How to get the file directory for a custom cmdlet

Question

The way our business is set up, our custom cmdlets are spread out across the network in several different larger files. We refer to these files in the usual "Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1"

Is there something I can run within Powershell to find where a cmdlet is running from instead of manually going through all the files referenced in "Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1" to find it?

E.g. if I have written a cmdlet called Get-UserExpiry and it is saved in C:\User\Name\Documents\CustomCmds.ps1, and I include that file path in Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1, is there a command I can use to find that file path if all I know is the cmdlet name?

Sage Pourpre · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-03 06:25:04Z

1

Get-Command is what you need. That being said, depending on the command you are testing and the type of the command (external application, function, cmdlet, profile function), the command path won't always be assigned to the same property / subproperty.

Here's a way to get the path no matter where it is disclosed.

Function definition

Here we check the possible locations of the path based on the Get-Command result, filter out everything that is $null or empty and pick the first result we get.

Function Get-CommandLocation($Command) {
    $definition = (Get-Command -Name $Command)
    @(
        $definition.Module.Path
        $definition.Source
        $definition.ScriptBlock.File
    ) | Where-Object { $_ } | Select-Object -First 1
}

Examples

Get-CommandLocation Get-Item  # Native cmdlet
# Value obtained from (Get-Command -Name 'Get-Item').Module.Path
# Return C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\Microsoft.PowerShell.Management\Microsoft.PowerShell.Management.psd1
 
Get-CommandLocation Edit-Profile # Custom profile function (Test with a function in your profile (if any))
# Value obtained from(Get-Command -Name 'Edit-Profile').ScriptBlock.File
# Return C:\Users\SagePourpre\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.VSCode_profile.ps1
 
Get-CommandLocation New-ExternalHelp # PlatyPS module downloaded from the gallery
# Value obtained from (Get-Command New-ExternalHelp).Module.Path
# Return C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\platyPS\0.14.2\platyPS.psm1

Get-CommandLocation -command cmd # External Program
# Value located in  (Get-Command -Name 'cmd').Source
# Return C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe

edited Jul 3, 2022 at 6:25

answered Jul 1, 2022 at 2:15

Sage Pourpre

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2 Comments

Sage Pourpre Over a year ago

@mklement0 I updated my function to work with external application. I also simplified the whole thing since in fact, everything needed is available through Get-Command. I don't understand the external script concern though. From my quick testing, I know Powershell load modules from path on-demand and Get-Command work fine but external scripts, paths or not, need to be loaded to be picked up by Get-Command, no ? In any cases, if the external script is imported in the current session, its location will be revealed through Get-Item, like the others scenario.

mklement0 Over a year ago

Nicely done, thanks for updating - that should now cover all command types (except aliases, which would have to be resolved first). PowerShell treats external scripts - i.e., stand-alone .ps1 files - like any other external program, in the sense that it automatically discovers them if present in a directory listed in $env:PATH(but irrespective of $env:PATHEXT on Windows / the executable permission bit on Unix), and reads and executes them on demand (no importing); the only difference to external programs is that it executes them in-process.

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