Get-Alias
Gets the aliases for the current session.
Syntax
Get-Alias
[[-Name] <String[]>]
[-Exclude <String[]>]
[-Scope <String>]
[<CommonParameters>]
Get-Alias
[-Exclude <String[]>]
[-Scope <String>]
[-Definition <String[]>]
[<CommonParameters>]
Description
The Get-Alias
cmdlet gets the aliases in the current session. This includes built-in aliases,
aliases that you have set or imported, and aliases that you have added to your PowerShell profile.
By default, Get-Alias
takes an alias and returns the command name. When you use the Definition
parameter, Get-Alias
takes a command name and returns its aliases.
Beginning in Windows PowerShell 3.0, Get-Alias
displays non-hyphenated alias names in an
<alias> -> <definition>
format to make it even easier to find the information that you need.
Examples
Example 1: Get all aliases in the current session
Get-Alias
CommandType Name
----------- ----
Alias % -> ForEach-Object
Alias ? -> Where-Object
Alias ac -> Add-Content
Alias asnp -> Add-PSSnapin
Alias cat -> Get-Content
Alias cd -> Set-Location
Alias chdir -> Set-Location
Alias clc -> Clear-Content
Alias clear -> Clear-Host
Alias clhy -> Clear-History
...
This command gets all aliases in the current session.
The output shows the <alias> -> <definition>
format that was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.
This format is used only for aliases that do not include hyphens, because aliases with hyphens are
typically preferred names for cmdlets and functions, rather than nicknames.
Example 2: Get aliases by name
Get-Alias -Name gp*, sp* -Exclude *ps
This command gets all aliases that begin with gp or sp, except for aliases that end with ps.
Example 3: Get aliases for a cmdlet
Get-Alias -Definition Get-ChildItem
This command gets the aliases for the Get-ChildItem
cmdlet.
By default, the Get-Alias
cmdlet gets the item name when you know the alias. The Definition
parameter gets the alias when you know the item name.
Example 4: Get aliases by property
Get-Alias | Where-Object {$_.Options -Match "ReadOnly"}
This command gets all aliases in which the value of the Options property is ReadOnly. This command provides a quick way to find the aliases that are built into PowerShell, because they have the ReadOnly option.
Options is just one property of the AliasInfo objects that Get-Alias
gets. To find all
properties and methods of AliasInfo objects, type Get-Alias | get-member
.
Example 5: Get aliases by name and filter by beginning letter
Get-Alias -Definition "*-PSSession" -Exclude e* -Scope Global
This example gets aliases for commands that have names that end in "-PSSession", except for those that begin with "e".
The command uses the Scope parameter to apply the command in the global scope. This is useful in scripts when you want to get the aliases in the session.
Parameters
-Definition
Gets the aliases for the specified item. Enter the name of a cmdlet, function, script, file, or executable file.
This parameter is called Definition, because it searches for the item name in the Definition property of the alias object.
Type: | String[] |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | True |
-Exclude
Omits the specified items. The value of this parameter qualifies the Name and Definition parameters. Enter a name, a definition, or a pattern, such as "s*". Wildcards are permitted.
Type: | String[] |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | True |
-Name
Specifies the aliases that this cmdlet gets. Wildcards are permitted. By default, Get-Alias
retrieves all aliases defined for the current session. The parameter name Name is optional. You
can also pipe alias names to Get-Alias
.
Type: | String[] |
Position: | 0 |
Default value: | All aliases |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | True |
Accept wildcard characters: | True |
-Scope
Specifies the scope for which this cmdlet gets aliases. The acceptable values for this parameter are:
Global
Local
Script
- A number relative to the current scope (0 through the number of scopes, where 0 is the current scope and 1 is its parent)
Local
is the default. For more information, see about_Scopes.
Type: | String |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | Local |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Inputs
You can pipe a string containing an alias name to this cmdlet.
Outputs
This cmdlet returns an object that represents each alias. It returns the same type of object for every alias, but PowerShell uses an arrow-based format to display the names of non-hyphenated aliases.
Notes
Windows PowerShell includes the following aliases for Get-Alias
:
gal
To create a new alias, use
Set-Alias
orNew-Alias
. To delete an alias, useRemove-Item
.The arrow-based alias name format is not used for aliases that include a hyphen. These are likely to be preferred substitute names for cmdlets and functions, instead of typical abbreviations or nicknames.
Related Links
PowerShell