Command discovery (Get-Command) in PowerShell - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What is the output of this PowerShell command?

Consider the command:

Get-Command -Name Get-Process

What type of command does this return?

PowerShell

Get-Command -Name Get-Process | Select-Object -ExpandProperty CommandType

A Cmdlet

B Function

C Alias

D Application

💡 Hint

Think about what kind of command 'Get-Process' is in PowerShell.

The 'Get-Process' command is a built-in cmdlet in PowerShell, so the CommandType property will be 'Cmdlet'.

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What does this command output?

What is the output of:

Get-Command -Verb Get | Select-Object -First 1 -ExpandProperty Name

PowerShell

Get-Command -Verb Get | Select-Object -First 1 -ExpandProperty Name

A Get-Content

B Get-Acl

C Get-Item

D Get-Process

💡 Hint

The commands are sorted alphabetically by default.

Get-Command returns commands with the verb 'Get'. The first alphabetically is 'Get-Acl'.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Why does this command fail?

This command is intended to find all commands with the noun 'Service':

Get-Command -Noun Service*

But it returns an error. Why?

PowerShell

Get-Command -Noun Service*

A The correct parameter is -Name, not -Noun.

B The -Noun parameter does not accept wildcards.

C Get-Command does not support filtering by noun.

D The wildcard should be in quotes: 'Service*'.

💡 Hint

Think about how PowerShell treats wildcards in parameters.

Wildcards must be passed as strings in quotes. Without quotes, PowerShell treats Service* as a command or variable, causing an error.

🧠 Conceptual

advanced

Which command lists all aliases starting with 'g'?

You want to list all aliases whose names start with the letter 'g'. Which command will do this?

A Get-Command -CommandType Alias | Where-Object Name -like 'g*'

B Get-Alias -Name g*

C Get-Command -CommandType Alias -Name g*

D Get-Command -Alias g*

💡 Hint

Get-Command can filter by command type and name pattern.

Get-Command with -CommandType Alias and -Name g* lists aliases starting with 'g'. Get-Alias does not support wildcards in -Name.

🚀 Application

expert

How many cmdlets have the noun 'Item'?

Using Get-Command, how many cmdlets have the noun exactly 'Item'?

PowerShell

Get-Command -CommandType Cmdlet -Noun Item | Measure-Object | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Count

A 5

B 3

C 7

D 10

💡 Hint

Use Get-Command with -Noun and count the results.

There are 5 cmdlets with the noun 'Item' such as Get-Item, New-Item, Remove-Item, etc.