How to Write and Run Scripts in the Windows PowerShell ISE

This article describes how to create, edit, run, and save scripts in the Script Pane.

How to create and run scripts

You can open and edit Windows PowerShell files in the Script Pane. Specific file types of interest in Windows PowerShell are script files ( .ps1 ), script data files ( .psd1 ), and script module files ( .psm1 ). These file types are syntax colored in the Script Pane editor. Other common file types you may open in the Script Pane are configuration files ( .ps1xml ), XML files, and text files.

The Windows PowerShell execution policy determines whether you can run scripts and load Windows PowerShell profiles and configuration files. The default execution policy, Restricted, prevents all scripts from running, and prevents loading profiles. To change the execution policy to allow profiles to load and be used, see Set-ExecutionPolicy and about_Signing.

To create a new script file

On the toolbar, click New, or on the File menu, click New. The created file appears in a new file tab under the current PowerShell tab. Remember that the PowerShell tabs are only visible when there are more than one. By default a file of type script ( .ps1 ) is created, but it can be saved with a new name and extension. Multiple script files can be created in the same PowerShell tab.

To open an existing script

On the toolbar, click Open, or on the File menu, click Open. In the Open dialog box, select the file you want to open. The opened file appears in a new tab.

To close a script tab

Click the Close icon (X) of the file tab you want to close or select the File menu and click Close.

If the file has been altered since it was last saved, you’re prompted to save or discard it.

To display the file path

On the file tab, point to the file name. The fully qualified path to the script file appears in a tooltip.

To run a script

On the toolbar, click Run Script, or on the File menu, click Run.

To run a portion of a script

1. In the Script Pane, select a portion of a script.
2. On the File menu, click Run Selection, or on the toolbar, click Run Selection.

To stop a running script

There are several ways to stop a running script.

• Click Stop Operation on the toolbar
• Press CTRL + BREAK
• Select the File menu and click Stop Operation.

Pressing CTRL + C also works unless some text is currently selected, in which case CTRL + C maps to the copy function for the selected text.

How to write and edit text in the Script Pane

You can copy, cut, paste, find, and replace text in the Script Pane. You can also undo and redo the last action you just performed. The keyboard shortcuts for these actions are the same shortcuts used for all Windows applications.

To enter text in the Script Pane

1. Move the cursor to the Script Pane by clicking anywhere in the Script Pane, or by clicking Go to Script Pane in the View menu.
2. Create a script. Syntax coloring and tab completion provide a richer editing experience in Windows PowerShell ISE.
3. See How to Use Tab Completion in the Script Pane and Console Pane for details about using the tab completion feature to help in typing.

To find text in the Script Pane

1. To find text anywhere, press CTRL + F or, on the Edit menu, click Find in Script.
2. To find text after the cursor, press F3 or, on the Edit menu, click Find Next in Script.
3. To find text before the cursor, press SHIFT + F3 or, on the Edit menu, click Find Previous in Script.

To find and replace text in the Script Pane

Press CTRL + H or, on the Edit menu, click Replace in Script. Enter the text you want to find and the replacement text, then press ENTER .

To go to a particular line of text in the Script Pane

In the Script Pane, press CTRL + G or, on the Edit menu, click Go to Line.

Enter a line number.

To copy text in the Script Pane

In the Script Pane, select the text that you want to copy.

Press CTRL + C or, on the toolbar, click the Copy icon, or on the Edit menu, click Copy.

To cut text in the Script Pane

1. In the Script Pane, select the text that you want to cut.
2. Press CTRL + X or, on the toolbar, click the Cut icon, or on the Edit menu, click Cut.

To paste text into the Script Pane

Press CTRL + V or, on the toolbar, click the Paste icon, or on the Edit menu, click Paste.

To undo an action in the Script Pane

Press CTRL + Z or, on the toolbar, click the Undo icon, or on the Edit menu, click Undo.

To redo an action in the Script Pane

Press CTRL + Y or, on the toolbar, click the Redo icon, or on the Edit menu, click Redo.

How to save a script

An asterisk appears next to the script name to mark a file that hasn’t been saved since it was changed. The asterisk disappears when the file is saved.

To save a script

Press CTRL + S or, on the toolbar, click the Save icon, or on the File menu, click Save.

To save and name a script

1. On the File menu, click Save As. The Save As dialog box will appear.
2. In the File name box, enter a name for the file.
3. In the Save as type box, select a file type. For example, in the Save as type box, select ‘PowerShell Scripts ( *.ps1 )’.
4. Click Save.

To save a script in ASCII encoding

By default, Windows PowerShell ISE saves new script files ( .ps1 ), script data files ( .psd1 ), and script module files ( .psm1 ) as Unicode (BigEndianUnicode) by default. To save a script in another encoding, such as ASCII (ANSI), use the Save or SaveAs methods on the $psISE.CurrentFile object.

The following command saves a new script as MyScript.ps1 with ASCII encoding.

The following command replaces the current script file with a file with the same name, but with ASCII encoding.

The following command gets the encoding of the current file.

Windows PowerShell ISE supports the following encoding options: ASCII, BigEndianUnicode, Unicode, UTF32, UTF7, UTF8, and Default. The value of the Default option varies with the system.

Windows PowerShell ISE doesn’t change the encoding of script files when you use the Save or Save As commands.

About Scripts

Short description

Describes how to run and write scripts in PowerShell.

Long description

A script is a plain text file that contains one or more PowerShell commands. PowerShell scripts have a .ps1 file extension.

Running a script is a lot like running a cmdlet. You type the path and file name of the script and use parameters to submit data and set options. You can run scripts on your computer or in a remote session on a different computer.

Writing a script saves a command for later use and makes it easy to share with others. Most importantly, it lets you run the commands simply by typing the script path and the filename. Scripts can be as simple as a single command in a file or as extensive as a complex program.

Scripts have additional features, such as the #Requires special comment, the use of parameters, support for data sections, and digital signing for security. You can also write Help topics for scripts and for any functions in the script.

How to run a script

Before you can run a script on Windows, you need to change the default PowerShell execution policy. Execution policy does not apply to PowerShell running on non-Windows platforms.

The default execution policy, Restricted , prevents all scripts from running, including scripts that you write on the local computer. For more information, see about_Execution_Policies.

The execution policy is saved in the registry, so you need to change it only once on each computer.

To change the execution policy, use the following procedure.

At the command prompt, type:

The change is effective immediately.

To run a script, type the full name and the full path to the script file.

For example, to run the Get-ServiceLog.ps1 script in the C:\Scripts directory, type:

To run a script in the current directory, type the path to the current directory, or use a dot to represent the current directory, followed by a path backslash ( .\ ).

For example, to run the ServicesLog.ps1 script in the local directory, type:

If the script has parameters, type the parameters and parameter values after the script filename.

For example, the following command uses the ServiceName parameter of the Get-ServiceLog script to request a log of WinRM service activity.

As a security feature, PowerShell does not run scripts when you double-click the script icon in File Explorer or when you type the script name without a full path, even when the script is in the current directory. For more information about running commands and scripts in PowerShell, see about_Command_Precedence.

Run with PowerShell

Beginning in PowerShell 3.0, you can run scripts from File Explorer.

To use the «Run with PowerShell» feature:

Run File Explorer, right-click the script filename and then select «Run with PowerShell».

The «Run with PowerShell» feature is designed to run scripts that do not have required parameters and do not return output to the command prompt.

Running scripts on other computers

To run a script on one or more remote computers, use the FilePath parameter of the Invoke-Command cmdlet.

Enter the path and filename of the script as the value of the FilePath parameter. The script must reside on the local computer or in a directory that the local computer can access.

The following command runs the Get-ServiceLog.ps1 script on the remote computers named Server01 and Server02.

Get help for scripts

The Get-Help cmdlet gets the help topics for scripts as well as for cmdlets and other types of commands. To get the help topic for a script, type Get-Help followed by the path and filename of the script. If the script path is in your Path environment variable, you can omit the path.

For example, to get help for the ServicesLog.ps1 script, type:

How to write a script

A script can contain any valid PowerShell commands, including single commands, commands that use the pipeline, functions, and control structures such as If statements and For loops.

To write a script, open a new file in a text editor, type the commands, and save them in a file with a valid filename with the .ps1 file extension.

The following example is a simple script that gets the services that are running on the current system and saves them to a log file. The log filename is created from the current date.

To create this script, open a text editor or a script editor, type these commands, and then save them in a file named ServiceLog.ps1 .

Parameters in scripts

To define parameters in a script, use a Param statement. The Param statement must be the first statement in a script, except for comments and any #Require statements.

Script parameters work like function parameters. The parameter values are available to all of the commands in the script. All of the features of function parameters, including the Parameter attribute and its named arguments, are also valid in scripts.

When running the script, script users type the parameters after the script name.

The following example shows a Test-Remote.ps1 script that has a ComputerName parameter. Both of the script functions can access the ComputerName parameter value.

To run this script, type the parameter name after the script name. For example:

For more information about the Param statement and the function parameters, see about_Functions and about_Functions_Advanced_Parameters.

Writing help for scripts

You can write a help topic for a script by using either of the two following methods:

Comment-Based Help for Scripts

Create a Help topic by using special keywords in the comments. To create comment-based Help for a script, the comments must be placed at the beginning or end of the script file. For more information about comment-based Help, see about_Comment_Based_Help.

XML-Based Help for Scripts

Create an XML-based Help topic, such as the type that is typically created for cmdlets. XML-based Help is required if you are translating Help topics into multiple languages.

To associate the script with the XML-based Help topic, use the .ExternalHelp Help comment keyword. For more information about the ExternalHelp keyword, see about_Comment_Based_Help. For more information about XML-based help, see How to Write Cmdlet Help.

Returning an exit value

By default, scripts do not return an exit status when the script ends. You must use the exit statement to return an exit code from a script. By default, the exit statement returns 0 . You can provide a numeric value to return a different exit status. A nonzero exit code typically signals a failure.

On Windows, any number between [int]::MinValue and [int]::MaxValue is allowed.

On Unix, only positive numbers between [byte]::MinValue (0) and [byte]::MaxValue (255) are allowed. A negative number in the range of -1 through -255 is automatically translated into a positive number by adding 256. For example, -2 is transformed to 254 .

In PowerShell, the exit statement sets the value of the $LASTEXITCODE variable. In the Windows Command Shell (cmd.exe), the exit statement sets the value of the %ERRORLEVEL% environment variable.

Any argument that is non-numeric or outside the platform-specific range is translated to the value of 0 .

Script scope and dot sourcing

Each script runs in its own scope. The functions, variables, aliases, and drives that are created in the script exist only in the script scope. You cannot access these items or their values in the scope in which the script runs.

To run a script in a different scope, you can specify a scope, such as Global or Local, or you can dot source the script.

The dot sourcing feature lets you run a script in the current scope instead of in the script scope. When you run a script that is dot sourced, the commands in the script run as though you had typed them at the command prompt. The functions, variables, aliases, and drives that the script creates are created in the scope in which you are working. After the script runs, you can use the created items and access their values in your session.

To dot source a script, type a dot (.) and a space before the script path.

After the UtilityFunctions.ps1 script runs, the functions and variables that the script creates are added to the current scope.

For example, the UtilityFunctions.ps1 script creates the New-Profile function and the $ProfileName variable.

If you run the UtilityFunctions.ps1 script in its own script scope, the New-Profile function and the $ProfileName variable exist only while the script is running. When the script exits, the function and variable are removed, as shown in the following example.

When you dot source the script and run it, the script creates the New-Profile function and the $ProfileName variable in your session in your scope. After the script runs, you can use the New-Profile function in your session, as shown in the following example.

For more information about scope, see about_Scopes.

Scripts in modules

A module is a set of related PowerShell resources that can be distributed as a unit. You can use modules to organize your scripts, functions, and other resources. You can also use modules to distribute your code to others, and to get code from trusted sources.

You can include scripts in your modules, or you can create a script module, which is a module that consists entirely or primarily of a script and supporting resources. A script module is just a script with a .psm1 file extension.

For more information about modules, see about_Modules.

Other script features

PowerShell has many useful features that you can use in scripts.

#Requires — You can use a #Requires statement to prevent a script from running without specified modules or snap-ins and a specified version of PowerShell. For more information, see about_Requires.

$PSCommandPath — Contains the full path and name of the script that is being run. This parameter is valid in all scripts. This automatic variable is introduced in PowerShell 3.0.

$PSScriptRoot — Contains the directory from which a script is being run. In PowerShell 2.0, this variable is valid only in script modules ( .psm1 ). Beginning in PowerShell 3.0, it is valid in all scripts.

$MyInvocation — The $MyInvocation automatic variable contains information about the current script, including information about how it was started or «invoked.» You can use this variable and its properties to get information about the script while it is running. For example, the $MyInvocation .MyCommand.Path variable contains the path and filename of the script. $MyInvocation .Line contains the command that started the script, including all parameters and values.

Beginning in PowerShell 3.0, $MyInvocation has two new properties that provide information about the script that called or invoked the current script. The values of these properties are populated only when the invoker or caller is a script.

PSCommandPath contains the full path and name of the script that called or invoked the current script.

PSScriptRoot contains the directory of the script that called or invoked the current script.

Unlike the $PSCommandPath and $PSScriptRoot automatic variables, which contain information about the current script, the PSCommandPath and PSScriptRoot properties of the $MyInvocation variable contain information about the script that called the current script.

Data sections — You can use the Data keyword to separate data from logic in scripts. Data sections can also make localization easier. For more information, see about_Data_Sections and about_Script_Internationalization.

Script Signing — You can add a digital signature to a script. Depending on the execution policy, you can use digital signatures to restrict the running of scripts that could include unsafe commands. For more information, see about_Execution_Policies and about_Signing.