PowerShell: How I work (I): PowerShell
Why PowerShell?
It is ubiquitous
Every workplace that I have worked at uses Windows machines, and PowerShell (at least v5.1) is installed on those machines. On a lot of them, you can get easy access to PowerShell 7 as well.
This was the main draw for me. I don't have to install anything extra to work with PowerShell - not even an IDE like VS Code, because all Windows installations come with PowerShell ISE. If I need to give someone a PowerShell script, I can pass it on to them and they get the benefits and functionality that I have written, without requiring them to install any additional software or dependencies.
It is versatile
PowerShell does everything that you can do with Windows and more. I use PowerShell for this every day:
- Writing to files (a lot of the time, tabular data)
- Reading from files (again, tabular data)
Just by using this, I use my PowerShell as my to-do list, as my done list/daily log*, as my time tracking, as a reminder list, as a "piece of scrap paper".... and I can do all of this without having to open a separate file for each one. All of these functions are available to me right from the terminal. It does not break me out of the flow of what I am doing at the time, and it does not clutter up my screen.
Sometimes, I use the following functions:
- Filtering data
- Displaying tables
There are some tables that I need to refer to frequently throughout my day, almost every day. Instead of opening up Excel and Ctrl+F-ing through it every time I need to check something (multiple times a day), I have the file hooked up in my terminal and I can "Ctrl+F" through it in my terminal, without having to open the file. More than it is a time-saver, it is a very big brain-saver.
It is powerful
PowerShell, in addition to being a pretty capable programming language in its own right, can also make use of .NET classes that are available in Windows.