PowerShell Logo Small

help



This is the built-in help made by Microsoft for the command 'help', in PowerShell version 5 - as retrieved from Windows version 'Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard' PowerShell help files on 2016-06-23.

For PowerShell version 3 and up, where you have Update-Help, this command was run just before creating the web pages from the help files.

SYNOPSIS

Displays information about Windows PowerShell commands and concepts.

SYNTAX


Get-Help [[-Name] [<String>]] [-Category {Alias | Cmdlet | Provider | General | FAQ | Glossary | HelpFile | ScriptCommand | Function | Filter | ExternalScript | All |
DefaultHelp | Workflow | DscResource | Class | Configuration}] [-Component [<String[]>]] [-Full] [-Functionality [<String[]>]] [-Path [<String>]] [-Role [<String[]>]]
[<CommonParameters>]
Get-Help [[-Name] [<String>]] [-Category {Alias | Cmdlet | Provider | General | FAQ | Glossary | HelpFile | ScriptCommand | Function | Filter | ExternalScript | All |
DefaultHelp | Workflow | DscResource | Class | Configuration}] [-Component [<String[]>]] [-Functionality [<String[]>]] [-Path [<String>]] [-Role [<String[]>]] -Detailed
[<CommonParameters>]
Get-Help [[-Name] [<String>]] [-Category {Alias | Cmdlet | Provider | General | FAQ | Glossary | HelpFile | ScriptCommand | Function | Filter | ExternalScript | All |
DefaultHelp | Workflow | DscResource | Class | Configuration}] [-Component [<String[]>]] [-Functionality [<String[]>]] [-Path [<String>]] [-Role [<String[]>]] -Examples
[<CommonParameters>]
Get-Help [[-Name] [<String>]] [-Category {Alias | Cmdlet | Provider | General | FAQ | Glossary | HelpFile | ScriptCommand | Function | Filter | ExternalScript | All |
DefaultHelp | Workflow | DscResource | Class | Configuration}] [-Component [<String[]>]] [-Functionality [<String[]>]] [-Path [<String>]] [-Role [<String[]>]] -Online
[<CommonParameters>]
Get-Help [[-Name] [<String>]] [-Category {Alias | Cmdlet | Provider | General | FAQ | Glossary | HelpFile | ScriptCommand | Function | Filter | ExternalScript | All |
DefaultHelp | Workflow | DscResource | Class | Configuration}] [-Component [<String[]>]] [-Functionality [<String[]>]] [-Path [<String>]] [-Role [<String[]>]] -Parameter
<String> [<CommonParameters>]
Get-Help [[-Name] [<String>]] [-Category {Alias | Cmdlet | Provider | General | FAQ | Glossary | HelpFile | ScriptCommand | Function | Filter | ExternalScript | All |
DefaultHelp | Workflow | DscResource | Class | Configuration}] [-Component [<String[]>]] [-Functionality [<String[]>]] [-Path [<String>]] [-Role [<String[]>]] -ShowWindow
[<CommonParameters>]



Search powershellhelp.space

DESCRIPTION


The Get-Help cmdlet displays information about Windows PowerShell concepts and commands, including cmdlets, functions, CIM commands, workflows, providers, aliases and
scripts.


To get help for a Windows PowerShell command, type "Get-Help" followed by the command name, such as: Get-Help Get-Process. To get a list of all help topics on your system,
type: Get-Help *. You can display the entire help topic or use the parameters of the Get-Help cmdlet to get selected parts of the topic, such as the syntax, parameters, or
examples.


Conceptual help topics in Windows PowerShell begin with "about_", such as "about_Comparison_Operators". To see all "about_" topics, type: Get-Help about_*. To see a
particular topic, type: Get-Help about_<topic-name>, such as Get-Help about_Comparison_Operators.


To get help for a Windows PowerShell provider, type "Get-Help" followed by the provider name. For example, to get help for the Certificate provider, type: Get-Help
Certificate.


In addition to "Get-Help", you can also type "help" or "man", which displays one screen of text at a time, or "<cmdlet-name> -?", which is identical to Get-Help but works
only for commands.


Get-Help gets the help content that it displays from help files on your computer. Without the help files, Get-Help displays only basic information about commands. Some
Windows PowerShell modules come with help files. However, beginning in Windows PowerShell 3.0, the modules that come with Windows do not include help files. To download or
update the help files for a module in Windows PowerShell 3.0, use the Update-Help cmdlet.


You can also view the help topics for Windows PowerShell online in the TechNet Library. To get the online version of a help topic, use the Online parameter, such as:
Get-Help Get-Process -Online. You can read all of the help topics beginning at: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=107116.


If you type "Get-Help" followed by the exact name of a help topic, or by a word unique to a help topic, Get-Help displays the topic contents. If you enter a word or word
pattern that appears in several help topic titles, Get-Help displays a list of the matching titles. If you enter a word that does not appear in any help topic titles,
Get-Help displays a list of topics that include that word in their contents.


Get-Help can get help topics for all supported languages and locales. Get-Help first looks for help files in the locale set for Windows, then in the parent locale (such as
"pt" for "pt-BR"), and then in a fallback locale. Beginning in Windows PowerShell 3.0, if Get-Help does not find help in the fallback locale, it looks for help topics in
English ("en-US") before returning an error message or displaying auto-generated help.


For information about the symbols that Get-Help displays in the command syntax diagram, see about_Command_Syntax. For information about parameter attributes, such as
Required and Position, see about_Parameters.


TROUBLESHOOTING NOTE: In Windows PowerShell 3.0 and 4.0, Get-Help cannot find About topics in modules unless the module is imported into the current session. This is a known
issue. To get About topics in a module, import the module, either by using the Import-Module cmdlet or by running a cmdlet in the module.



<

RELATED LINKS

Online Version: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=289584
Updatable Help Status Table (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=270007)
about_Command_Syntax
Get-Command
about_Comment_Based_Help
about_Parameters

REMARKS

<

Examples


-------------------------- EXAMPLE 1 --------------------------

PS C:\>Get-Help



This command displays help about the Windows PowerShell help system.






-------------------------- EXAMPLE 2 --------------------------

PS C:\>Get-Help *



This command displays a list of the available help topics.






-------------------------- EXAMPLE 3 --------------------------

PS C:\>Get-Help Get-Alias
PS C:\>Help Get-Alias
PS C:\>Get-Alias -?



These commands display basic information about the Get-Alias cmdlet. The "Get-Help" and "-?" commands display the information on a single page. The "Help" command displays
the information one page at a time.






-------------------------- EXAMPLE 4 --------------------------

PS C:\>Get-Help about_*



This command displays a list of the conceptual topics included in Windows PowerShell help. All of these topics begin with the characters "about_". To display a particular
help file, type "get-help <topic-name>, for example, "Get-Help about_Signing".

This command displays the conceptual topics only when the help files for those topics are installed on the computer. For information about downloading and installing help
files in Windows PowerShell 3.0, see Update-Help.






-------------------------- EXAMPLE 5 --------------------------

The first command uses the Get-Help cmdlet to get help for the Get-Command cmdlet. Without help files, Get-Help display the cmdlet name, syntax and alias of Get-Command, and
prompts you to use the Update-Help cmdlet to get the newest help files.
PS C:\>Get-Help Get-Command
NAME
Get-Command


SYNTAX

Get-Command [[-Name] <string[]>] [-CommandType {Alias | Function | Filter | Cmdlet | ExternalScript | Application |

Script | All}] [[-ArgumentList] <Object[]>] [-Module <string[]>] [-Syntax] [-TotalCount <int>] [<CommonParameters>]


Get-Command [-Noun <string[]>] [-Verb <string[]>] [[-ArgumentList] <Object[]>] [-Module <string[]>] [-Syntax]

[-TotalCount <int>] [<CommonParameters>]



ALIASES
gcm


REMARKS
Get-Help cannot find the help files for this cmdlet on this computer.
It is displaying only partial help. To download and install help files
for this cmdlet, use Update-Help.

The second command runs the Update-Help cmdlet without parameters. This command downloads help files from the Internet for all of the modules in the current session and
installs them on the local computer.This command works only when the local computer is connected to the Internet. If your computer is not connected to the Internet, you
might be able to install help files from a network share. For more information, see Save-Help.
PS C:\>Update-Help

Now that the help files are downloaded, we can repeat the first command in the sequence. This command gets help for the Get-Command cmdlet. The cmdlet now gets more
extensive help for Get-Command and you can use the Detailed, Full, Example, and Parameter parameters of Get-Help to customize the displays.You can use the Get-Help cmdlet
as soon as the Update-Help command completes. You do not need to restart Windows PowerShell.
PS C:\>Get-Help Get-Command



This example shows how to download and install new or updated help files for a module. It uses features that were introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

The example compares the help that Get-Help displays for commands when you do not have help files installed on your computer and when you do have help files. You can use the
same command sequence to update the help files on your computer so that your local help content is never obsolete.

To download and install the help files for the commands that come with Windows PowerShell, and for any modules in the $pshome\Modules directory, open Windows PowerShell with
the "Run as administrator" option. If you are not a member of the Administrators group on the computer, you cannot download help for these modules. However, you can use the
Online parameter to open the online version of help for a command, and you can read the help for Windows PowerShell in the TechNet Library beginning at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=107116.






-------------------------- EXAMPLE 6 --------------------------

PS C:\>Get-Help ls -Detailed



This command displays detailed help for the Get-ChildItem cmdlet by specifying one of its aliases, "ls." The Detailed parameter of Get-Help gets the detailed view of the
help topic, which includes parameter descriptions and examples. To see the complete help topic for a cmdlet, use the Full parameter.

The Full and Detailed parameters are effective only when help files for the command are installed on the computer.






-------------------------- EXAMPLE 7 --------------------------

PS C:\>Get-Help Format-Table -Full



This command uses the Full parameter of Get-Help to display the full view help for the Format-Table cmdlet. The full view of help includes parameter descriptions, examples,
and a table of technical details about the parameters.

The Full parameter is effective only when help files for the command are installed on the computer.






-------------------------- EXAMPLE 8 --------------------------

PS C:\>Get-Help Start-Service -Examples



This command displays examples of using the Start-Service cmdlet. It uses the Examples parameter of Get-Help to display only the Examples section of the cmdlet help topics.

The Examples parameter is effective only when help files for the command are installed on the computer.






-------------------------- EXAMPLE 9 --------------------------

PS C:\>Get-Help Format-List -Parameter GroupBy



This command uses the Parameter parameter of Get-Help to display a detailed description of the GroupBy parameter of the Format-List cmdlet. For detailed descriptions of all
parameters of the Format-List cmdlet, type "Get-Help Format-List –Parameter *".






-------------------------- EXAMPLE 10 --------------------------

PS C:\>Get-Help Add-Member -Full | Out-String -Stream | Select-String -Pattern Clixml



This example shows how to search for a word in particular cmdlet help topic. This command searches for the word "Clixml" in the full version of the help topic for the
Add-Member cmdlet.

Because the Get-Help cmdlet generates a MamlCommandHelpInfo object, not a string, you need to use a cmdlet that transforms the help topic content into a string, such as
Out-String or Out-File.






-------------------------- EXAMPLE 11 --------------------------

PS C:\>Get-Help Get-Member -Online



This command displays the online version of the help topic for the Get-Member cmdlet.






-------------------------- EXAMPLE 14 --------------------------

PS C:\>Get-Help remoting



This command displays a list of topics that include the word "remoting."

When you enter a word that does not appear in any topic title, Get-Help displays a list of topics that include that word.






-------------------------- EXAMPLE 15 --------------------------

The first command uses the Path parameter of Get-Help to specify the provider path. This command can be entered at any path location.
PS C:\>Get-Help Get-Item -Path SQLSERVER:\DataCollection

NAME

Get-Item


SYNOPSIS

Gets a collection of Server objects for the local computer and any computers

to which you have made a SQL Server PowerShell connection.

...

The second command uses the Set-Location cmdlet (alias = "cd") to navigate to the provider path. From that location, even without the Path parameter, the Get-Help command
gets the provider-specific help for the Get-Item cmdlet.
PS C:\>cd SQLSERVER:\DataCollection
SQLSERVER:\DataCollection> Get-Help Get-Item

NAME

Get-Item


SYNOPSIS

Gets a collection of Server objects for the local computer and any computers

to which you have made a SQL Server PowerShell connection.

...


The third command shows that a Get-Help command in a file system path, and without the Path parameter, gets the standard help for the Get-Item cmdlet.
PS C:\>Get-Item

NAME

Get-Item


SYNOPSIS

Gets the item at the specified location.
...



This example shows how to get help that explains how to use the Get-Item cmdlet in the DataCollection node of the Windows PowerShell SQL Server provider. The example shows
two ways of getting the provider-specific help for Get-Item.

You can also get provider-specific help for cmdlets online in the section that describes the provider. For example, for provider-specific online help for the New-Item cmdlet
in each WSMan provider path, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=158676.






-------------------------- EXAMPLE 16 --------------------------

PS C:\>Get-Help C:\PS-Test\MyScript.ps1



This command gets help for the MyScript.ps1 script. For information about writing help for your functions and scripts, see about_Comment_Based_Help.