The Get-History cmdlet gets the session history, that is, the list of commands entered during the current session. Windows PowerShell automatically maintains a history of each session. You can save the session history in XML or CSV format. By default, history files are saved in the home directory, but you can save the file in any location.

-id <Int64[]>

-count <int>

<CommonParameters>

The input type is the type of the objects that you can pipe to the cmdlet. The return type is the type of the objects that the cmdlet emits.

• The session history is a list of the commands entered during the session, along with the ID, which represents the order of execution, the status and start and end times of the command. As you enter each command, Windows PowerShell adds it to the history so that you can reuse it.
  
• By default, the history can hold 64 commands, but you can change it by changing the value of the $MaximumHistoryCount variable. When the history is full, the oldest command entries are deleted to make room for new ones. For more information, see about_Preference_Variables.
  
• You cannot clear the session history except by ending the Windows Power Shell session.
  
• Commands are added to the history when the command finishes executing, not when it is entered. If commands require extra time to complete, or are executing in a nested prompt (which complete only when you exit from the prompt level), they might appear to be out of order in the history.
  
• In addition to using the Get-History command, you can navigate within the session history by using the up-arrow and down-arrow keys. For more information about the session history, see about_History.
  
• You can also refer to Get-History by its built-in aliases, "h", "history" and "ghy". For more information, see about_Alias.
  

C:\PS>get-history

This command gets the 32 most recently submitted commands. The default display shows each command and its ID, which indicates the order of execution.

C:\PS>get-history | where-object {$_.commandLine -like "*service*"}

This command gets entries from the command history that includes the word, "service". The first command gets the 32 most recent entries in the session history. The pipeline operator (|) passes the results to the Where-Object cmdlet, which selects only the commands that include "service".

C:\PS>get-history -id 7 -count 5 | export-csv history.csv

This command gets the five most recent history entries ending with entry 7.

The pipeline operator (|) passes the result to the Export-Csv cmdlet, which formats the history as comma-separated text and saves it in the History.csv file. The file includes the data that is displayed when you format the history as a list, including the status and start and end times of the command.

C:\PS>get-history -count 1

This command gets the last (most recently entered) command in the command history. It uses the Count parameter to display just one command. By default, Get-History displays the most recent commands. This command can be abbreviated to "h -c 1" and is equivalent to pressing the up-arrow key.

C:\PS>get-history -count $MaximumHistoryCount

This command displays all of the commands saved in the session history. By default, $MaximumHistoryCount is 64, so this command can be abbreviated as"h -c 64".

C:\PS>get-history | format-list

This command displays all of the properties of entries in the session history. The pipeline operator (|) passes the result to the Format-List cmdlet, which displays all of the properties of each history entry, including the ID, status, and start and end times of the command.

Concepts