Every file object PowerShell hands you already knows its extension. Read the Extension property to get the file extension, and BaseName for the file name without the extension: For a path that’s only text, [System.IO.Path]::GetExtension() and GetFileNameWithoutExtension() do the same job without touching the disk. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to get a … Read more
To import an Excel file in PowerShell, install the ImportExcel module and run Import-Excel. It reads the first worksheet into an array, one object per row, with the header row as property names: If Excel is installed and you’d rather skip the module, the Excel COM object gives you a two-dimensional array through UsedRange.Value2. I … Read more
Need to check if a PowerShell module is installed? Run Get-Module -ListAvailable -Name with the module’s name. It returns the module when it’s installed and nothing when it isn’t, so it drops straight into an if: Leave out -Name and the same command lists every installed module. Below I’ll cover both jobs, plus versions, gallery … Read more
To install software with PowerShell, use winget for any app in its catalog, msiexec for an .msi file, and Start-Process with the vendor’s silent switch for a setup .exe: In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to install software with PowerShell on Windows 11 and 10, check what’s already there, read installer exit codes, and … Read more
To capitalize the first letter in PowerShell, uppercase the first character and add the rest of the string back: $text.Substring(0, 1).ToUpper() + $text.Substring(1). For the whole string, call .ToUpper() or .ToLower(), and for every word, use ToTitleCase: Output: None of these change $city itself. Each one returns a new string, so save the result in … Read more
To check if a registry key exists in PowerShell, pass the key’s path to Test-Path. It returns True when the key is there and False when it isn’t, so you can create the key only when the check fails: Keep -Force inside the if block, because on a key that already exists New-Item -Force quietly … Read more
The PowerShell format operator -f builds a string from a template. Put numbered placeholders like {0} and {1} in the string on the left, and the values on the right: Output: PowerShell drops each value into its placeholder, in order. The same placeholders also take number, date and width formats, which is where -f beats … Read more
To get yesterday’s date in PowerShell, subtract one day from today with (Get-Date).AddDays(-1). The same AddDays() method adds days to any date, and a negative number goes back in time: Output: I pinned the examples to fixed 2026 dates so your output matches mine. In a real script, start from Get-Date instead, and the results … Read more
Import-Csv is the PowerShell cmdlet that reads a CSV file and turns every row into an object. The column headers become property names, so you can sort, filter and loop through the data without parsing text: Output: The file customers.csv holds four US customers with the columns Id, Name, Company, State and Total. I use … Read more
Get-Content is the cmdlet PowerShell gives you for reading files. Point it at a text file and it returns the contents as one string per line: Output: That one-string-per-line design is why it’s also the easiest way to read a file line by line. Below I cover loops, arrays, raw text, the first and last … Read more