PowerShell vs Bash vs CMD comparison

Introduction

You want to know the differences between PowerShell, Bash, and CMD so you can pick the right tool for your tasks.

You need to automate tasks on Windows computers.

You want to write scripts that work on Linux or macOS.

You want to run simple commands quickly on Windows.

You want to manage system settings or files with powerful commands.

You want to understand which shell fits your daily work best.

Syntax

PowerShell

PowerShell: Uses cmdlets like Get-Process
Bash: Uses commands like ls, grep
CMD: Uses commands like dir, copy

PowerShell uses objects, not just text, which makes it powerful.

Bash is common on Linux and macOS, CMD is older and Windows-only.

Examples

Lists processes using more than 100 CPU seconds.

PowerShell

PowerShell:
Get-Process | Where-Object {$_.CPU -gt 100}

Shows processes related to Firefox.

PowerShell

Bash:
ps aux | grep firefox

Finds Firefox processes in the task list.

PowerShell

CMD:
tasklist | findstr firefox

Sample Program

This script shows how to list files in each shell. PowerShell uses Get-ChildItem, Bash uses ls, CMD uses dir.

PowerShell

Write-Output "PowerShell: List files"
Get-ChildItem

Write-Output "Bash: List files"
# bash command: ls -l

Write-Output "CMD: List files"
# cmd command: dir

Important Notes

PowerShell works well on Windows and now also on Linux and macOS.

Bash is great for Linux/macOS but can be installed on Windows too.

CMD is simple but less powerful than PowerShell or Bash.

Summary

PowerShell is object-based and powerful for Windows automation.

Bash is text-based and common on Linux/macOS for scripting.

CMD is basic and mostly used for simple Windows commands.