Contents -- Introduction -- Chapter 1 INTRODUCING WINDOWS POWERSHELL -- Project Preview: The Knock Knock Joke Game -- Getting to Know Windows PowerShell -- A Little History Lesson -- Integration with .NET -- PowerShell Versus cmd.exe -- Installing and Configuring Windows PowerShell -- Interacting with the PowerShell Command Prompt -- Starting a New PowerShell Session -- Executing PowerShell Cmdlets -- Other Types of Commands -- A Short PowerShell Workout -- Windows PowerShell Scripting -- Simplifying PowerShell Script Execution -- Back to the Knock Knock Joke Game -- Designing the Game -- The Final Result -- Summary -- Chapter 2 INTERACTING WITH THE WINDOWS POWERSHELL COMMAND LINE -- Project Preview: The Story of the Three Amigos -- Accessing Windows PowerShell -- Customizing the Windows PowerShell Working Environment -- Customizing Windows PowerShell Shortcuts -- Configuring the Windows Command Console -- Windows Command Console Customization Options -- Windows Command Console Editing Features -- Windows PowerShell Edit Enhancements -- Tab Completion -- The Get-History Cmdlet -- Navigating Hierarchical Data Stores -- Back to The Story of the Three Amigos -- Creating a New Script -- Declaring Script Variables -- Displaying the Introduction -- Providing Player Instructions -- Prompting the Player for Input -- Collecting Additional Inputs -- Displaying the Story's Opening -- Displaying the Rest of the Story -- Summary -- Chapter 3 OBJECT-BASED SCRIPTING WITH .NET -- Project Preview: The PowerShell Fortune Teller Game -- One Last PowerShell Customization Technique -- The Microsoft .NET Framework -- Key .NET Framework Components -- The .NET Class Library -- The Common Language Runtime -- Accessing .NET Framework Resources -- Executing Cmdlets -- Windows PowerShell Plumbing -- Working with Aliases -- Back to the PowerShell Fortune Teller Game.

Designing the Game -- Creating a New PowerShell Script -- Declaring and Initializing Variables -- Displaying the Welcome Screen -- Displaying Game Instructions -- Controlling Gameplay -- Displaying the Closing Screen -- Summary -- Chapter 4 WORKING WITH VARIABLES, ARRAYS, AND HASHES -- Project Preview: The Seinfeld Trivia Quiz -- Windows PowerShell Language Features -- Windows PowerShell Reserved Words -- Escape Characters -- String Manipulation -- Storing and Retrieving Data -- Variables -- Arrays -- Associative Arrays -- Back to the Seinfeld Trivia Quiz -- Designing the Game -- The Final Result -- Summary -- Chapter 5 IMPLEMENTING CONDITIONAL LOGIC -- Project Preview: The Guess My Number Game -- Comparing Values -- Combining Pipelines and Operators -- Implementing Conditional Logic -- Comparing Data Using the if Statement -- Making Multiple Comparisons Using the switch Statement -- Windows PowerShell Operators -- Comparison Operators -- Logical Operators -- String Comparison Operators -- Back to the Guess My Number Game -- Designing the Game -- The Final Result -- Summary -- Chapter 6 USING LOOPS TO PROCESS DATA -- Project Preview: The Rock, Paper, Scissors Game -- Working with Loops -- Setting Up do while Loops -- Setting Up do until Loops -- Creating for Loops -- Creating foreach Loops -- Using while Loops -- Altering Loop Execution -- Using the break Command -- Using the continue Command -- Back to the Rock, Paper, Scissors Game -- Designing the Game -- The Final Result -- Summary -- Chapter 7 ORGANIZING SCRIPTS USING FUNCTIONS -- Project Preview: The PowerShell Hangman Game -- Changing Script Design Using Functions and Filters -- Improving Script Organization -- Creating Reusable Code -- Enhancing Script Organization with Functions -- Function Structure -- Processing Arguments -- Processing Incoming Data -- Returning a Result.

Restricting Variable Scope -- Replacing Functions with Filters -- Back to the PowerShell Hangman Game -- Creating a New Script -- Defining and Initializing Script-Level Variables -- Defining Custom Functions -- Prompting the Player to Start the Game -- Setting Up a Loop to Control Gameplay -- Selecting a Secret Word -- Setting Up a Loop to Process User Guesses -- Collecting and Validating User Input -- Displaying the Results of Each Guess -- Determining When the Game Is Over -- Challenging the Player to Play Another Game -- Summary -- Chapter 8 WORKING WITH FILES AND FOLDERS -- Project Preview: The PowerShell Tic-Tac-Toe Game -- Using the Power of Regular Expressions -- Matching Simple Patterns -- Matching Alternative Patterns -- Working with Regular Expression Characters -- Working with Quantifiers -- Matching Patterns Based on Ranges -- Administering Files and Folders -- Verifying File and Folder Existence -- Retrieving File and Folder Information -- Copying and Moving Files and Folders -- Deleting Files and Folders -- Renaming Files and Folders -- Searching Files -- Reading from and Writing to Files -- Creating Files and Folders -- Writing to Text Files -- Reformatting Cmdlet Output -- Reading from Text Files -- Erasing File Contents -- Saving Data Output as HTML -- Saving Data as an XML File -- Reading Data from an XML File -- Saving Data in a Comma-Separated Value File -- Reading Data from a Comma-Separated Value File -- Sending Output to the Printer -- Back to the PowerShell Tic-Tac-Toe Game -- Designing the Game -- The Final Result -- Summary -- Chapter 9 BASIC SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION -- Project Preview: The PowerShell Blackjack Game -- Accessing and Administering System Resources -- Listing and Stopping Processes -- Administering Windows Services -- Accessing Event Logs -- Retrieving System Information Using WMI.

Taking Advantage of .NET Classes -- Taking Advantage of COM Objects -- Programmatically Interacting with the Windows Registry -- Back to the PowerShell Blackjack Game -- Creating a New Script File -- Defining and Creating New Variables -- Creating the Get-Permission Function -- Creating the Check-Registry Function -- Creating the Play-Game Function -- Creating the Deal-Hand Function -- Creating the Get-Card Function -- Creating the Get-ComputerHand Function -- Creating the Analyze-Results Function -- Creating the Get-PlayerHand Function -- Creating the Get-NewCard Function -- Adding Controlling Logic to the Main Processing Section -- Summary -- Chapter 10 DEBUGGING POWERSHELL SCRIPTS -- Project Preview: The PowerShell Game Console -- Understanding PowerShell Errors -- Syntax Errors -- Runtime Errors -- Logical Errors -- Terminating Versus Non-Terminating Errors -- Dissecting the Structure of Error Messages -- Telling Windows PowerShell How to React to Errors -- Creating Trap Handlers -- Tracing Script Execution -- Displaying Output Status Information and Tracking Variable Values -- Using PowerShell's Debug Mode -- Back to the PowerShell Game Console -- Designing the Game -- The Final Result -- Summary -- Appendix A: WHAT'S ON THE COMPANION WEBSITE? -- Appendix B: WHAT NEXT? -- Windows PowerShell IDEs -- Recommended Reading -- Locating Microsoft PowerShell Resources Online -- PowerShell Websites -- Windows PowerShell News Group -- PowerShell Blogs -- The Author's Website -- GLOSSARY -- A -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- I -- J -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- INDEX -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J-K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X.