<a style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" href="https://github.com/PowerShell/EditorSyntax/blob/master/PowerShellSyntax.tmLanguage" >Lexical Analysis Reference: the Editor Syntax</a> <a style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" href="https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/blob/master/src/System.Management.Automation/engine/parser/Parser.cs" >Syntactic Grammar Reference: the Parser</a> <a style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/SMAL.ast" >Abstract Syntax Tree class hierarchy</a> SMAL in comments means System.Management.Automation.Language namespace as if we were using namespace SMAL = System.Management.Automation.Language ␤   means optional new lines. ; means a StatementTerminator , which is a semicolor or a new line. Get-Help about_Comment_Based_Help, see SMAL.CommentHelpInfo Get-Help about_Script_Blocks, Get-Help about_Language_Modes, see also Invoke-Command Can a ScriptBlock have attributes? { } ; ; USING STATEMENTS Get-Help about_Using ; using = Is Alias mutually exclusive with ModuleSpecification? using module = [System.Enum]::GetNames('SMAL.UsingStatementKind') assembly command module name or path to module file, see also Import-Module and #requires module .NET namespace, like System.Management.Automation.Language namespace type [System.Enum]::GetNames('SMAL.StringConstantType') [System.Enum]::GetNames('SMAL.StringConstantType') PARAMETER BLOCK Cannot be used if arguments were specified in the FunctionDeclaration. param ( ) [ ( ) ] Get-Help about_Ref is derived from <a style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.management.automation.internal.cmdletmetadataattribute" >System.Management.Automation.Internal.CmdletMetadataAttribute</a> , NamedAttributeArgument; AttributeName is a property of AttributeClass = AttributeExpression TypeExpression [ ] simple type see SMAL.ArrayTypeName, with optional dimensions [ , ] see SMAL.GenericTypeName [ , ] see also <a style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/reflection-and-codedom/specifying-fully-qualified-type-names" >.NET type name specification</a> , Company.(Product|Technology)[.Feature][.Subnamespace] . + . [\p{L}\p{Nd}.`_]+ , AttributedExpression = see SMAL.VariableToken, Get-Help about_Variables No whitespace after $ and after colon! $ : [\p{L}\p{Nd}_?]+ ${ [^`}]+ } scope or drive qualification, Get-Help about_Scopes global default scope for functions and aliases local restricts visibility to current scope private default scope for scripts script identifies local variable in a remote command using workflow STATEMENT BLOCKS ; at most one of each dynamicparam Runs one time before any objects are received from the pipeline. begin Runs one time for each element received from the pipeline. If the pipeline provides no objects, the statement block does not run. If the command is the first command in the pipeline, the statement block runs one time. process Runs one time after all the objects have been received from the pipeline. end { } ; must appear before any other statements in a script Get-Help about_Requires normally allowed only for script workflow Get-Help about_Data_Sections, Get-Help about_Script_Internationalization ; ; #requires -RunAsAdministrator -Shellid -Assembly -Module -PSEdition -Version -PSSnapin used only in workflows parallel sequence runs in its own process, out of workflow process inlinescript DATA AND TYPE DEFINITIONS data -supportedcommand , [System.Enum]::GetNames('SMAL.TypeAttributes') Get-Help about_Enum Default underlying type is Int32. [flags()] enum : { = } Get-Help about_Classes class { } class : { } basetype + optional interfaces , [System.Enum]::GetNames('System.Reflection.MemberTypes') [System.Enum]::GetNames('SMAL.PropertyAttributes') [System.Enum]::GetNames('SMAL.MethodAttributes') not yet supported public not yet supported private Hides member from Get-Member, from IntelliSense, and from tab completion results. Get-Help about_Hidden hidden A static property is always available, independent of class instantiation. A static property is shared across all instances of the class. A static method is available always. All static properties live for the entire session span. static = Constructor name is the same as the class name. Constructors do not have attributes. ( ) see SMAL.BaseCtorInvokeMemberExpression can be present only if FunctionName is ClassName : base ( ) Get-Help about_Functions*, Get-Help about_Ref VariablePath is the scope the function belongs to. : ( ) [System.Enum]::GetNames('SMAL.ConfigurationType') configuration function It has the same effect as a function that contains only a process block. filter workflow [^-($][^ \t]* CONTROL STRUCTURES Get-Help about_If if ( ) elseif ( ) else see SMAL.LabelToken :[\p{L}\p{Nd}_]+ Get-Help about_Switch switch { } [System.Enum]::GetNames('SMAL.SwitchFlags') -regex * matches zero or more character ? matches one character in that position [] matches the listed characters or range -wildcard -exact -casesensitive -parallel ( ) -file A wildcard match has higher precedence than a literal match. ; A switch statement can have only one default clause. default Get-Help about_Do Get-Help about_While Get-Help about_For Get-Help about_Foreach DoUntilStatement do until ( ) DoWhileStatement do while ( ) while ( ) ForInitializer for ( ) ForCondition for ( ; ) ForIterator for ( ; ; ) See also ForEach-Object foreach ( in ) [System.Enum]::GetNames('SMAL.ForEachFlags') -parallel -throttlelimit maximum number of concurrent threads during parallel processing BreakStatement, Get-Help about_Break break ContinueStatement, Get-Help about_Continue continue ThrowStatement, Get-Help about_Throw throw ReturnStatement, Get-Help about_Return return ExitStatement exit Get-Help about_Trap trap Get-Help about_Try_Catch_Finally try finally try catch finally , BASIC STATEMENTS AttributedExpression = = += -= *= /= %= see also Start-Job for background operator & & Get-Help about_Pipeline_Chain_Operators && || Get-Help about_Pipelines CommandExpression | | see SMAL.RedirectionToken, Get-Help about_Redirection, see also Out-File and Tee-Object redirect to default stream, see SMAL.MerginRedirectionToken >&1 overwrite file, see SMAL.FileRedirectionToken > append to file, see SMAL.FileRedirectionToken >> not implemented, see SMAL.InputRedirectionToken < << [System.Enum]::GetNames('SMAL.RedirectionStream') Normal stream, Output stream, Success stream (default) 1 Error stream 2 Warning stream 3 Verbose stream 4 Debug stream 5 Information stream 6 All streams * Get-Help about_Command_Syntax Get-Help about_Command_Precedence Module-qualified name: ModuleName\CommandName [^$0-9(@"'][^ \t]* Get-Help about_Parameters, Get-Help about_Parameters_Default_Values No whitespace before colon! : Get-Help about_Splatting @[\p{L}\p{Nd}_?]+ Get-Help about_CommonParameters see SMAL.ParameterToken -[\p{L}\p{Nd}_?]+ call operator, see also Invoke-Expression & add and run script or function to the local scope . EXPRESSIONS ? : Get-Help about_Logical_Operators -and -or -xor -band -bor -bxor -shl -shr Get-Help about_Join -join Get-Help about_Split -split Get-Help about_Type_Operators object compared to type reference -is -isNot -as Use prefix 'c' for case-sensitive variant (e.g. -ceq ). Use prefix 'i' for explicitly case-insensitive variant (e.g. -ieq ). Equality operators: return Boolean result or the matching elements of the left collection. -eq -ne -ge -gt -lt -le strings compared to wildcard expression, Get-Help about_Wildcards -like -notLike strings compared to regular expression, Get-Help about_Regular_Expressions -match -notMatch collection compared to object: Boolean result -contains -notContains object compared to collection: Boolean result -in -notIn regular expression based value replacement in string, Get-Help about_Regular_Expressions -replace ?? Operation is determined by the type of the leftmost object. Plus is addition and concatenation operator. + Minus may be any dash character. - Operation is determined by the type of the leftmost object. repeated addition or concatenation the given times * When rounded to [int], half is rounded to the nearest even integer. / remainder or integer division % -f .. , ConvertExpression sign of numbers + - logical negation ! -not bitwise complement -bnot pre-increment and decrement ++ -- Get-Help about_Join -join Get-Help about_Split -split creates array with one member , post-increment and decrement ++ -- ParenExpression (parenthesized expression) ( ) SubExpression (scalar on a single result) $( ) ArrayExpression (array on a single result) @( ) ScriptBlockExpression (anonymous) { } object, dictionary, associative array ConstantExpression see also SMAL.StringConstantExpression, SMAL.ExpandableStringExpression TypeExpression Get-Help about_Hash_Tables [ordered] @{ } ; = array member [ ] No whitespace before access operators! object property or method . static class member :: ( ) No array literal argument! , see SMAL.NumberToken, Get-Help about_Numeric_Literals Hexadecimal prefix is only for integers. 0x (0|[1-9]\d*)(\.\d+)?([Ee][+-]?\d+)? decimal real number d signed byte integer y unsigned byte integer uy signed short integer s unsigned short integer us signed long integer l unsigned long integer ul unsigned int or long integer u BigInteger n kilobyte KB megabyte MB gigabyte GB terabyte TB petabyte PB see SMAL.StringToken, Get-Help about_Quoting_Rules see SMAL.StringLiteralToken ' .* ' see SMAL.StringExpandableToken, Get-Help about_Special_Characters " .* " literal multiline here-string @'␤ .* ␤'@ expandable multiline here-string @"␤ .* ␤"@