PowerShell Alias

An alias is an alternate name, nickname, or shorthand reference assigned to a cmdlet, function, script, or executable file. PowerShell includes built-in aliases to help administrators transition from Unix shells (Bash) and Windows Command Prompt (cmd.exe), as well as cmdlets to create and manage custom aliases.

PowerShell ships with many built-in aliases, including familiar names from Bash (ls, cat, rm) and Command Prompt (dir, copy, del), to ease the transition for users coming from other shells.

Inspecting Aliases with Get-Alias

The Get-Alias cmdlet (alias: gal) inspects the aliases registered in your active PowerShell session.

Finding the Target of an Alias

To find out what cmdlet or executable an alias points to, pass the alias name directly:

Get-Alias -Name "dir", "ls", "cat"

CommandType     Name                                               Version    Source
-----------     ----                                               -------    ------
Alias           dir -> Get-ChildItem
Alias           ls -> Get-ChildItem
Alias           cat -> Get-Content

where:

• -Name ls looks up the specific alias ls.
• The output shows ls resolves to the Get-ChildItem cmdlet.

To see every alias currently defined in the session, run Get-Alias with no parameters:

Get-Alias | Select-Object -First 5

CommandType     Name                                               Version    Source
-----------     ----                                               -------    ------
Alias           %  -> ForEach-Object
Alias           ?  -> Where-Object
Alias           ac -> Add-Content
Alias           cat -> Get-Content
Alias           cd  -> Set-Location

Reverse Lookup: Finding Aliases for a Cmdlet

You can also search in the reverse direction, finding all aliases that point to a specific cmdlet, using the -Definition parameter:

Get-Alias -Definition Get-ChildItem

CommandType     Name                                               Version    Source
-----------     ----                                               -------    ------
Alias           dir -> Get-ChildItem
Alias           gci -> Get-ChildItem
Alias           ls -> Get-ChildItem

Common Built-In Aliases

PowerShell provides standard aliases that mirror traditional command names from Bash and Command Prompt:

Creating and Managing Aliases: Set-Alias and New-Alias

PowerShell provides two cmdlets for defining aliases:

• New-Alias: Creates an alias. If the alias already exists, it throws an error unless -Force is specified.
• Set-Alias (alias: sal): Creates an alias if it does not exist, or overwrites it if it does. This is generally preferred.

Set-Alias

Set-Alias creates a new alias, or overwrites an existing one if the name is already in use.

Set-Alias -Name gp -Value Get-Process
gp

where:

• -Name gp defines the alias name.
• -Value Get-Process specifies the cmdlet the alias points to.

 NPM(K)    PM(M)      WS(M)     CPU(s)      Id  SI ProcessName
 ------    -----      -----     ------      --  -- -----------
     45   210.34     315.67      45.22    8192   1 chrome

New-Alias

New-Alias creates a new alias but throws an error if the alias name already exists, preventing accidental overwrites.

New-Alias -Name gp -Value Get-Process

New-Alias : An alias with the name 'gp' already exists.

Defining a Simple Alias

Set-Alias -Name "gh" -Value Get-Help

Set-Alias -Name "np" -Value "$env:SystemRoot\notepad.exe"

Removing an Alias

To delete an alias from the current session, use Remove-Alias or delete it from the Alias: PSDrive using Remove-Item:

Remove-Alias -Name "gh"

Remove-Item -Path "Alias:\np"

The Parameter Limitation of Aliases

An alias in PowerShell is strictly an alternate name for a command. You cannot include parameters or arguments in an alias definition.

Set-Alias -Name "ll" -Value "Get-ChildItem -Force"

If you need a shortcut that includes default parameters, write a wrapper function instead:

function ll { Get-ChildItem -Force $args }

where $args passes any additional arguments passed to ll directly through to Get-ChildItem.

Aliases can also point to custom functions, not just built-in cmdlets:

function Get-DiskSummary {
    Get-Volume | Select-Object DriveLetter, SizeRemaining, Size
}

Set-Alias -Name disksum -Value Get-DiskSummary
disksum

./custom-function-alias.ps1

DriveLetter SizeRemaining        Size
----------- -------------        ----
C           123456789012 512110190592

Persisting Aliases via PowerShell Profile

Aliases created at the command line exist only in memory for the lifetime of that session. When you close the terminal, all custom aliases are lost.

To make custom aliases available in every new session, add them to your PowerShell Profile script ($PROFILE).

Step 1: Open the Profile

Locate and edit the profile file stored in the $PROFILE variable:

if (-not (Test-Path -Path $PROFILE)) {
    New-Item -ItemType File -Path $PROFILE -Force | Out-Null
}
notepad.exe $PROFILE

For more details on profile scopes and paths, see PowerShell Environment.

Step 2: Add Alias and Function Declarations

Append your custom shortcuts to the profile file:

Set-Alias -Name "np" -Value "$env:SystemRoot\notepad.exe"
Set-Alias -Name "sysinfo" -Value Get-ComputerInfo
Set-Alias -Name "gs" -Value Get-Service
Set-Alias -Name "gp" -Value Get-Process
Set-Alias -Name "disksum" -Value Get-DiskSummary

function ll { Get-ChildItem -Force -Color $args }
function grep { Select-String $args }

where Each Set-Alias line runs automatically every time a new PowerShell session starts, since it's part of the profile script.

Save and close the file. The aliases and functions will now load automatically whenever you launch PowerShell.

Practical Example: Managing and Exporting Session Aliases

The following script audits the current session for custom aliases, exports them to a configuration file, and demonstrates how to handle shortcuts that require default parameters:

Set-Alias -Name "procs" -Value Get-Process

function Search-LogFiles {
    param([string]$Pattern)
    Get-ChildItem -Path "$env:TEMP" -Filter "*.log" -Recurse | 
        Select-String -Pattern $Pattern
}
Set-Alias -Name "slog" -Value Search-LogFiles

$TargetAliases = "procs", "slog"

$Report = foreach ($aliasName in $TargetAliases) {
    $aliasItem = Get-Alias -Name $aliasName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    if ($aliasItem) {
        [PSCustomObject]@{
            AliasName       = $aliasItem.Name
            TargetCommand   = $aliasItem.Definition
            CommandCategory = (Get-Command -Name $aliasItem.Definition).CommandType
            CreatedDate     = (Get-Date -Format "yyyy-MM-dd")
        }
    }
}

$Report

where:

• Set-Alias -Name "procs" -Value Get-Process creates a standard command alias.
• function Search-LogFiles wraps a multi-parameter command so it can be called with default behavior, and is then aliased to slog.
• Get-Alias -Name $aliasName queries the alias objects directly.
• (Get-Command -Name $aliasItem.Definition).CommandType resolves whether the target is a Cmdlet or a Function.

Execute the script from the console:

pwsh ./manage-session-aliases.ps1

AliasName TargetCommand   CommandCategory CreatedDate
--------- -------------   --------------- -----------
procs     Get-Process              Cmdlet 2026-09-27
slog      Search-LogFiles        Function 2026-09-27