Windows command prompt help in PowerShell

Question

This comes more or less from idle curiosity. I've been using DOS since the ear;y 80s, and before that CP/M-86. In the past several years, I've pretty much shifted to PowerShell. However, by habit of long standing, I still use the old DOS commands. In the Windows command prompt, I've been typing:

help dir
help dir > dirhelp.txt
help > doshelp.txt

Here's the question, and the answer most probably is, "No." Is there any PowerShell command (or cmd-let) that produces help for Windows commands?

Yeah, I know it's crazy, but inquiring minds want to know. 'gal' is the closest thing I use, but I miss the terse but useful DOS help.

Not sure if I'm oversimplifying but help dir roughly equals: get-help Get-ChildItem? — mjsqu
– mjsqu, Commented Jul 9, 2018 at 2:55
Command.com was a command interpreter for DOS. What information are you looking for? — Bill_Stewart
– Bill_Stewart, Commented Jul 9, 2018 at 4:35
Your question doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would you want help with command.com? It doesn't exist at all on 64-bit Windows, and on 32-bit versions it's a 16-bit MS-DOS program. You seem to be confusing the Windows command prompt (cmd) with an obsolete 16-bit operating system commonly called DOS. The command prompt on Windows is not DOS and doesn't use command.com. — Ross Ridge
– Ross Ridge, Commented Jul 9, 2018 at 5:09
Why? No reason other than it's something I've been living with for almost 40 years, and I wondered if it still lives. It does! Hooray! — ccc31807
– ccc31807, Commented Jul 10, 2018 at 0:24

Lachie White · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-09 03:12:46Z

2

PowerShell has a really good help system that can be used in a few different ways, I tend to use a combination of them methods below:

Get all PowerShell cmdlets:
Get-Command

Find all cmdlets with help:
Get-Command "*help*

Find help with specific cmdlets:
Get-Help Get-ChildItem

Find cmdlets with Aliases:
Get-Alias

You can even do things like:
Get-Help Dir -Examples or Get-Help Dir -Online

Hope this helps!

Nice Article for some further reading:
https://www.darkoperator.com/blog/2013/1/15/powershell-basicsusing-the-help-subsystem.html

answered Jul 9, 2018 at 3:12

Lachie White

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notjustme · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-09 08:56:34Z

1

This should give you the output you'd expect from running help in cmd.exe even when run in PowerShell. If that's what you're asking for?

help.exe dir
help.exe dir > dirhelp.txt
help.exe > doshelp.txt

answered Jul 9, 2018 at 8:56

notjustme

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ccc31807 Over a year ago

Bingo. Thanks, I like it!

Walkabout Tigger · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-09 03:17:56Z

0

Short answer: No. Snarky answer: Sure - the command is

start-process "http://www.mdgx.com/secrets.htm"

In Powershell, as I am sure you're familiar, one would use the Get-Help command to get help for any command provided you have the help subsystem up-to-date.

answered Jul 9, 2018 at 3:17

Walkabout Tigger

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ccc31807 Over a year ago

Short answer: Yes. Hats off to notjustme --- HELP.EXE Try it, you'll like it.

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