Learning About Objects: Get-Member

Article
06/19/2015

Updated: August 9, 2012

Applies To: Windows PowerShell 2.0, Windows PowerShell 3.0

One of the most useful cmdlets is Get-Member, which displays information about the .NET Framework object that a command returns. The information includes the type, properties, and methods of the object.

To use Get-Member, use a pipeline operator (|) to send the results of a command to Get-Member. For example:

get-service | get-member

This command reveals that Get-Service actually returns a set of System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController objects -- one for each service on the computer.

   TypeName: System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController

Name                      MemberType    Definition
----                      ----------    ----------
Name                      AliasProperty Name = ServiceName
add_Disposed              Method        System.Void add_Disposed(EventHandler value)
Close                     Method        System.Void Close()
Continue                  Method        System.Void Continue()
CreateObjRef              Method        System.Runtime.Remoting.ObjRef CreateObjRef(Type requestedType)
Dispose                   Method        System.Void Dispose()
Equals                    Method        System.Boolean Equals(Object obj)
ExecuteCommand            Method        System.Void ExecuteCommand(Int32 command)
get_CanPauseAndContinue   Method        System.Boolean get_CanPauseAndContinue()
get_CanShutdown           Method        System.Boolean get_CanShutdown()
get_CanStop               Method        System.Boolean get_CanStop()
get_Container             Method        System.ComponentModel.IContainer get_Container()
get_DependentServices     Method        System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController[] get_DependentServices()
get_DisplayName           Method        System.String get_DisplayName()
get_MachineName           Method        System.String get_MachineName()
get_ServiceHandle         Method        System.Runtime.InteropServices.SafeHandle get_ServiceHandle()
get_ServiceName           Method        System.String get_ServiceName()
get_ServicesDependedOn    Method        System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController[] get_ServicesDependedOn()
get_ServiceType           Method        System.ServiceProcess.ServiceType get_ServiceType()
get_Site                  Method        System.ComponentModel.ISite get_Site()
get_Status                Method        System.ServiceProcess.ServiceControllerStatus get_Status()
GetHashCode               Method        System.Int32 GetHashCode()
GetLifetimeService        Method        System.Object GetLifetimeService()
GetType                   Method        System.Type GetType()
InitializeLifetimeService Method        System.Object InitializeLifetimeService()
Pause                     Method        System.Void Pause()
Refresh                   Method        System.Void Refresh()
remove_Disposed           Method        System.Void remove_Disposed(EventHandler value)
set_DisplayName           Method        System.Void set_DisplayName(String value)
set_MachineName           Method        System.Void set_MachineName(String value)
set_ServiceName           Method        System.Void set_ServiceName(String value)
set_Site                  Method        System.Void set_Site(ISite value)
Start                     Method        System.Void Start(), System.Void Start(String[] args)
Stop                      Method        System.Void Stop()
ToString                  Method        System.String ToString()
WaitForStatus             Method        System.Void WaitForStatus(ServiceControllerStatus desiredStatus), System.Voi...
CanPauseAndContinue       Property      System.Boolean CanPauseAndContinue {get;}
CanShutdown               Property      System.Boolean CanShutdown {get;}
CanStop                   Property      System.Boolean CanStop {get;}
Container                 Property      System.ComponentModel.IContainer Container {get;}
DependentServices         Property      System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController[] DependentServices {get;}
DisplayName               Property      System.String DisplayName {get;set;}
MachineName               Property      System.String MachineName {get;set;}
ServiceHandle             Property      System.Runtime.InteropServices.SafeHandle ServiceHandle {get;}
ServiceName               Property      System.String ServiceName {get;set;}
ServicesDependedOn        Property      System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController[] ServicesDependedOn {get;}
ServiceType               Property      System.ServiceProcess.ServiceType ServiceType {get;}
Site                      Property      System.ComponentModel.ISite Site {get;set;}
Status                    Property      System.ServiceProcess.ServiceControllerStatus Status {get;}

This information looks very technical, but it is actually very practical.

The typename (such as "System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController") tells you what type of .NET object the cmdlet returns. For information about objects in this .NET class, paste the typename in the Search text box in MSDN. The associated MSDN topic includes information about the properties and methods of objects in this class, including the objects that Get-Service returns.
The Property types represent properties of the objects. The value of each property is information about the service object. For example, the ServiceController objects have a CanPauseAndContinue property. The MSDN description of the property explains that the property tells whether the service can be paused and resumed.

To list the value of a property of a particular service, type:
```
(get-service <service-name>).<property-name>
```
such as:
```
(get-service alerter).canpauseandcontinue
```
To display a list with the name and the value of the CanPauseAndContinue property of the Alerter service, type:
```
get-service alerter | format-list -property name, CanPauseAndContinue
```
To display a list of the values of all properties of the Alerter service, type:
```
get-service alerter | format-list -property *
```
To display a table with the name and the value of the CanPauseAndContinue property of all services, type:
```
get-service | format-table -property name, CanPauseAndContinue
```
The Method types represent methods of the object, that is, actions that you can perform on the object. For example, ServiceController objects have a Stop method that lets you stop the service.

To call a method of a service object, use the following format. (Be sure to include the parentheses).
```
(get-service <service-name>).<method-name>()
For example,
(get-service schedule).stop()
```

For more information about the Get-Member command, type:

get-help get-member -detailed

Learning About Objects: Get-Member

Additional resources