Terminal & CLI

PowerShell, Windows Terminal, and command-line tools for Linux users transitioning to Windows environments.

Windows Terminal

Windows Terminal vs Linux Terminals

Feature	Windows Terminal	Linux (GNOME Terminal)	Linux (Konsole)
Tabs	Yes	Yes	Yes
Split panes	Yes	Limited	Yes
Profiles	Multiple shells	One shell	Multiple profiles
Themes	JSON configuration	GUI settings	GUI settings
GPU acceleration	Yes	Limited	Yes
Background images	Yes	Limited	Yes

Installing Windows Terminal

# Install from Microsoft Store (recommended)
# Or install via winget
winget install Microsoft.WindowsTerminal

# Or install via chocolatey
choco install microsoft-windows-terminal

Windows Terminal Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut	Linux Equivalent
New tab	Ctrl + Shift + T	Ctrl + Shift + T
Close tab	Ctrl + Shift + W	Ctrl + Shift + W
Switch tabs	Ctrl + Tab	Ctrl + Page Up/Down
Split pane horizontally	Alt + Shift + -	Ctrl + Shift + O
Split pane vertically	Alt + Shift + +	Ctrl + Shift + E
Switch panes	Alt + Arrow keys	Alt + Arrow keys
New window	Ctrl + Shift + N	Ctrl + Shift + N
Copy	Ctrl + Shift + C	Ctrl + Shift + C
Paste	Ctrl + Shift + V	Ctrl + Shift + V

Windows Terminal Configuration

Configuration is stored in JSON format (similar to VS Code):

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\settings.json

Access settings: Ctrl + ,

PowerShell for Linux Users

PowerShell vs Bash Comparison

Concept	PowerShell	Bash	Notes
Philosophy	Object-oriented	Text-based	PowerShell works with .NET objects
Case sensitivity	Case-insensitive	Case-sensitive	Commands and parameters
Variables	$variable	$variable	Similar syntax
Command output	Objects	Text	Major difference
Piping	Object properties	Text streams	Different capabilities
Help system	Get-Help	man	Built-in documentation

PowerShell Command Structure

# Verb-Noun pattern
Get-Process     # Like ps aux
Set-Location    # Like cd
Copy-Item       # Like cp

# Parameters
Get-Process -Name "chrome"
Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\" -Recurse

Basic Commands Translation

Task	PowerShell	Bash	Alias Available
List files	Get-ChildItem	ls	ls, dir
Change directory	Set-Location	cd	cd
Copy files	Copy-Item	cp	cp, copy
Move files	Move-Item	mv	mv, move
Delete files	Remove-Item	rm	rm, del
Show content	Get-Content	cat	cat, type
Create directory	New-Item -ItemType Directory	mkdir	mkdir, md
Current location	Get-Location	pwd	pwd, gl
Process list	Get-Process	ps	ps
Find text	Select-String	grep	No direct alias

PowerShell Aliases

PowerShell includes many Linux-like aliases:

# View all aliases
Get-Alias

# Common Linux aliases that work
ls      # Get-ChildItem
pwd     # Get-Location
cd      # Set-Location
cp      # Copy-Item
mv      # Move-Item
rm      # Remove-Item
cat     # Get-Content
ps      # Get-Process
kill    # Stop-Process

Variables and Environment

Task	PowerShell	Bash
Set variable	$var = "value"	var="value"
Use variable	$var	$var
Environment variable	$env:PATH	$PATH
Set env variable	$env:VAR = "value"	export VAR="value"
List env variables	Get-ChildItem env:	env or printenv

PowerShell Object Pipeline

# Get processes, filter by CPU usage, select properties
Get-Process | Where-Object {$_.CPU -gt 10} | Select-Object Name, CPU

# Linux equivalent (text processing)
ps aux | awk '$3 > 10 {print $11, $3}'

PowerShell Scripting Basics

# Script file extension: .ps1

# Conditional
if ($condition) {
    Write-Host "True"
} else {
    Write-Host "False"
}

# Loop
foreach ($item in $collection) {
    Write-Host $item
}

# Function
function Get-SystemInfo {
    Get-ComputerInfo | Select-Object WindowsProductName, WindowsVersion
}

Command Prompt (Legacy)

Command Prompt vs PowerShell

Feature	Command Prompt	PowerShell	Recommendation
Objects	No	Yes	Use PowerShell
Aliases	Limited	Extensive	Use PowerShell
Scripting	Batch files	PowerShell scripts	Use PowerShell
Error handling	Limited	Advanced	Use PowerShell
Help system	Basic	Comprehensive	Use PowerShell

When to Use Command Prompt

• Legacy batch scripts
• System administration tools that require it
• Simple file operations (if you prefer)

Command Prompt Commands

Task	Command	Linux Equivalent
Directory listing	dir	ls
Change directory	cd	cd
Copy files	copy	cp
Move files	move	mv
Delete files	del	rm
Create directory	mkdir	mkdir
Remove directory	rmdir	rmdir
Display file	type	cat

Package Managers

Chocolatey (Third-party)

Windows package manager similar to apt/yum/pacman.

Installation:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072
iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

Usage:

Task	Chocolatey	Linux (apt)	Linux (yum)
Install package	choco install package	apt install package	yum install package
Uninstall package	choco uninstall package	apt remove package	yum remove package
Update package	choco upgrade package	apt upgrade package	yum update package
Update all	choco upgrade all	apt upgrade	yum update
Search package	choco search package	apt search package	yum search package
List installed	choco list --local-only	apt list --installed	yum list installed

Windows Package Manager (winget)

Microsoft's official package manager.

Usage:

Task	winget	Linux (apt)
Install	winget install package	apt install package
Uninstall	winget uninstall package	apt remove package
Update	winget upgrade package	apt upgrade package
Update all	winget upgrade --all	apt upgrade
Search	winget search package	apt search package
List	winget list	apt list --installed

Scoop (Alternative package manager)

Focused on command-line tools and development software.

Installation:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser
irm get.scoop.sh | iex

Usage:

scoop install git
scoop install nodejs
scoop bucket add extras
scoop install vscode

File and Text Processing

PowerShell File Operations

# Read file content
Get-Content file.txt

# Write to file
"Hello World" | Out-File file.txt

# Append to file
"New line" | Add-Content file.txt

# Count lines
(Get-Content file.txt).Count

# Get file info
Get-ItemProperty file.txt

Text Processing Comparison

Task	PowerShell	Linux
Search text	Select-String "pattern" file.txt	grep "pattern" file.txt
Replace text	(Get-Content file.txt) -replace "old", "new" | Set-Content file.txt	sed 's/old/new/g' file.txt
Count lines	(Get-Content file.txt).Count	wc -l file.txt
Sort lines	Get-Content file.txt | Sort-Object	sort file.txt
Unique lines	Get-Content file.txt | Sort-Object -Unique	sort -u file.txt
Head/tail	Get-Content file.txt -Head 10 / -Tail 10	head -10 file.txt / tail -10

PowerShell CSV Processing

# Import CSV
$data = Import-Csv data.csv

# Filter and export
$data | Where-Object {$_.Status -eq "Active"} | Export-Csv filtered.csv

# Group and count
$data | Group-Object Department | Select-Object Name, Count

Network Commands

Network Diagnostics

Task	Windows	Linux	PowerShell
Ping	ping hostname	ping hostname	Test-Connection hostname
Traceroute	tracert hostname	traceroute hostname	Test-NetConnection -TraceRoute
DNS lookup	nslookup hostname	dig hostname	Resolve-DnsName hostname
Network config	ipconfig	ifconfig / ip addr	Get-NetIPAddress
Network connections	netstat	netstat / ss	Get-NetTCPConnection
ARP table	arp -a	arp -a	Get-NetNeighbor

PowerShell Network Commands

# Test network connectivity
Test-NetConnection google.com -Port 80

# Get network adapters
Get-NetAdapter

# Get IP configuration
Get-NetIPConfiguration

# Test DNS resolution
Resolve-DnsName google.com

# Get network statistics
Get-NetStatistics

System Information

System Information Commands

Information	Windows	Linux	PowerShell
System info	systeminfo	uname -a	Get-ComputerInfo
Hardware info	msinfo32	lshw	Get-WmiObject Win32_ComputerSystem
CPU info	wmic cpu get name	lscpu	Get-WmiObject Win32_Processor
Memory info	wmic memorychip get size	free -h	Get-WmiObject Win32_PhysicalMemory
Disk info	wmic logicaldisk get size,freespace	df -h	Get-WmiObject Win32_LogicalDisk
Process list	tasklist	ps aux	Get-Process
Service list	sc query	systemctl list-units	Get-Service

PowerShell System Information

# Computer information
Get-ComputerInfo | Select-Object WindowsProductName, WindowsVersion, TotalPhysicalMemory

# Disk space
Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_LogicalDisk | Select-Object DeviceID, Size, FreeSpace

# Running processes
Get-Process | Sort-Object CPU -Descending | Select-Object -First 10

# System uptime
(Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem).LastBootUpTime

Remote Management

PowerShell Remoting

# Enable PS Remoting (run as administrator)
Enable-PSRemoting -Force

# Connect to remote computer
Enter-PSSession -ComputerName RemotePC

# Run command on remote computer
Invoke-Command -ComputerName RemotePC -ScriptBlock {Get-Process}

# Copy files to remote computer
Copy-Item -Path "local.txt" -Destination "\\RemotePC\C$\temp\" -ToSession $session

SSH on Windows

# Install OpenSSH Client (Windows 10/11)
Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Client~~~~0.0.1.0

# Connect via SSH
ssh username@hostname

# Copy files via SCP
scp file.txt username@hostname:/path/to/destination

Execution Policies and Security

PowerShell Execution Policies

Policy	Description	Linux Equivalent
Restricted	No scripts allowed	No execute permission
RemoteSigned	Local scripts and signed remote scripts	Mixed permissions
Unrestricted	All scripts allowed	Execute permission

# Check current policy
Get-ExecutionPolicy

# Set policy (as administrator)
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

# Bypass policy for single session
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File script.ps1

Script Security

# Sign a script (requires code signing certificate)
Set-AuthenticodeSignature -FilePath script.ps1 -Certificate $cert

# Check script signature
Get-AuthenticodeSignature script.ps1

Terminal Customization

Windows Terminal Themes

{
  "schemes": [
    {
      "name": "Linux-like",
      "black": "#2e3436",
      "red": "#cc0000",
      "green": "#4e9a06",
      "yellow": "#c4a000",
      "blue": "#3465a4",
      "purple": "#75507b",
      "cyan": "#06989a",
      "white": "#d3d7cf",
      "brightBlack": "#555753",
      "brightRed": "#ef2929",
      "brightGreen": "#8ae234",
      "brightYellow": "#fce94f",
      "brightBlue": "#729fcf",
      "brightPurple": "#ad7fa8",
      "brightCyan": "#34e2e2",
      "brightWhite": "#eeeeec",
      "background": "#2e3436",
      "foreground": "#d3d7cf"
    }
  ]
}

PowerShell Profile Customization

# Check if profile exists
Test-Path $PROFILE

# Create profile
New-Item -ItemType File -Path $PROFILE -Force

# Edit profile
notepad $PROFILE

Example profile:

# PowerShell profile (~/.config/powershell/profile.ps1 equivalent)

# Set aliases
Set-Alias ll Get-ChildItem
Set-Alias la 'Get-ChildItem -Force'

# Custom prompt (like bash PS1)
function prompt {
    $user = $env:USERNAME
    $computer = $env:COMPUTERNAME
    $path = $PWD.Path.Replace($HOME, "~")
    "$user@$computer`:$path$ "
}

# Import modules
Import-Module posh-git  # Git integration

Best Practices for Linux Users

Transition Tips

1. Start with Windows Terminal: Modern terminal experience
2. Use PowerShell: More powerful than Command Prompt
3. Learn object pipeline: Different from text-based pipes
4. Install package manager: Chocolatey or winget
5. Set up SSH: For remote access
6. Customize profile: Make it feel like home
7. Use WSL when needed: For Linux tools and commands

Command Discovery

# Find commands
Get-Command *process*

# Get help
Get-Help Get-Process -Examples

# Find modules
Find-Module -Name "*git*"

# Discover object properties
Get-Process | Get-Member

Useful PowerShell Modules

Module	Purpose	Installation
posh-git	Git integration	Install-Module posh-git
PSReadLine	Better command line editing	Built-in (Windows 10+)
Terminal-Icons	File type icons	Install-Module Terminal-Icons
z	Directory jumping	Install-Module z

Performance Tips

1. Use aliases: For frequently used commands
2. Profile optimization: Don't load heavy modules unnecessarily
3. Object filtering: Use Where-Object early in pipelines
4. Background jobs: For long-running tasks
5. ISE vs Terminal: Use appropriate tool for task