Select-Object for properties in PowerShell - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What is the output of this PowerShell command?

Given the following command, what will be the output?

PowerShell

Get-Process | Select-Object -Property Name, Id | Select-Object -First 3

A

[
  {"Name": "powershell"},
  {"Name": "explorer"},
  {"Name": "notepad"}
]

B

[
  {"Name": "powershell", "Id": 1234, "Handles": 200},
  {"Name": "explorer", "Id": 5678, "Handles": 150},
  {"Name": "notepad", "Id": 9101, "Handles": 50}
]

C Error: Property 'Id' not found

D

[
  {"Name": "powershell", "Id": 1234},
  {"Name": "explorer", "Id": 5678},
  {"Name": "notepad", "Id": 9101}
]

💡 Hint

Select-Object limits the properties shown. The command selects only Name and Id properties.

The command gets all processes, selects only the Name and Id properties, then shows the first 3. So output objects have only Name and Id.

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What does this command output?

What is the output of this PowerShell command?

PowerShell

Get-Service | Select-Object -Property Status, Name | Select-Object -Last 2

A

[
  {"Status": "Running", "Name": "wuauserv"},
  {"Status": "Stopped", "Name": "WinDefend"}
]

B

[
  {"Name": "wuauserv"},
  {"Name": "WinDefend"}
]

C

[
  {"Status": "Running"},
  {"Status": "Stopped"}
]

D Error: Property 'Status' not found

💡 Hint

Select-Object picks only the specified properties. The last 2 services are shown.

The command gets all services, selects only Status and Name properties, then outputs the last 2 services with those properties.

📝 Syntax

advanced

Which option correctly selects the 'Name' and 'CPU' properties from processes?

Choose the correct PowerShell command to select only the 'Name' and 'CPU' properties from all processes.

A Get-Process | Select-Object Name, CPU

B Get-Process | Select-Object -Properties Name CPU

C Get-Process | Select-Object -Property Name, CPU

D Get-Process | Select-Object -Property "Name", "CPU"

💡 Hint

The correct parameter name is '-Property' and properties are comma-separated.

Option C uses the correct parameter '-Property' with comma-separated property names. Option C misses the parameter name. Option C uses wrong parameter '-Properties'. Option C quotes properties incorrectly.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Why does this command fail?

This command throws an error. What is the cause? Get-Process | Select-Object -Property Name, CpuTime

A Missing comma between property names.

B Property 'CpuTime' does not exist on process objects.

C Select-Object does not accept multiple properties.

D Get-Process command is invalid.

💡 Hint

Check if 'CpuTime' is a valid property of process objects.

'CpuTime' is not a valid property of process objects. The correct property is 'CPU'. This causes the error.

🚀 Application

expert

How many properties will the output objects have?

Consider this command: Get-ChildItem | Select-Object -Property Name, Length, @{Name='SizeKB';Expression={$_.Length / 1KB}} | Select-Object -First 5 How many properties does each output object have?

A 3

B 4

C 1

D 2

💡 Hint

Custom properties added with hashtables count as one property each.

The command selects Name, Length, and a custom property SizeKB. So each object has exactly 3 properties.