about_Built-in_Functions
Short description
Describes the built-in functions in PowerShell.
Long description
PowerShell includes a set of functions that are loaded into every PowerShell session. These functions are similar to cmdlets but they're not included in any module. They're defined in the PowerShell engine itself.
These functions are provided as shorthand helpers for common tasks. In many cases, these functions call an existing cmdlet with an additional parameter.
cd..
In the Windows CMD shell it's common to run the cd
command without any spaces
between the command and the destination path. This function runs
Set-Location ..
to change to the parent folder.
cd\
In the Windows CMD shell it's common to run the cd
command without any spaces
between the command and the destination path. This function runs
Set-Location \
to change to the root folder.
cd~
In the Windows CMD shell it's common to run the cd
command without any spaces
between the command and the destination path. This function runs
Set-Location ~
to change to home folder.
This function was added in PowerShell 7.4.
Pause
This function replicates the behavior of the pause
command from cmd.exe
.
The script pauses execution and prompts the user to hit a key to continue.
help
This function invokes Get-Help
with your parameters and passes the output to
the system's pager command. PowerShell uses a different default pager for
Windows and non-Windows systems. On Windows systems, the default pager is
more.com
. On non-Windows systems, the default pager is less
.
If the $env:PAGER
environment variable is defined, PowerShell uses the
specified program instead of the system default.
prompt
This is the function that creates the default prompt for the PowerShell command line. You can customize your prompt by overriding this function with your own. For more information see about_Prompts.
Clear-Host
This function clears the screen. For more information, see Clear-Host.
TabExpansion2
This is the default function to use for tab expansion. For more information, see TabExpansion2.
oss
This function provides a short hand way to run Out-String -Stream
in a
pipeline. For more information, see
Out-String.
mkdir
This function provides a short hand way to run New-Item -Type Directory
with
your parameters. This function is only defined for Windows systems. Linux and
macOS system use the native mkdir
command.
Windows drive letter functions
In Windows, drive mount points are associated with a drive letter like C:
.
You can switch to the current location on another drive just by entering that
drive letter on the command line.
PowerShell create a function for every possible drive letter, A:
through
Z:
.
These drive letter functions aren't defined on non-Windows systems.