PowerShell Interview Questions and Answers

Ques 1. What is PowerShell?

PowerShell is a task automation framework from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language.

Example:

Get-Process

Ques 2. Explain the 'Get-Help' cmdlet in PowerShell.

Get-Help is used to retrieve information about PowerShell commands and topics.

Example:

Get-Help Get-Process

Ques 3. What is the purpose of the 'Get-Command' cmdlet?

Get-Command is used to get all commands available in PowerShell.

Example:

Get-Command

Ques 4. What is the purpose of the 'Get-Service' cmdlet?

Get-Service retrieves the status of services on a local or remote computer.

Ques 5. What is the purpose of the 'Write-Output' cmdlet?

Write-Output sends the specified object down the pipeline.

Example:

Write-Output 'Hello, World!'

Ques 6. How do you check if a file exists in PowerShell?

Use the 'Test-Path' cmdlet to check the existence of a file or directory.

Ques 7. What is the purpose of the 'Format-Table' cmdlet?

Format-Table is used to format the output of a command as a table.

Ques 8. Explain the concept of 'Pipelines' in PowerShell.

Pipelines allow the output of one command to be used as the input for another command.

Example:

Get-Process | Stop-Process -Force

Ques 9. How do you iterate through an array in PowerShell?

With foeach loop.

Ques 10. What is the purpose of the 'Try-Catch' statement in PowerShell?

Try-Catch is used for error handling, allowing you to catch and handle exceptions.

Ques 11. Explain how to create a PowerShell module.

A module is created by organizing functions, variables, and cmdlets into a .psm1 file.

Example:

Save-Module with PATH

Ques 12. What is the purpose of the 'Where-Object' cmdlet?

Where-Object is used to filter objects based on a specified condition.

Ques 13. How do you execute an external command or program in PowerShell?

Use the 'Invoke-Expression' cmdlet or call the program directly.

Example:

Invoke-Expression 'ping google.com'

Ques 14. Explain the 'ForEach-Object' cmdlet in PowerShell.

ForEach-Object is used to process each item in a collection or pipeline.

Ques 15. Explain the 'Select-Object' cmdlet in PowerShell.

Select-Object is used to select specific properties of objects.

Ques 16. How do you create and use a hashtable in PowerShell?

With key-value pair.

Ques 17. Explain the concept of 'Execution Policies' in PowerShell.

Execution Policies determine the conditions under which PowerShell scripts can run.

Example:

Get-ExecutionPolicy

Ques 18. How do you work with JSON data in PowerShell?

Use 'ConvertTo-Json' and 'ConvertFrom-Json' cmdlets to convert objects to JSON and vice versa.

Ques 19. Explain the purpose of the 'Split' method in PowerShell.

'Split' is used to divide a string into substrings based on a specified delimiter.

Ques 20. Explain the 'Join-Path' cmdlet in PowerShell.

Join-Path combines a path and child path into a single path.

Ques 21. Explain the concept of 'Remoting' in PowerShell.

Remoting allows you to run PowerShell commands on remote machines.

Ques 22. What is DSC (Desired State Configuration) in PowerShell?

DSC is a management platform in PowerShell that enables the deployment and management of configuration data for software services.

Ques 23. Explain how to handle credentials securely in PowerShell.

Use the 'Get-Credential' cmdlet to securely prompt for a username and password.

Ques 24. How do you schedule tasks in PowerShell?

Use the Task Scheduler cmdlets like 'New-ScheduledTask' and 'Register-ScheduledTask'.

Ques 25. Explain the purpose of 'Splatting' in PowerShell.

Splatting is a technique that involves passing a collection of parameter values to a command using a hashtable.

Ques 26. How do you create and use a PowerShell profile?

Profiles are scripts that run automatically when PowerShell starts. Create them in $PROFILE.

Ques 27. How do you capture and handle errors in PowerShell scripts?

Use the 'Try', 'Catch', 'Finally', and 'Throw' statements for robust error handling.