Discover object members in PowerShell

  • 5 minutes

Members are the various components of an object and include:

  • Properties, which describe attributes of the object. Examples of properties include a service name, a process ID number, and an event log message.
  • Methods, which invoke an action on an object. For example, a process object can be stopped, and an event log can be cleared.
  • Events, which trigger when something happens to an object. A file might trigger an event when it is updated, or a process might trigger an event when it has output to produce.

PowerShell primarily deals with properties and methods. For most commands that you run, the default on-screen output doesn't include all of an object’s properties. Some objects have hundreds of properties, and the full list won't fit on the screen. PowerShell includes several configuration files that list the object properties that should display by default. That's why you notice three properties when you run Get-Service.

Use the Get-Member command to list all the members of an object. This command lists all the properties, even those that don't display on the screen by default. This command also lists methods and events and displays the type name of the object. For example, the objects that Get-Service produces have the type name System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController. You can use the type name when you search the internet to locate object documentation and examples. However, those examples are frequently in a programming language such as Microsoft Visual Basic or C#.

Note

Get-Member has an alias: gm.

To use Get-Member, just pipe any command output to it. For example, enter the following command in the console, and then select Enter:

Get-Service | Get-Member

Note

The first command runs, produces its output, and then passes that output to Get‑Member. Use caution when you run commands that might modify the system configuration, because those commands make changes to the system. You can't use the -WhatIf parameter, which indicates to PowerShell to only test and display the results of the command, when you want to pipe to Get-Member. The -WhatIf parameter prevents the command from producing any output. That means Get-Member receives no input, and therefore doesn't display any output.