PowerShell for QAs

Navigation

Get-Location              # pwd equivalent
Set-Location tests/       # cd equivalent
Get-ChildItem             # ls/dir equivalent
Get-ChildItem -Recurse    # ls -R equivalent

Aliases (familiar shortcuts)

pwd    # Get-Location
cd     # Set-Location
ls     # Get-ChildItem
cp     # Copy-Item
mv     # Move-Item
rm     # Remove-Item
cat    # Get-Content
echo   # Write-Output
cls    # Clear-Host

Files & Content

New-Item -ItemType File test.ps1          # Create file
New-Item -ItemType Directory test-suite   # Create folder
Get-Content test.log                       # Read file
Get-Content test.log -Tail 20             # Last 20 lines
Get-Content test.log -Wait                # Follow live (like tail -f)
Set-Content results.txt "PASSED"           # Write to file
Add-Content results.txt "Line 2"           # Append to file

Searching

Select-String "ERROR" test.log                          # grep equivalent
Select-String "login" tests/*.py -Recurse               # Recursive search
Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Filter "*.py"                   # Find files
Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Where-Object {$_.Length -gt 1MB}  # Large files

Running Tests

python -m pytest tests/
npx playwright test
dotnet test
Invoke-Pester                     # PowerShell testing framework

Pipelines (PowerShell's superpower)

# Get processes using lots of memory
Get-Process | Sort-Object CPU -Descending | Select-Object -First 10

# Find failed test results
Get-Content test-results.xml | Select-String "failure"

# Count test files
(Get-ChildItem tests/ -Recurse -Filter "*.py").Count

# Kill all Chrome processes
Get-Process chrome | Stop-Process -Force

Variables & Scripting

$baseUrl = "http://localhost:3000"
$env:BASE_URL = "http://localhost:3000"    # Environment variable

# Simple test script
$results = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "$baseUrl/api/health"
if ($results.StatusCode -eq 200) {
    Write-Host "Health check passed" -ForegroundColor Green
} else {
    Write-Host "Health check FAILED" -ForegroundColor Red
}

API Testing with PowerShell

# GET request
$response = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://api.example.com/users"
$response | Format-Table

# POST request
$body = @{ email = "test@example.com"; password = "test123" } | ConvertTo-Json
Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://api.example.com/login" -Method POST -Body $body -ContentType "application/json"

Useful Commands

Command	Purpose
Get-Help cmdlet	Get help on any command
Get-Command *test*	Find commands with "test"
$PSVersionTable	PowerShell version info
Test-Connection google.com	Ping equivalent
Measure-Command { script }	Time a command