Uncover Cmdlets and Get Help

Toward the end of the previous section we started to use some PowerShell cmdlets; before we go too much further, let’s look at what a cmdlet is and how you can get help with them.

What Is a Cmdlet?

A cmdlet is a lightweight command that performs an action and typically returns a .NET object. Cmdlets differ from other shell-type commands in that they are not stand-alone executables; rather, the PowerShell runtime invokes them. The name cmdlet lends itself to this definition of a lightweight command, but it also shows a significant amount of forethought on behalf of the Windows PowerShell team. Try searching the Web for the word “command”; no doubt you will return millions of different results from different shells and programming languages. Now try the same search with the word cmdlet; notice how, while there are still hundreds of thousands of results, they are exclusively PowerShell based—at least it gives you a decent start in the s....