...
PowerShell Parameter Validation
I've mentioned before that I'm an old-school IT Pro and scripter. I used to worry about my scripts failing halfway through because of bad data or values....
Tool Time - WiFi Info
I want to continue the introduction of a new set of PowerShell tools I've been working on. Today's tool was developed to solve a problem I had, although the...
A Registry Scripting Challenge Solution
In the September 2024 round-up, I gave you a PowerShell scripting challenge. The best way to learn PowerShell and improve your skills is to do it. The...
October 2024 PowerShell Potluck
Here we are once again at the end of another month. I hope the content this month has been helpful and informative. If you are not a premium subscriber, I...
New Tools - File and Folder Archiver
Let's continue with recent additions to my PowerShell toolbox. Another recurring task is that I often want to create a ZIP file of selected files from a...
Tool Time - Clipboard History
A reminder that all previous articles can be found in the online archive. Premium subscribers have full access. As I've worked with PowerShell over the...
Creating a GitHub Repository Tool - Part 4
I've come a long way with the project and the end is in sight. Hopefully, we can wrap up building my GitHub repository tool today. At this point, I have a...
Creating a GitHub Repository Tool - Part 3
We've come pretty far in building a PowerShell tool around a command-line utility. The fact that gh.exe can output JSON makes all the difference in the...
Creating a GitHub Repository Tool - Part 2
I've been sharing my experiences and work process in building a PowerShell tool to manage my GitHub repositories. Instead of fussing with the GitHub API,...
Creating a GitHub Repository Tool
Not that long ago, I saw something on social media that got me thinking, and as usually happens, one thing leads to another and before I knew it I was heads...
Automatic Traditional Modules
In the last email, I demonstrated how to use the New-Module command to create a dynamic module. The result was a temporary module that existed only in...
Automatic PowerShell Modules
In a previous email I demonstrated PowerShell code that generated custom PowerShell functions. This is a clever way to create commands with a very specific...
PowerShell Potluck - September 2024
Welcome back to another PowerShell Potluck, and you didn't have to bring a thing, other than a little curiosity and a willingness to try new things. Here's a...
Creating a PowerShell Code Factory
I am always on the look out for ways to get more done faster and with less effort. Especially when it comes to writing PowerShell code. I have lots of VSCode...
What Is That Thing Called?
Recently, I was looking at a friend's new module on GitHub. He is by no means a beginner, but hasn't written many modules. He was creating a module based on...
Master Your Environment Part 3
Note: I am aware that code samples are not respecting HTML tags and rendering some characters with their HTML codes. Buttondown is working on this issue. I...
Master Your Environment Variables
In the previous email, we started looking at ways to use the [System.Environment] .NET class. Even though the ENV: PSDrive exposes some of the class's...
Master Your Environment
PowerShell, as its name implies, is a shell. It is an interactive command-line interface to the underlying operating system. PowerShell is designed so that...
Creating Pandoc PowerShell Tools Part 2
I've been sharing my experiences in building Pandoc-based PowerShell tools. My ultimate goal is to create a tool that will convert a Markdown README file...
Creating Pandoc PowerShell Tools
One of the things I enjoy about creating a PowerShell-based tool is discovery. When writing code, I will realize that it would be helpful if I could use a...
August 2024 PowerShell Potluck
Here we are again at the end of another month. I hope you found this month's content helpful. I am always open to suggestions on topics that you'd like to...
Pandoc, PDFs, and PowerShell
I hope that you've been intrigued by the possibilities of Pandoc. It's a powerful tool that can help you convert documents between a wide variety of formats....
More Pandoc and PowerShell Possibilities
Let's pick up where we left off, exploring how to use the pandoc utility to convert markdown files to HTML. In the previous post, we looked at the basics of...