PowerShell Basic: Mastering PowerShell Fundamentals by Pearson

Course details

Learn the basics of PowerShell, including syntax, cmdlets, variables, and data types. Discover how to work with the PowerShell pipeline, use regular expressions, and manipulate strings and arrays. Use the hands-on projects and exercises to gain practical experience in building scripts, working with control structures, and handling errors. Progress into more advanced topics such as functions, modules, and object-oriented programming. Learn how to work with file systems, interact with text files, and read and write to the Windows Registry. Explore PowerShell remoting, automation, and the latest features in PowerShell 7. With a focus on real-world applications and scenarios, this course is designed to equip you with the skills and confidence to automate tasks, manage systems, and improve your productivity. By the end of the course, you'll be more well-versed in the fundamentals of PowerShell and ready to take on more complex challenges.

Learning objectives
Work with objects, attributes, and pipeline operations.
Handle errors gracefully so that they do not crash your script.
Build reusable functions and modules.
Automate various tasks.

Concepts

Introduction

PowerShell basic - Introduction

PowerShell Basics

Learning objectives
What is PowerShell
The Windows command-line interfaces
Basic PowerShell syntax
PowerShell cmdlet aliases
Getting command syntax help
Finding the right cmdlet to use
Predicting a command's behavior
Dealing with errors for unrecognized terms
Project - Building a system info script

Working with PowerShell cmdlets

Learning objectives
Commonly used cmdlets
Variables and data types
Constants and read-only variables
Basic operators - Arithmetic, comparison, and logical
String manipulation
Regular expressions
Arrays and hash tables
Input and output basics
The PowerShell pipeline
Positional vs. named parameters
Windows OS integration
Project - cmdlet explorer

Basic Scripting Techniques

Learning objectives
Building a PowerShell script
Configuring the script execution policy
Scripting editors
Comments and documentation
Script reusability
Basic scripting best practices
Project - A log file cleanup script

Control Structures and Logic

Learning objectives
Conditional statements
Loops
Project - Where did my disk space go

Error Handling and Troubleshooting

Learning objectives
Making sense of error messages
Creating custom error messages
Error handling
The PowerShell debugger
Special write statements
Project - Text file reader

Functions

Learning objectives
Scopes
Creating a basic function
Passing a variable to a function
Flow control
Building modules
Finding modules in the PowerShell Gallery
Project - Disk space report

The File System and Registry

Learning objectives
Basic file system operations
Working with file and folder attributes
Creating text files
Interacting with text files
Finding content within a file
Drive mappings
Environment variables
Profile scripts and persistent settings
Reading and writing the Windows Registry
Project - Creating a system environment report

Working with Objects and Data

Learning objectives
Objects and attributes
Sorting, filtering, and grouping data
Returning an object from a function
Calculated properties
Formatting output
Working with CSV files
Working with JSON files
Creating HTML reports
Adding color and formatting
Project - System configuration comparison script

PowerShell Remoting

Learning objectives
Interactive authentication
Automatic authentication
An introduction to remote sessions
Establishing a remote session
Running a cmdlet on a remote system
Collecting data from a remote system
Project - System inventory report

PowerShell Automation

Learning objectives
Background jobs and asynchronous processing
Running scripts as scheduled tasks
Linking tasks to Windows services
Project - Automated backup

PowerShell 7

Learning objectives
Installing PowerShell 7
Ternary operators
Pipeline chain operators
Null-coalescing operators
Parallelization
Project - Parallel file hashing

Conclusion

PowerShell basic - Conclusion