Platform differences

Differences between PowerShell 7 on Windows and non-Windows platforms

  • PowerShell on Windows has several modules that aren’t available on non-Windows platforms

  • Non-Windows platforms don’t support graphical features like Out-GridView and Get-Help -ShowWindow

  • Non-Windows platforms don’t support Authenticode or the PowerShell execution policy

  • Non-Windows platforms are case-sensitive

    For example, environment variables are case-sensitive on Linux.

    PS> lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS
Release:        22.04
Codename:       jammy

PS> Test-Path env:path
False

PS> Test-Path env:PATH
True

  • PowerShell on Windows has several aliases that mimic native commands on non-Windows platforms

    Windows:

    PS> Get-Command cat, clear, cp, diff, kill, ls, man, mount, mv, ps, rm, rmdir, sleep, sort, tee, write

CommandType     Name                      Version    Source
-----------     ----                      -------    ------
Alias           cat -> Get-Content
Alias           clear -> Clear-Host
Alias           cp -> Copy-Item
Alias           diff -> Compare-Object
Alias           kill -> Stop-Process
Alias           ls -> Get-ChildItem
Alias           man -> help
Alias           mount -> New-PSDrive
Alias           mv -> Move-Item
Alias           ps -> Get-Process
Alias           rm -> Remove-Item
Alias           rmdir -> Remove-Item
Alias           sleep -> Start-Sleep
Alias           sort -> Sort-Object
Alias           tee -> Tee-Object
Alias           write -> Write-Output

    Linux:

    PS> Get-Command cat, clear, cp, diff, kill, ls, man, mount, mv, ps, rm, rmdir, sleep, sort, tee, write

CommandType     Name                      Version    Source
-----------     ----                      -------    ------
Application     cat                       0.0.0.0    /usr/bin/cat
Application     clear                     0.0.0.0    /usr/bin/clear
Application     cp                        0.0.0.0    /usr/bin/cp
Application     diff                      0.0.0.0    /usr/bin/diff
Application     kill                      0.0.0.0    /usr/bin/kill
Application     ls                        0.0.0.0    /usr/bin/ls
Application     man                       0.0.0.0    /usr/bin/man
Application     mount                     0.0.0.0    /usr/bin/mount
Application     mv                        0.0.0.0    /usr/bin/mv
Application     ps                        0.0.0.0    /usr/bin/ps
Application     rm                        0.0.0.0    /usr/bin/rm
Application     rmdir                     0.0.0.0    /usr/bin/rmdir
Application     sleep                     0.0.0.0    /usr/bin/sleep
Application     sort                      0.0.0.0    /usr/bin/sort
Application     tee                       0.0.0.0    /usr/bin/tee
Application     write                     0.0.0.0    /usr/bin/write

  • PowerShell doesn’t support Linux-style background jobs

  • PATH and directory separator characters are different