1. Efficiently Passing Command Results
In scripting and automation tasks, it’s often necessary to take the output of one command and pass it as input to the next—then finally save the result into a file. This is a common workflow in system administration, monitoring, and data processing. For example, you might want to get all currently running processes, sort them by CPU usage, and save the sorted list to a report. PowerShell’s piping and output redirection features are perfect for such tasks.
2. Understanding the PowerShell Pipeline
PowerShell uses the vertical bar `|` to pipe output from one command to another. The output of the command before the pipe becomes the input for the next command. A basic example:
Get-Process
This command lists all active processes. To sort the list by CPU usage in descending order, use:
Get-Process | Sort-Object -Property CPU -Descending
Here, `Sort-Object` sorts the incoming data based on the `CPU` property. The result is a list of processes ordered from highest to lowest CPU usage.
3. Chaining Multiple Commands Using Pipelines
You can chain multiple commands with pipes to refine your results further. Suppose you only want to display the process name and CPU usage, you can do:
Get-Process | Sort-Object -Property CPU -Descending | Select-Object -Property Name, CPU
This command pipeline first retrieves the process list, sorts it by CPU time, and then selects only the relevant properties—`Name` and `CPU`. This results in a clean, readable output with just the data you need.
4. Saving Command Output to a File
Very often, we need to save command outputs for later analysis, logging, or reporting. PowerShell provides two main ways to redirect output to a file.
Using the `>` symbol (overwrites the file):
Get-Process | Sort-Object -Property CPU -Descending | Select-Object -Property Name, CPU > process_report.txt
To append to an existing file instead of overwriting:
# Using >> Get-Date >> process_report.txt
This is useful for creating running logs or adding timestamped entries over time.
5. Conclusion: Boost Your Workflow with PowerShell
PowerShell’s piping and output redirection capabilities are fundamental tools for anyone working with automation or system management. By combining these features, you can build powerful, modular commands that handle data efficiently and save the results for future use. Once you’ve mastered these concepts, your scripting productivity will reach a new level.
6. Demo Video
You can watch the following demo video by select the subtitle to your preferred subtitle language.