{"id":74921,"date":"2015-02-11T18:49:39","date_gmt":"2015-02-11T18:49:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.technet.microsoft.com\/heyscriptingguy\/?p=74921"},"modified":"2019-02-18T10:30:39","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T17:30:39","slug":"dias-test-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/dias-test-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Dia's Test Post"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary<\/strong>: Guest blogger, Tim Warner, talks about using Windows PowerShell conceptual Help.\nMicrosoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, is here. Welcome back Timothy Warner as our guest blogger today.\nLet\u2019s say you need to identify and extract all email addresses from a huge text file. To solve the issue, you decide to employ the Select-String<\/a> cmdlet with regular expression<\/a> (regex) syntax.\nLike the good PowerSheller you are, you update your local Help and examine the full Select-String<\/strong> documentation in a separate window:<\/p>\n

Get-Help \u2013Name Select-String \u2013ShowWindow<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Image<\/a>\nNow browse to the bottom of the file to the Related Links<\/strong> section. What do you see?<\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

This:<\/h4>\n

RelatedLinks<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Online Version: http:\/\/go.microsoft.com\/fwlink\/p\/?linkid=294008<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 about_Comparison_Operators<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 about_Regular_Expressions<\/p>\n

What the heck are these \u201cabout_\u201d entries? As a tech trainer, one of my great joys is seeing my students\u2019 eyes light up with new understanding. To that point, I\u2019ve taught so many IT pros who knew about Get-Help<\/a> but had no idea about conceptual Help. Let\u2019s get enlightened, shall we?<\/p>\n

About \u201cAbout\u201d Help<\/h2>\n

Whereas \u201cnormal\u201d PowerShell Help gives you syntax and usage explanations on a command-by-command basis, the PowerShell conceptual Help library focuses on the underlying, broader principles.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 \nLet\u2019s start by generating a report of all conceptual Help. Don\u2019t forget to run Update-Help<\/a> to make sure you have the latest and greatest documentation:<\/p>\n

Get-Help -Name about_* | Select-Object -Property Name, Synopsis | Sort-Object -Property Name | Format-Table -AutoSize | Out-File -FilePath ‘~Desktopabout_help.txt’<\/p>\n

For instance, if you need to learn more about how to use the \u2013match<\/strong> comparison operator for use in regex parsing, you can read the conceptual Help first:\nHelp about_comparison_operators -ShowWindow<\/p>\n

Get-Help vs. Help<\/h2>\n

While we\u2019re on the topic of PowerShell Help, some of you may have wondered why PowerShell includes two Help commands: Get-Help<\/strong> and Help.<\/strong>\n\"11\"<\/a>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \nYou probably noticed that running Help <command> in the PowerShell console shows you a screen full of information at a time. You have the following options:<\/p>\n