PowerShell Aliases

Making Your Command Line Life Easier

Image created using Microsoft Copilot to enhance the blog's theme of PowerShell aliases.

PowerShell aliases are shortcuts that help you type commands more quickly. Instead of typing out full cmdlet names, you can use shorter alternatives. Here are some of the aliases you’ve probably come across before:

Alias	Cmdlet		Description
ls	Get-ChildItem	List items in a directory (like ls in Linux)
cd	Set-Location	Change the current directory
pwd	Get-Location	Print the current directory path
clear	Clear-Host	Clear the terminal screen
cat	Get-Content	Display the contents of a file

In PowerShell, the ls command is an alias for Get-ChildItem, so it uses the parameters of Get-ChildItem, not those of the ls command in Linux.

PowerShell does not support Linux-style parameters like -l or -1 for this alias.

Creating Your Own Aliases

You can create aliases for PowerShell cmdlets and even things like control panel settings and executables.

# Creates an alias 'ct' to quickly open Control Panel
New-Alias -Name ct -Value control.exe

# Creates an alias 'app' to open the Programs and Features window
New-Alias -Name app -Value appwiz.cpl

# Creates an alias 'touch' to quickly create new items
New-Alias -Name touch -Value New-Item

Getting aliases

To list aliases for a specific cmdlet use the definition parameter of Get-Alias.

Get-Alias -Definition Get-ChildItem

CommandType     Name
-----------     ----
Alias           dir -> Get-ChildItem
Alias           gci -> Get-ChildItem
Alias           ls -> Get-ChildItem

To get aliases by name, you would use the name parameter and combine that with exclude:

Get-Alias -Name gp*, sp* -Exclude *ps

CommandType     Name                                               
-----------     ----
Alias           gp -> Get-ItemProperty
Alias           gpv -> Get-ItemPropertyValue
Alias           sp -> Set-ItemProperty
Alias           spjb -> Stop-Job
Alias           spsv -> Stop-Service

Use Case

One example that I use in my environment is having a quick way to sign a PowerShell script. You would normally use the Set-AuthenticodeSignature command, but you need to provide a Code signing certificate and time stamp server.

To make things easier you could wrap the cmdlet and it’s parameters in a function and create an alias for the function.

$cert = Get-ChildItem Cert:\CurrentUser\My -CodeSigningCert | 
Select-Object -First 1

function Set-ScriptSignature {
    param (
        [string]$FilePath
    )

    $signatureParams = @{
        FilePath        = $FilePath
        Certificate     = $cert
        TimestampServer = "http://timestamp.digicert.com"
    }

    Set-AuthenticodeSignature @signatureParams
}

Set-Alias -Name SignMyScript -Value Set-ScriptSignature

With this method you will only need to provide the file path.

SignMyScript -FilePath c:\temp\script.ps1

Making Aliases Permanent

To make your aliases permanent, add them to your PowerShell profile:

1. First, check if you have a profile:

Test-Path $PROFILE

2. If it doesn’t exist, create it:

New-Item -Path $PROFILE -Type File -Force

3. Add your aliases to the profile using your preferred text editor.

# Open your profile in VS Code
code $PROFILE

Or, if you prefer another editor:

Notepad $PROFILE

Note: When I type code in the terminal, Visual Studio Code opens. This might seem like an alias at first glance, but it’s not! The code command is added to your system's PATH during the installation of VS Code (or from the editor settings later).

You could also add new aliases in your profile using just PowerShell:

$newAliases = @'

#region Aliases
New-Alias -Name touch -Value New-Item
New-Alias -Name cp -Value control.exe
#endregion Aliases
'@

Add-Content -Path $PROFILE -Value $newAliases

Other useful aliases

• The following tip is a quick way to open folders from the command line.

ii c:\temp\

• You could even create an alias for a folder that you open often.

function Open-Projects {
    Invoke-Item -Path "C:\github"
}
Set-Alias -Name openProjects -Value Open-Projects

• etsn is an alias for Enter-PSSession which is used to connect interactively to another computer.

etsn SVR001

Best Practices

• Use aliases for interactive work only

• Use full cmdlet names in scripts for better readability

• Avoid overwriting built-in aliases

• Document custom aliases in your profile

Remember that while aliases are great for quick terminal work, it’s recommended to use full cmdlet names in scripts and shared code for better maintainability.

Got your favorite PowerShell alias? Share it in the comments, and let’s build a list of time-saving tricks!

Resources

• about_Scripts - PowerShell | Microsoft Learn

• about_Aliases - PowerShell | Microsoft Learn

• Using aliases - PowerShell | Microsoft Learn

• Getting familiar with Invoke-Item in PowerShell