This repository is a collection of PowerShell scripts I've created to explore Windows-based automation and solve everyday problems in a practical way. My main goal with this project is to learn PowerShell by applying it to real-world tasks. Along the way, I hope to make these tools accessible and useful for others who are new to scripting or interested in automating their own workflows.
- PowerShell Scripting Projects
PowerShellScripts/
├── Collection_Simple-Functions/ # Small PowerShell utilities and fun scripts
├── Docs/ # Setup tutorials and script documentation
├── Images/ # Image assets
├── Project_Move-ChildItemUp/ # Moves everything in a folder/folders to the parent folder
├── Project_Set-TouchFile/ # Implement unix touch in powershell with enhancements
├── Project_Start-FastCopy/ # FastCopy automation wrapper for throttled copy tasks
├── .gitignore # Git ignore file
├── LICENSE # MIT License
└── README.md # This file
If you're new to scripting or command-line tools, don't worry -- you're not alone. Many people feel intimidated at first, staring into the deep abyss of black windows with blinking cursors. But once you understand the three core building blocks -- the Operating System, the Shell, and the Terminal -- you’ll see that it’s not as mysterious or deep as it seems. With just a bit of guidance, you'll be ready to explore scripting step by step.
👉 Understanding the Command Line -- Core Elements
After reading about the core elements of a command line interface, you might find yourself puzzled by a common description of PowerShell, that it’s “both a shell and a scripting language.” This claim might sound a bit confusing at first, but it actually reflects two distinct roles that PowerShell plays. And here’s where things get interesting: not every shell is a scripting language, and not every scripting language is a shell. The magic of PowerShell is that it combines the two into one powerful tool. In the following article, I will help you break down what each of these terms really means, and how they come together in PowerShell.
👉 Understanding the Shell and Scripting Language
This section introduces the key tools used across the scripts and automation workflows in this repository. For detailed setup instructions, use the quick links below, or visit the Documentation Folder.
If you are new to scripting, I recommend starting with the PowerShell Setup Guide and following the tutorials sequentially until the environment is fully configured.
If you are already familiar with some tools or only need specific setups, feel free to jump directly to the ones you are interested in.
PowerShell is a powerful, cross-platform shell and scripting language developed by Microsoft. It's designed for task automation, system configuration, and integrates deeply with Windows and the .NET runtime. This project uses PowerShell 7.5 on Windows.
In general, compared to the traditional Command Prompt (cmd.exe), PowerShell offers:
- Object-based input/output instead of plain text
- More consistent syntax and naming conventions
- Support for logic, loops, functions, and structured error handling
- Built-in tools like
Get-Helpfor discovering how commands work
PowerShell 7+ is open source and actively maintained on GitHub. Its growing ecosystem of modules and tools makes it ideal for both beginners and advanced users.
Windows Terminal is a modern terminal app by Microsoft that supports multiple shells like PowerShell, Command Prompt, and WSL in a tabbed, customizable interface. It improves usability and adds modern features like transparency, Unicode, font ligatures, and theme control.
Work in Progress 👉 Windows Terminal Setup Guide
oh-my-posh is a sleek, highly configurable prompt renderer for PowerShell and other shells. It enhances the look and clarity of your terminal with icons, colors, and segments. It integrates with Nerd Fonts for full visual support.
Visual Studio Code (VSCode) is a lightweight yet powerful code editor with built-in support for PowerShell, Git, extensions, and debugging. It’s the primary editor used in this project for writing and managing scripts. The tutorials in this repo are based on the VSCode environment.
Work in Progress 👉 VSCode Setup and Extensions
Project Move-ChildItemUp is created to solve one of my computer annoyance: there's no quick way to move everything inside a folder out of it. Typically, we just compromise and double click on the folder. Then we use Ctrl + A to select every object and use Ctrl + X to cut those objects. Finally we navigate to the parent folder where we want to pasts those files and hit Ctrl + V. To me, this is too much. Therefore, I wrote a script that does just that. Key features include:
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Accepts pipeline input. You can use
Get-ChildItemto obtain every subfolder in the folder of your choice and pipe it intoMove-ChildItemUp. Every file in every subfolder will be moved to their parent folder. -
Automatic deletion of empty folders.
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Accepts both relative and absolute path.
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Flexible logic when filename conflicts occur, including: rename, skip, and overwrite (coming soon).
Work in Progress 👉 Check out the Move-ChildItemUp README
Project Set-TouchFile is my implementation of the Unix touch command in PowerShell with additional enhancements. Key features include:
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Creates a new file if it does not already exist.
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Updates the last modified timestamp of an existing file without altering its contents.
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Provides user-friendly prompts to confirm actions, such as opening files and specifying new filenames.
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Includes validation helpers to ensure the filename and desired folder are valid under Windows rules before proceeding.
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Accepts both relative and absolute path.
Work in Progress 👉 Check out the Set-TouchFile README
Project Start-FastCopy is a PowerShell wrapper designed to automate and control data transfer folder-by-folder using the FastCopy free software. It provides an interface with control over speed, verification, simulation, and delay between folder transfers. This script is ideal for conducting copying multiple folders of size 50-100GB to a backup folder. Key features include:
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Automated Per-subfolder copying from source to target directory
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Set speed control with FastCopy presets at the terminal: full, autoslow, suspend, or custom (1–9)
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Post-copy file verification toggle
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Dry run simulation using FastCopy’s /no_exec
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Optional thermal throttling with adjustable delay between folders
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Path to FastCopy.exe executable configuration via config.json
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Interactive confirmation with PowerShell ShouldProcess feature
Work in Progress 👉 Check out the Start-FastCopy README
The SimpleFunctions folder contains a growing collection of lightweight, self-contained PowerShell functions designed for fun, learning, and daily scripting enhancements. These scripts are ideal for exploring how to use loops, output formatting, animation tricks, and terminal interactivity in PowerShell.
Examples Include:
./RenderPowerShellBanner: Renders a ASCII art of PowerShell in different fonts and a scanner-style animation../ShowShapes: Prints different shapes on to the terminal screen, including rectangle, triangle, cake, and spiner, etc.
More fun and visual terminal scripts on the way!
While not tied to automation tasks, these functions are great for building intuition about PowerShell scripting and experimenting with creative terminal outputs.
Work in Progress 👉 Browse the Collection_Simple-Functions README
This section presents current work-in-progress and some ideas for future developments in this repo. This todo list is updated frequently as development progresses.
Todo Last Updated: 2025-06-01
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Improve Repo README structure
- Find location to add table of contents
- Use link to documentation instead of listing the tutorials in the README
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Tool setup guides
- PowerShell Setup
- Terminal Setup
- oh-my-posh Setup
- VScode setup
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PowerShell Tutorial
- Introduce on shell, terminal, and OS
- Introduce shell and scripting language
- Introduction on PowerShell
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Make this repo README look more attractive
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New features in Set-TouchFile
- Silent mode toggle
- Overwrite file toggle
- Add logging
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Better documentation for Set-TouchFile
- Build-in help block
- Set-TouchFile README
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New features in Start-FastCopy
- Edit path for FastCopy executable in a config.json file, instead of using hard coded path
- Add logging
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Better documentation for Start-FastCopy
- Start-FastCopy build-in help block
- Start-FastCopy README
- Usage tutorial and demo with screenshots
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Make Start-FastCopy more modular
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Package Start-FastCopy as a PSmodule
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Better documentation in
./Collection_SimpleFunctions- Add README for folder
- Write documentation for current functions
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More simple function ideas
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Automate backup of key folders using Task Scheduler + FreeFileSYnc
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Automate journal logging
- Create a journal file daily
- Automate git pull several times per day
- Automate git push changes at the end of day
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Build a tool to monitor disk health status with
smartctl.- Log disk status with smartctl output
- Save key data history and create visualization
- Alert user of critical events and potential drive failure
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Disk Space Analyzer on command line
Questions, issues, or suggestions are welcome! If you find these scripts useful or have ideas for improvements, feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.
Jialiang Chang -- undergraduate student, currently self-learning PowerShell scripting.
This repository serves as both a learning log and a collection of practical scripts for everyday automation tasks.
Feel free to explore, adapt, and reuse anything that helps your workflow.
This project is licensed under the MIT License.
You're free to use, modify, and share this code — just include attribution when you do.