PowerShell Pipeline ( | ) :
PowerShell pipeline tells PowerShell that you want to take the output of one command and pass it as the input (or pipe it) to the next command. Here we are passing complete objects. Using the pipe character (|), you can quickly and easily select objects and then perform an action on them.
When you “pipe” objects, PowerShell tries to associate the piped objects with one of the parameters of the receiving cmdlet. In a simple language, piping is sending the objects in the output of one command to another command.
Command-1 | Command-2 | Command-3
Let’s look at an example:
PS C:\> Get-Process
Handles NPM(K) PM(K) WS(K) VM(M) CPU(s) Id ProcessName
------- ------ ----- ----- ----- ------ -- -----------
44 5 708 3164 44 0.03 888 conhost
57 7 1808 7408 53 4.31 3156 conhost
179 11 1620 3800 43 1.09 328 csrss
163 15 1680 10096 46 1.52 396 csrss
347 32 14420 20024 621 1.47 1336 dfsrs
102 8 1412 3920 22 0.02 1700 dfssvc
193 13 3160 10256 48 0.09 2132 dllhost
10284 7411 89816 88140 141 0.34 1368 dns
206 19 23368 35332 121 0.42 784 dwm
927 52 18184 47460 398 1.58 2776 explorer
0 0 0 24 0 0 Idle
89 11 1440 4280 26 0.00 1396 ismserv
1641 156 54608 63672 1177 7.14 492 lsass
122 14 4092 9532 95 0.45 1616 ManagementAgentHost
1601 38 35884 43488 576 0.61 1292 Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.WebServices
151 12 1992 6648 40 0.03 2236 msdtc
363 24 60784 69856 608 7.17 3148 powershell
258 10 3312 7504 29 1.78 484 services
53 2 296 1160 4 0.13 216 smss
440 28 7196 15560 89 6.52 1260 spoolsv
542 33 6700 15168 616 0.38 76 svchost
344 15 3464 10052 46 0.20 644 svchost
327 16 2684 6612 24 0.55 676 svchost
363 33 10408 12276 56 0.45 712 svchost
462 20 10872 14112 59 3.05 856 svchost
1113 43 15752 29468 124 5.88 892 svchost
735 24 5760 11568 81 0.27 936 svchost
227 17 8180 10376 615 0.13 1112 svchost
711 0 112 344 3 4.30 4 System
156 11 1500 6032 79 0.03 2864 taskhostex
148 11 2376 9768 105 0.80 3064 TPAutoConnect
164 12 2864 8328 70 2.31 1572 TPAutoConnSvc
162 15 1900 7872 44 0.11 732 vds
127 11 4356 10640 66 0.06 1508 VGAuthService
67 6 988 4044 45 0.02 804 vmacthlp
323 23 8004 17888 87 0.69 1580 vmtoolsd
196 18 5084 14604 104 2.13 2364 vmtoolsd
79 8 712 3628 40 0.48 388 wininit
153 8 1224 9156 54 0.58 440 winlogon
310 16 8560 15384 69 5.34 2244 WmiPrvSE
The above Get-Process with a pipeline:
PS C:\> Get-Process | Sort-Object ProcessName
Handles NPM(K) PM(K) WS(K) VM(M) CPU(s) Id ProcessName
------- ------ ----- ----- ----- ------ -- -----------
57 7 1840 7436 53 4.34 3156 conhost
44 5 708 3164 44 0.03 888 conhost
163 15 1680 10096 46 1.59 396 csrss
179 11 1620 3800 43 1.09 328 csrss
344 32 14412 20028 620 1.47 1336 dfsrs
102 8 1412 3920 22 0.02 1700 dfssvc
193 13 3160 10256 48 0.09 2132 dllhost
10287 7411 89816 88148 141 0.36 1368 dns
206 19 23368 35332 121 0.42 784 dwm
927 52 18184 47464 398 1.66 2776 explorer
0 0 0 24 0 0 Idle
89 11 1440 4280 26 0.00 1396 ismserv
1636 156 54564 63636 1177 7.17 492 lsass
122 14 4092 9532 95 0.45 1616 ManagementAgentHost
1611 38 35844 43472 575 0.61 1292 Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.WebServices
151 12 1992 6648 40 0.03 2236 msdtc
399 24 66824 76924 609 7.36 3148 powershell
254 10 3260 7480 29 1.78 484 services
53 2 296 1160 4 0.13 216 smss
440 28 7196 15560 89 6.61 1260 spoolsv
1108 43 15700 29440 124 5.91 892 svchost
457 20 10788 14092 59 3.06 856 svchost
228 17 8228 10392 615 0.13 1112 svchost
735 24 5760 11568 81 0.27 936 svchost
344 14 3412 10036 45 0.20 644 svchost
542 33 6700 15168 616 0.38 76 svchost
355 32 10304 12212 55 0.45 712 svchost
325 16 2676 6600 24 0.55 676 svchost
711 0 112 344 3 4.30 4 System
156 11 1500 6032 79 0.03 2864 taskhostex
148 11 2376 9768 105 0.80 3064 TPAutoConnect
164 12 2868 8332 70 2.36 1572 TPAutoConnSvc
162 15 1900 7872 44 0.11 732 vds
127 11 4356 10640 66 0.06 1508 VGAuthService
67 6 988 4044 45 0.02 804 vmacthlp
196 18 5104 14624 104 2.19 2364 vmtoolsd
323 23 7996 17880 87 0.69 1580 vmtoolsd
79 8 712 3628 40 0.48 388 wininit
153 8 1224 9156 54 0.58 440 winlogon
307 16 7972 14852 69 5.39 2244 WmiPrvSE
PS C:\> Get-Process | Sort-Object CPU -Descending
Handles NPM(K) PM(K) WS(K) VM(M) CPU(s) Id ProcessName
------- ------ ----- ----- ----- ------ -- -----------
433 24 65412 75544 609 7.41 3148 powershell
1634 156 54564 63632 1177 7.22 492 lsass
438 28 7144 15544 89 6.69 1260 spoolsv
1107 43 15140 29032 124 6.02 892 svchost
307 16 8176 15080 69 5.41 2244 WmiPrvSE
57 7 1840 7444 53 4.38 3156 conhost
711 0 112 344 3 4.31 4 System
457 20 10788 14092 59 3.09 856 svchost
164 12 2860 8324 70 2.36 1572 TPAutoConnSvc
196 18 5140 14632 104 2.33 2364 vmtoolsd
252 10 3260 7480 29 1.78 484 services
163 15 1680 10096 46 1.66 396 csrss
927 52 18184 47464 398 1.66 2776 explorer
340 32 14412 20020 620 1.47 1336 dfsrs
179 11 1620 3800 43 1.09 328 csrss
148 11 2376 9764 105 0.81 3064 TPAutoConnect
323 23 8000 17884 87 0.73 1580 vmtoolsd
1631 38 35884 43556 576 0.61 1292 Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.WebServices
153 8 1224 9156 54 0.58 440 winlogon
323 16 2668 6588 24 0.55 676 svchost
206 19 23368 35328 121 0.52 784 dwm
79 8 712 3628 40 0.48 388 wininit
353 32 10252 12192 54 0.45 712 svchost
122 14 4092 9532 95 0.45 1616 ManagementAgentHost
546 33 6796 15204 617 0.38 76 svchost
10287 7411 89816 88152 141 0.36 1368 dns
738 24 5776 11584 81 0.27 936 svchost
344 14 3412 10036 45 0.20 644 svchost
53 2 296 1160 4 0.13 216 smss
228 17 8176 10376 615 0.13 1112 svchost
162 15 1900 7872 44 0.11 732 vds
193 13 3160 10256 48 0.09 2132 dllhost
127 11 4356 10640 66 0.06 1508 VGAuthService
44 5 708 3164 44 0.03 888 conhost
151 12 1992 6648 40 0.03 2236 msdtc
156 11 1500 6032 79 0.03 2864 taskhostex
102 8 1412 3920 22 0.02 1700 dfssvc
67 6 988 4044 45 0.02 804 vmacthlp
89 11 1440 4280 26 0.00 1396 ismserv
0 0 0 24 0 0 Idle
Multiple pipelines:
PS C:\> Get-Process | Select-Object ProcessName, CPU | Sort-Object CPU -Descending ProcessName CPU ----------- --- powershell 7.609375 lsass 7.40625 spoolsv 6.859375 svchost 6.109375 WmiPrvSE 5.453125 conhost 4.5 System 4.359375 svchost 3.125 TPAutoConnSvc 2.453125 vmtoolsd 2.421875 services 1.78125 csrss 1.734375 explorer 1.6875 dfsrs 1.515625 csrss 1.09375 TPAutoConnect 0.859375 vmtoolsd 0.796875 Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.WebServices 0.609375 winlogon 0.578125 svchost 0.5625 dwm 0.515625 wininit 0.484375 svchost 0.453125 ManagementAgentHost 0.453125 dns 0.375 svchost 0.375 svchost 0.265625 svchost 0.203125 smss 0.125 svchost 0.125 vds 0.109375 dllhost 0.09375 VGAuthService 0.0625 conhost 0.03125 msdtc 0.03125 taskhostex 0.03125 dfssvc 0.015625 vmacthlp 0.015625 ismserv 0
Some more examples:
PS C:\> Get-Service spooler Status Name DisplayName ------ ---- ----------- Running spooler Print Spooler PS C:\> Get-Service spooler | Restart-Service
The above command will get the service name “spooler” and restart spooler service.
