PowerShell
Microsoft's cross-platform, object-based command shell and scripting language built on .NET.
HN commenters like PowerShell for piping structured objects between commands instead of plain text,123 for discoverable, consistently named commands,45 and for Windows administration and automation.678 The most common complaint is that it is overcomplicated and full of footguns,910 and one admin notes that Windows cmdlets like Get-Service don't carry over to Linux.11
Why people recommend it
Structured objects · 3
Passing objects rather than text between commands enables powerful composition and SQL-like filtering.
“If you haven't tried PowerShell I strongly recommend you do.”
“focus more deeply on the profoundly superior composition that you can only have once you get self-describing objects over stdio instead of plain bytes.”
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“what does powershell do better than nushell ?”
Windows administration · 3
Windows sysadmins use it for most of their daily work, and it is available on locked-down machines without approvals.
“PowerShell has been great for a long time, well, since at least v5.1”
“So I pivoted to the scripting system that was there, and didn't need any approvals, which is of course PowerShell.”
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“PowerShell, which is more UNIX than UNIX, and blows every legacy shell on Linux out of the water.”
Discoverability · 3
Parameter autocomplete, verb naming conventions and docs generated from comments make unfamiliar commands easy to use.
“I use aliases so its as quick as with bash, but I am faster as I don't have to lookup for params due to fantastic discovery and usability features.”
“I love knowing that a "Get-Foo" function in a library I've never before isn't going to have side-effects”
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“powershell - felt like the lover I never had.”
Automation · 3
Commenters make it their go-to for automation scripts, including on Linux.
“My go-to for automation will always be powershell”
“I use this PowerShell variant:”
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“We use a simple PowerShell script to run the check”
.NET integration · 3
It gives access to the full .NET library and is supported by third-party tools like SQL Server and VMware.
“If you haven't tried PowerShell I strongly recommend you do.”
“Its not slop for one. Take a look at repo and its practices. Its mind blowing and predates AI.”
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“I like powershell and the dotnet platform”
Caveats and dissent
Complexity · 2
Some regular users find it overcomplicated, with footguns and magic features that break things.
“I use Powershell a fair bit, Powershell is not good.”
“Seems like PS was designed under the motto, "The choice: why make it simple when we can make it complicated?"”
Non-Windows gaps · 2
Windows-specific cmdlets such as Get-Service don't work with systemd on Linux, though another commenter says pwsh runs better on macOS and Linux.
“PowerShell has been great for a long time, well, since at least v5.1”
“Dotnet and powershell (pwsh) actually works better in both macos and in Linux, than in windows.”
Microsoft stigma · 1
Its association with Microsoft keeps some people from adopting it.
“My go-to for automation will always be powershell”
Unix habits · 1
Long-time Unix users still reach for familiar tools like head, tail and cut instead.
“I certainly do make a lot of use of Powershell”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- I can't believe PowerShell is good 6 mentions
- Interview with Mitchell Hashimoto about Ghostty and Zig 2 mentions
- Wayland desktop for Linux with skeuomorphic design 1 mention
- Ask HN: What's the oldest software tool you still rely on every day? 1 mention
- What's in a PowerPoint File? 1 mention
- A shell colon does nothing. Use it anyway. 1 mention
Data: powershell.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 23
“Its not slop for one. Take a look at repo and its practices. Its mind blowing and predates AI.”
“I use aliases so its as quick as with bash, but I am faster as I don't have to lookup for params due to fantastic discovery and usability features.”
“And PS is pretty good”
“I use Powershell a fair bit, Powershell is not good.”
“Powershell is so good that I find it strange it didn't get to be default at least in some Linux distributins”
“PowerShell has been great for a long time, well, since at least v5.1”
“I love knowing that a "Get-Foo" function in a library I've never before isn't going to have side-effects”
“I use Powershell all the time.”
“We use a simple PowerShell script to run the check”
“powershell - felt like the lover I never had.”
“Seems like PS was designed under the motto, "The choice: why make it simple when we can make it complicated?"”
“what does powershell do better than nushell ?”
“like PowerShell a lot”
“So I pivoted to the scripting system that was there, and didn't need any approvals, which is of course PowerShell.”
“I like powershell and the dotnet platform”
“I certainly do make a lot of use of Powershell”
“PowerShell, which is more UNIX than UNIX, and blows every legacy shell on Linux out of the water.”
“I use this PowerShell variant:”
“I had just switched to PowerShell from the basic command line”
“If you haven't tried PowerShell I strongly recommend you do.”
“Dotnet and powershell (pwsh) actually works better in both macos and in Linux, than in windows.”
“My go-to for automation will always be powershell”
“focus more deeply on the profoundly superior composition that you can only have once you get self-describing objects over stdio instead of plain bytes.”