GNU Coreutils to PowerShell Equivalents

# Print a file
Get-Content .\notes.txt

# Print last 20 lines (like tail -n 20)
Get-Content .\log.txt -Tail 20

# Count lines, words, and characters (like wc -lwc)
Get-Content .\notes.txt | Measure-Object -Line -Word -Character

# Hex dump a file (like xxd or od -x)
Format-Hex .\binary.bin

# Print file in reverse (like tac)
$lines = Get-Content .\notes.txt
$lines[-1..-($lines.Count)]

# Create a directory (like mkdir -p)
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path .\new\nested\dir -Force

# Create a symbolic link (requires elevated prompt or Developer Mode)
New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path .\link.txt -Target .\original.txt

# Create a hard link
New-Item -ItemType HardLink -Path .\hardlink.txt -Target .\original.txt

# Touch a file (create if missing, update timestamp if exists)
if (Test-Path .\file.txt) {
    (Get-Item .\file.txt).LastWriteTime = Get-Date
} else {
    New-Item .\file.txt
}

# Truncate a file to 0 bytes
$fs = [IO.FileStream]::new('.\file.bin', [IO.FileMode]::Open)
$fs.SetLength(0)
$fs.Close()

# List files, sorted by last write time descending (like ls -lt)
Get-ChildItem | Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending

# Recursive listing (like ls -R)
Get-ChildItem -Recurse

# Only files, no directories
Get-ChildItem -File

# Only directories
Get-ChildItem -Directory

# Show hidden files (like ls -a)
Get-ChildItem -Force

# Sort lines alphabetically
Get-Content .\words.txt | Sort-Object

# Sort numerically descending (like sort -rn)
Get-Content .\numbers.txt | Sort-Object { [int]$_ } -Descending

# Remove duplicate lines (like sort -u or sort | uniq)
Get-Content .\list.txt | Sort-Object -Unique

# Cut the second field from a CSV line (like cut -d, -f2)
Get-Content .\data.csv | ForEach-Object { ($_ -split ',')[1] }

# Translate: replace all colons with semicolons (like tr ':' ';')
$text -replace ':', ';'

# Case-sensitive replace (like tr with exact chars)
$text -creplace 'abc', 'xyz'

# Shuffle lines randomly (like shuf)
Get-Content .\list.txt | Sort-Object { Get-Random }

# Generate a sequence (like seq 1 10)
1..10

# Generate a sequence with a step (like seq 0 2 10)
0..10 | Where-Object { $_ % 2 -eq 0 }

# Compare two files, show differences (like comm)
Compare-Object (Get-Content .\file1.txt) (Get-Content .\file2.txt)

# SHA256 hash of a file (like sha256sum)
Get-FileHash .\installer.exe -Algorithm SHA256

# Output just the hash string
(Get-FileHash .\installer.exe -Algorithm SHA256).Hash

# MD5 (like md5sum)
Get-FileHash .\file.zip -Algorithm MD5

# Hash all files in a directory
Get-ChildItem .\downloads\ | Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256

$h = Get-FileHash .\file.zip -Algorithm SHA256
"{0}  {1}" -f $h.Hash.ToLower(), $h.Path

# Base64 encode a file (like base64 file.bin)
[Convert]::ToBase64String([IO.File]::ReadAllBytes('.\file.bin'))

# Base64 encode a string
[Convert]::ToBase64String([Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes("hello world"))

# Base64 decode a string
$bytes = [Convert]::FromBase64String("aGVsbG8gd29ybGQ=")
[Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetString($bytes)

# Base64 decode to a file
[IO.File]::WriteAllBytes('.\output.bin', [Convert]::FromBase64String($encoded))

# Get just the filename from a path (like basename)
Split-Path -Leaf "C:\Users\<user>\Documents\report.pdf"
# report.pdf

# Get the directory from a path (like dirname)
Split-Path -Parent "C:\Users\<user>\Documents\report.pdf"
# C:\Users\<user>\Documents

# Resolve a relative path to absolute (like realpath)
Resolve-Path .\..\..\file.txt

# Read where a symlink points (like readlink)
(Get-Item .\mylink).Target

# File metadata (like stat)
Get-Item .\file.txt | Select-Object Name, Length, LastWriteTime, Attributes

# Check if a path exists (like pathchk / test -e)
Test-Path .\file.txt

# Grant a user full control (like chmod 700 for owner)
icacls .\file.txt /grant "$($env:USERNAME):(F)"

# Remove all inherited permissions and set explicit ones
icacls .\file.txt /inheritance:r /grant "$($env:USERNAME):(R,W)"

# Read current ACL
Get-Acl .\file.txt | Format-List

# OS info (like uname -a)
Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem | Select-Object Caption, Version, OSArchitecture

# CPU core count (like nproc)
$env:NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS

# System uptime (like uptime)
$os = Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem
(Get-Date) - $os.LastBootUpTime

# Disk free space (like df -h)
Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem | Select-Object Name, Used, Free

# Disk usage of a directory (like du -sh .)
(Get-ChildItem . -Recurse | Measure-Object -Property Length -Sum).Sum

# Current username
$env:USERNAME

# Current user with domain (like whoami)
whoami

# Check if running as administrator (like id -u == 0)
([Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal][Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).IsInRole(
    [Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole]::Administrator
)

# List all groups current user belongs to (like groups)
whoami /groups

# Who is logged on (like who / w)
query user

# Kill a process by ID (like kill 1234)
Stop-Process -Id 1234

# Kill a process by name (like killall firefox)
Stop-Process -Name firefox

# Sleep for 5 seconds
Start-Sleep -Seconds 5

# Sleep for 500 milliseconds
Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 500

# Run a process at below-normal priority (like nice)
Start-Process -FilePath .\heavy-task.exe -Priority BelowNormal

# Run with a timeout (kill if it takes more than 30 seconds)
$proc = Start-Process -FilePath .\task.exe -PassThru
if (-not $proc.WaitForExit(30000)) {
    $proc.Kill()
    Write-Error "Process timed out"
}

# Print all environment variables (like env or printenv)
Get-ChildItem Env:

# Print a specific variable (like printenv PATH)
$env:PATH

# Set an environment variable for the current session
$env:MY_VAR = "hello"

# Formatted output (like printf "Name: %s, Age: %d\n" Alice 30)
"Name: {0}, Age: {1}" -f "Alice", 30

# Arithmetic (like expr 5 + 3)
5 + 3
[math]::Pow(2, 10)

# Tee output to both console and file (like tee)
Get-ChildItem | Tee-Object -FilePath .\listing.txt

# Append mode
Get-ChildItem | Tee-Object -FilePath .\log.txt -Append

# Test if a file exists (like test -f file or [ -f file ])
Test-Path .\file.txt
Test-Path .\file.txt -PathType Leaf      # must be a file
Test-Path .\dir\ -PathType Container     # must be a directory

# Create a temp file (like mktemp)
$tmp = [IO.Path]::GetTempFileName()
# Use it...
Remove-Item $tmp  # clean up

# Create a temp directory (like mktemp -d)
$tmpDir = Join-Path ([IO.Path]::GetTempPath()) ([IO.Path]::GetRandomFileName())
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $tmpDir