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Command and PowerShell History

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Using Get-History cmdlet   #

  • Get-Command History: Use Get-History in PowerShell to view your session’s command history
  • Retrieve Command by ID: You can re-run a command by its history ID:Invoke-History -Id <ID>
  • Exporting Command History: Save the command history to a file for future reference.Get-History | Export-Csv -Path "C:\path\to\history.csv" -NoTypeInformation

Using h alias #

  • The Get-History cmdlet has a short alias, h, that you can use as a shorthand: h

Permanent Command History Across Sessions #

PowerShell does not persist command history by default across sessions. However, using the PSReadLine module (available in PowerShell 5.1+), you can enable persistent history.

  • Enable PSReadLine Module: Ensure it’s installed and loaded.Install-Module -Name PSReadLine
    Import-Module PSReadLine
  • View Persistent History:Get-Content (Get-PSReadlineOption).HistorySavePath

Viewing Command History from Previous Sessions  #

PowerShell saves command history across sessions in a file. You can open this file to view your past commands. The default location for this file is:

  • Windows PowerShell: C:\Users\<YourUserName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\PSReadLine\ConsoleHost_history.txt
  • PowerShell (Core): C:\Users\<YourUserName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\PowerShell\PSReadLine\ConsoleHost_history.txt

You can open this file in any text editor or view its contents using PowerShell:

Get-Content "$env:APPDATA\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\PSReadLine\ConsoleHost_history.txt"

Or for PowerShell Core:

Get-Content "$env:APPDATA\Microsoft\PowerShell\PSReadLine\ConsoleHost_history.txt"

This allows you to view a persistent history across multiple sessions.

Clear Command History #

  • Clear PowerShell History for Current Session:Clear-History
  • Delete Persistent PowerShell History: Locate the history file and delete or clear it:Remove-Item (Get-PSReadlineOption).HistorySavePath