What is the Difference between Get-Help and Get-Command?

Today I am in Columbus, OH delivering a PowerShell class and this question came up once again. Well, here are a few examples.

Get-Help obviously gives you access to the help system. The confusion comes when you do this:

Get-Help Update

Get-Command *Update*

Both yield a list of cmdlets that have Update in their name. Get-Command has a few extra features to help you filter down that list. For example:

Get-Command -Verb Update

This will list only cmdlets with the verb Help. This next one only list cmdlets with a noun of Help.

Get-Command -Verb Update

You can also filter through specific modules.

Get-Command -Module SmbShare

You can also use these parameters together to help filter cmdlets

PS C:\> Get-Command -Module SmbShare -verb New

CommandType Name Version Source

----------- ---- ------- ------

Function New-SmbMapping 2.0.0.0 SmbShare

Function New-SmbMultichannelConstraint 2.0.0.0 SmbShare

Function New-SmbShare

Get-Help will show you a list of all possible matches to a query. If only one result is returned, it automatically opens the help file for what it has found. For example:

Get-Help Hotfix

You will see the help file for Get-Hotfix. It is the only cmdlet with Hotfix in the name.

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Jason Yoder, MCT

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