##############################################################################
# Get an XPath Navigator object based on the input string containing xml
function get-xpn ($text) {
$rdr = [System.IO.StringReader] $text
$trdr = [system.io.textreader]$rdr
$xpdoc = [System.XML.XPath.XPathDocument] $trdr
$xpdoc.CreateNavigator()
}
Useful for working with xml, such as output from svn commands with --xml.
I keep a little bit of everything. Mostly, my profile sets up all the environment (including calling scripts to set up my .NET/VS and Java development environment).
I also redefine the prompt() function with my own style (see it in action), set up several aliases to other scripts and commands. and change what $HOME points to.
This creates a scripts: drive and adds it to your path. Note, you must create the folder yourself. Next time you need to get back to it, just type "scripts:" and hit enter, just like any drive letter in Windows.
This will add snapins you have installed into your powershell session. The reason you may want to do something like this is that it's easy to maintain, and works well if you sync your profile across multiple systems. If a snapin isn't installed, you won't see an error message.
Which gives me a divider between commands that's easy to see when scrolling back. It also shows me the current directory without using horizontal space on the line that I'm typing on.
I keep my profile empty. Instead, I have folders of scripts I can navigate to load functionality and aliases into the session. A folder will be modular, with libraries of functions and assemblies. For ad hoc work, I'll have a script to loads aliases and functions. If I want to munge event logs, I'd navigate to a folder scripts\eventlogs and execute
I do this because I need to share scripts with others or move them from machine to machine. I like to be able to copy a folder of scripts and assemblies and have it just work on any machine for any user.
But you want a fun collection of tricks. Here's a script that many of my "profiles" depend on. It allows calls to web services that use self signed SSL for ad hoc exploration of web services in development. Yes, I freely mix C# in my powershell scripts.
# Using a target web service that requires SSL, but server is self-signed.
# Without this, we'll fail unable to establish trust relationship.
function Set-CertificateValidationCallback
{
try
{
Add-Type @'
using System;
public static class CertificateAcceptor{
public static void SetAccept()
{
System.Net.ServicePointManager.ServerCertificateValidationCallback = AcceptCertificate;
}
private static bool AcceptCertificate(Object sender,
System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate certificate,
System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Chain chain,
System.Net.Security.SslPolicyErrors policyErrors)
{
Console.WriteLine("Accepting certificate and ignoring any SSL errors.");
return true;
}
}
'@
}
catch {} # Already exists? Find a better way to check.
[CertificateAcceptor]::SetAccept()
}
I often find myself needing needing some basic agregates to count/sum some things., I've defined these functions and use them often, they work really nicely at the end of a pipeline :
#
# useful agregate
#
function count
{
BEGIN { $x = 0 }
PROCESS { $x += 1 }
END { $x }
}
function product
{
BEGIN { $x = 1 }
PROCESS { $x *= $_ }
END { $x }
}
function sum
{
BEGIN { $x = 0 }
PROCESS { $x += $_ }
END { $x }
}
function average
{
BEGIN { $max = 0; $curr = 0 }
PROCESS { $max += $_; $curr += 1 }
END { $max / $curr }
}
To be able to get time and path with colors in my prompt :
function Get-Time { return $(get-date | foreach { $_.ToLongTimeString() } ) }
function prompt
{
# Write the time
write-host "[" -noNewLine
write-host $(Get-Time) -foreground yellow -noNewLine
write-host "] " -noNewLine
# Write the path
write-host $($(Get-Location).Path.replace($home,"~").replace("\","/")) -foreground green -noNewLine
write-host $(if ($nestedpromptlevel -ge 1) { '>>' }) -noNewLine
return "> "
}
The following functions are stolen from a blog and modified to fit my taste, but ls with colors is very nice :
# LS.MSH
# Colorized LS function replacement
# /\/\o\/\/ 2006
# http://mow001.blogspot.com
function LL
{
param ($dir = ".", $all = $false)
$origFg = $host.ui.rawui.foregroundColor
if ( $all ) { $toList = ls -force $dir }
else { $toList = ls $dir }
foreach ($Item in $toList)
{
Switch ($Item.Extension)
{
".Exe" {$host.ui.rawui.foregroundColor = "Yellow"}
".cmd" {$host.ui.rawui.foregroundColor = "Red"}
".msh" {$host.ui.rawui.foregroundColor = "Red"}
".vbs" {$host.ui.rawui.foregroundColor = "Red"}
Default {$host.ui.rawui.foregroundColor = $origFg}
}
if ($item.Mode.StartsWith("d")) {$host.ui.rawui.foregroundColor = "Green"}
$item
}
$host.ui.rawui.foregroundColor = $origFg
}
function lla
{
param ( $dir=".")
ll $dir $true
}
function la { ls -force }
And some shortcuts to avoid really repetitive filtering tasks :
# behave like a grep command
# but work on objects, used
# to be still be allowed to use grep
filter match( $reg )
{
if ($_.tostring() -match $reg)
{ $_ }
}
# behave like a grep -v command
# but work on objects
filter exclude( $reg )
{
if (-not ($_.tostring() -match $reg))
{ $_ }
}
# behave like match but use only -like
filter like( $glob )
{
if ($_.toString() -like $glob)
{ $_ }
}
filter unlike( $glob )
{
if (-not ($_.tostring() -like $glob))
{ $_ }
}
If you use Git to clone my repo into your Documents folder (or whatever folder is above 'WindowsPowerShell' in your $PROFILE variable), you'll get all of my goodness.
The main profile.ps1 sets the subfolder with the name Addons as a PSDrive, and then finds all .ps1 files underneath that folder to load.
I quite like the go command, which stores a dictionary of shorthand locations to visit easily. For example, go vsp will take me to C:\Visual Studio 2008\Projects.
I also like overriding the Set-Location cmdlet to run both Set-Location and Get-ChildItem.
My other favourite is being able to do a mkdir which does Set-Location xyz after running New-Item xyz -Type Directory.
If you wanted, you could take it a step further and make it somewhat useful:
Function funcOpenPowerShellProfile
{
$fileProfileBackup = $PROFILE + '.bak'
cp $PROFILE $fileProfileBackup
PowerShell_ISE $PROFILE # Replace with Desired IDE/ISE for Syntax Highlighting
}
Set-Alias fop funcOpenPowerShellProfile
For satisfying survivalist-paranoia:
Function funcOpenPowerShellProfile
{
$fileProfilePathParts = @($PROFILE.Split('\'))
$fileProfileName = $fileProfilePathParts[-1]
$fileProfilePathPartNum = 0
$fileProfileHostPath = $fileProfilePathParts[$fileProfilePathPartNum] + '\'
$fileProfileHostPathPartsCount = $fileProfilePathParts.Count - 2
# Arrays start at 0, but the Count starts at 1; if both started at 0 or 1,
# then a -1 would be fine, but the realized discrepancy is 2
Do
{
$fileProfilePathPartNum++
$fileProfileHostPath = $fileProfileHostPath + `
$fileProfilePathParts[$fileProfilePathPartNum] + '\'
}
While
(
$fileProfilePathPartNum -LT $fileProfileHostPathPartsCount
)
$fileProfileBackupTime = [string](date -format u) -replace ":", ""
$fileProfileBackup = $fileProfileHostPath + `
$fileProfileBackupTime + ' - ' + $fileProfileName + '.bak'
cp $PROFILE $fileProfileBackup
cd $fileProfileHostPath
$fileProfileBackupNamePattern = $fileProfileName + '.bak'
$fileProfileBackups = @(ls | Where {$_.Name -Match $fileProfileBackupNamePattern} | `
Sort Name)
$fileProfileBackupsCount = $fileProfileBackups.Count
$fileProfileBackupThreshold = 5 # Change as Desired
If
(
$fileProfileBackupsCount -GT $fileProfileBackupThreshold
)
{
$fileProfileBackupsDeleteNum = $fileProfileBackupsCount - `
$fileProfileBackupThreshold
$fileProfileBackupsIndexNum = 0
Do
{
rm $fileProfileBackups[$fileProfileBackupsIndexNum]
$fileProfileBackupsIndexNum++;
$fileProfileBackupsDeleteNum--
}
While
(
$fileProfileBackupsDeleteNum -NE 0
)
}
PowerShell_ISE $PROFILE
# Replace 'PowerShell_ISE' with Desired IDE (IDE's path may be needed in
# '$Env:PATH' for this to work; if you can start it from the "Run" window,
# you should be fine)
}
Set-Alias fop funcOpenPowerShellProfile
I rock a few functions, and since I'm a module author I typically load a console and desperately need to know what's where.
write-host "Your modules are..." -ForegroundColor Red
Get-module -li
Die hard nerding:
function prompt
{
$host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = "ShellPower"
# Need to still show the working directory.
#Write-Host "You landed in $PWD"
# Nerd up, yo.
$Str = "Root@The Matrix"
"$str> "
}
The mandatory anything I can PowerShell I will functions go here...
# Explorer command
function Explore
{
param
(
[Parameter(
Position = 0,
ValueFromPipeline = $true,
Mandatory = $true,
HelpMessage = "This is the path to explore..."
)]
[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
[string]
# First parameter is the path you're going to explore.
$Target
)
$exploration = New-Object -ComObject shell.application
$exploration.Explore($Target)
}
Sometimes I want to start explorer as someone other than the logged in user...
# Restarts explorer as the user in $UserName
function New-Explorer
{
# CLI prompt for password
taskkill /f /IM Explorer.exe
runas /noprofile /netonly /user:$UserName explorer
}
I also have a few I can't post yet, because they're not done but they're basically a way to persist credentials between sessions without writing them out as an encrypted file.
Great question. Because I deal with several different PowerShell hosts, I do a little logging in each of several profiles, just to make the context of any other messages clearer. In profile.ps1, I currently only have that, but I sometimes change it based on context:
if ($PSVersionTable.PsVersion.Major -ge 3) {
Write-Host "Executing $PSCommandPath"
}
My favorite host is the ISE, in Microsoft.PowerShellIse_profile.ps1, I have: