Understanding coding syntax

Question

I would like to give me a link or a document where I Can understand coding syntax of a help manual of a specific programming language.

In the command below, for example, what is the meaning of [] or []<String[]> or []<>{| | |} ?

I hope that you understand my question

Get-ChildItem [[-Path] <String[]>] [[-Filter] <String>] [-Attributes {read-only | Hidden | System | Directory |
    Archive | Device | Normal | Temporary | SparseFile | ReparsePoint | Compressed | Offline | NotContentIndexed |
    Encrypted | IntegrityStream | NoScrubData}] [-Depth <UInt32>] [-Directory] [-Exclude <String[]>] [-File] [-Force]
    [-Hidden] [-Include <String[]>] [-Name] [-Read Only] [-Recurse] [-System] [-UseTransaction] [<CommonParameters>]

Sage Pourpre · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-06 11:03:21Z

3

Check out about_Command_Syntax on the official Powershell documentation.

SYNTAX DIAGRAMS

Each paragraph in a command syntax diagram represents a valid form of the command.

To construct a command, follow the syntax diagram from left to right. Select from among the optional parameters and provide values for the placeholders.

PowerShell uses the following notation for syntax diagrams.
<command-name> -<Required Parameter Name> <Required Parameter Value>
[-<Optional Parameter Name> <Optional Parameter Value>]
[-<Optional Switch Parameters>]
[-<Optional Parameter Name>] <Required Parameter Value>

Regarding <>

The .NET type of a parameter value is enclosed in angle brackets < > to indicate that it is placeholder for a value and not a literal that you type in a command.

{}

Braces {} indicate an "enumeration," which is a set of valid values for a parameter.

[]

A right and left bracket [] appended to a .NET type indicates that the parameter can accept one or multiple values of that type. Enter the values in a comma-separated list.

I won't copy paste everything but head up there to get more insights on the syntax.

answered Mar 6, 2022 at 11:03

Sage Pourpre

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1 Comment

mklement0 Over a year ago

Revisiting this helpful answer, let me suggest two improvements: It's worth mentioning that [-<Optional Parameter Name>] parameters are called positional parameters. May be worth adding the [[-<Optional Parameter Name>] <Optional Parameter Value>] variant (currently missing from the docs), i.e. an optional positional parameter (an example is Start-Process' -ArgumentList parameter).

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