Learn PowerShell by doing. When you type a bash command that doesn't work in PowerShell, PSCommandHelper suggests the PowerShell equivalent — with an explanation.
PSCommandHelper uses two-tier detection to catch bash commands in PowerShell 7:
- CommandNotFoundAction hook — catches commands that don't exist at all (
grep,awk,sed,chmod,touch, etc.) - Prompt handler — catches aliased commands used with bash-style flags (
ls -la,rm -rf,ps aux, etc.)
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💡 PSCommandHelper
You typed: grep
Try this: Select-String
Select-String (alias: sls) searches for text patterns in files or pipeline input.
Example:
> Select-String -Path ./app.log -Pattern "error"
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It does not run the command for you — the goal is to help you learn, not to auto-correct.
git clone https://github.com/ericchansen/PSCommandHelper.git
cd PSCommandHelper
.\install.ps1This copies the module to your user Modules folder and adds it to your $PROFILE. Works on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
- Copy the
PSCommandHelperfolder to a directory in your$env:PSModulePath - Add these lines to your
$PROFILE:
Import-Module PSCommandHelper
Enable-PSCommandHelperOnce installed, just use PowerShell normally. When you type a bash command that isn't recognized, you'll see a helpful suggestion.
Get-CommandMappingGet-CommandMapping-Search "grep"Get-CommandMapping-Search "file"Get-CommandMapping-Type Hook # Commands that trigger the hook (grep, sed, awk...)Get-CommandMapping-Type Aliased # Commands aliased in PS (ls, rm, cp, cat...)Get-CommandMapping-Type Executable # Commands that exist as .exe (curl, ping, ssh...)Disable-PSCommandHelperEnable-PSCommandHelperEach mapping is tagged with a Type that determines how it's detected:
| Type | Icon | Detection Method | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hook | 🔵 | CommandNotFoundAction — command doesn't exist in PS | grep, awk, sed, chmod, touch, head, tail |
| Aliased | 🟡 | Prompt handler — command exists as a PS alias but bash-style flags fail | ls -la, rm -rf, cp -r, ps aux, kill -9 |
| Executable | 🟢 | Informational — command resolves as a Windows .exe | curl, ping, ssh, tar, netstat |
The built-in mapping table covers 75+ bash commands across these categories:
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| File operations | rm, cp, mv, mkdir, touch, cat, ls, find, chmod, ln -s |
| Text processing | grep, sed, awk, head, tail, wc, sort, uniq, cut, tr, diff |
| System/process | ps, kill, top, df, du, env, export, which, whoami |
| Networking | curl, wget, ping, ifconfig, netstat, ssh, scp, nslookup |
| Shell/misc | echo, clear, history, alias, man, sudo, source, tar, zip |
| Piping/redirection | > file, >> file, 2>&1, /dev/null |
- PowerShell 7.0+ (uses
CommandNotFoundActionwhich is not available in Windows PowerShell 5.1) - PS 7.2+ recommended for
$PSStylecolor support (falls back to raw ANSI on 7.0-7.1)
Invoke-Pester ./tests/PSCommandHelper.Tests.ps1MIT