Collection of Useful PowerShell Scripts (CUPS)

Useful cross-platform PowerShell scripts, to be used on the command-line (CLI) or by automation software like Jenkins.

List of Scripts

The following PowerShell scripts can be found in the Scripts/ subfolder:

• download.ps1 - downloads the file/directory from the given URL
• empty-dir.ps1 - empties the given directory
• exe_info.ps1 - prints basic information of the given executable file
• list-empty-dirs.ps1 - lists empty subfolders in a directory tree
• list-unused-files.ps1 - lists unused files in a directory tree
• lscmdlets.ps1 - lists all PowerShell cmdlets
• lsmods.ps1 - lists all PowerShell modules
• lsproc.ps1 - lists the local computer processes
• MD5.ps1 - prints the MD5 checksum of the given file
• make-install.ps1 - installs built executables and libs to the installation directory
• moon.ps1 - prints the current moon phase
• password.ps1 - generates and prints a single new password
• passwords.ps1 - generates and prints a list of new passwords
• poweroff.ps1 - halts the local computer, administrator rights might be needed
• news.ps1 - prints the latest news
• reboot.ps1 - reboots the local computer, administrator rights might be needed
• screenshot.ps1 - takes a single screenshot
• screenshots.ps1 - takes multiple screenshots
• SHA1.ps1 - prints the SHA1 checksum of the given file
• SHA256.ps1 - prints the SHA256 checksum of the given file
• speak.ps1 - speaks the given text by text-to-speech (TTS)
• test.ps1 - simple test script
• train-dns-cache.ps1 - trains the DNS cache with frequently used domain names
• translate.ps1 - translates the given text
• txt2wav.ps1 - converts text into a audio .WAV file
• validate-xml.ps1 - validates the given XML file
• weather.ps1 - prints the current weather forecast
• wakeup.ps1 - sends a magic packet to the given computer, waking him up
• zipdir.ps1 - creates a zip archive of the given folder

What is PowerShell?

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

• it's cross-platform: available for Linux, Mac OS and Windows
• it's powerful: fully control your computer
• it's open-source: see the Github repository at https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell
• it's easy to learn: see the tutorial at https://www.guru99.com/powershell-tutorial.html
• it's fully documented: see the official docs at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/

How to get PowerShell?

Windows 7 and newer do provide PowerShell by default. It's recommended to use it via Windows Terminal (see the Microsoft Store at https://www.aka.ms/terminal).

For installation on alternative platforms (CentOS, Debian, Docker, Fedora, macOS, openSUSE, Red Hat, Ubuntu) visit https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell.

Afterward, install the scripts by clicking on the green "Code" button or execute:

$ git clone https://github.com/fleschutz/PowerShell

How to configure PowerShell as default shell on Linux?

Make sure PowerShell is installed, then use the chsh commmand as follows:

• chsh -s /bin/powershell <username>

How to add the subfolder Scripts/ to the search path for command-line usage?

• Windows: open the environment variables dialogue and add the full path to Scripts/ to the system environment variable "Path"
• Bash or sh: edit .profile in your home directory and add the line: PATH="$PATH:/path/to/PowerShell/Scripts"

Script Standards

Each script should support the following rules:

• Rule 1: to support PowerShell on Linux the first line reads: #!/snap/bin/powershell
• Rule 2: to support PowerShell on Linux the script has execute file permissions (chmod a+rx )
• Rule 3: add a metadata header containing the syntax, description, author, source, and license
• Rule 4: prefer command-line options, but may ask the user in case no option is given
• Rule 5: the encoding of the script is in UTF-8 with BOM to support Unicode characters
• Rule 6: exit 0 for success, otherwise exit with the error code (mostly 1)

Feedback

Send your email feedback to: markus [at] fleschutz [dot] de

License & Copyright

This open source release is licensed under the CC0 license. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.