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PowerShell vs CMD

By Priya PedamkarPriya Pedamkar

PowerShell and CMD

Difference Between PowerShell and CMD

PowerShell is a scripting language as well as an object-oriented automation engine. It is designed especially for system administrators. It is similar to Linux Bash Scripting and built on the top of the .NET Framework, it is used to control the applications and windows operating system on windows servers. It used to control & automate the administration of the Windows OS and other applications by the administrators. It’s used to do almost every kind of job the GUI used to do. It’s mostly used for automation. The command prompt is usually used in a traditional scheme that is not based on GUI, where everything you have to do by command only, in the command prompt you have more control over the device than the man, but there is also a disadvantage in the form of a less user-friendly scheme. To run the java program you have to go to the CMD then only it can execute the program, people with knowledge of cmd commands can easily move from windows to Linux and UNIX operating system. It does not take care of cases that, for example, CD or CD will be treated as the same. To begin a command prompt, you have to go to begin type cmd and get a command prompt.

Head To Head Comparison Between PowerShell and CMD (Infographics)

Below is the top 4 difference between PowerShell vs CMD

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PowerShell vs CMD (Infographics)

Key Differences Between PowerShell vs CMD

Both PowerShell vs CMD are popular choices in the market; let us discuss some of the major Difference:

  1. PowerShell is a fresh and greatly enhanced shell and programming language that was first made accessible on Windows operating systems. It came as an add-on earlier. It is designed especially for the system administrators. It is similar to Linux Bash Scripting and built on the top of .NET Framework.
  2. While CMD is a command-line interface that interacts with the operating system via a command, there are many commands that interact with the system. Flow control is not simple to control in cmd compared to PowerShell due to fewer characteristics compared to PowerShell.
  3. PowerShell is a CMD superset with a lot of features compared to CMD with restricted features that have the authority to call CMD or do anything, PowerShell can call an external program or a fresh program. It has direct access to all of the .NET, easy access to COM, C#, F#, and other .NET languages. PowerShell can pass and return objects structure data with methods, events, and properties to another command.
  4. While in CMD have a lack of commands compared to PowerShell and functionality. It has limitations compared to PowerShell, it produces simple text.
  5. PowerShell is object-oriented, having all the characteristics of an object-oriented language, such as polymorphism, encapsulation, inheritance, abstraction.
  6. While CMD is a string. It does not have object-oriented language characteristics, so it can not provide object-oriented language features.
  7. PowerShell is integrated with a .net framework so all the classes of the .net framework are available in PowerShell. This feature helps the system administrator and developer to do automation more efficiently by using the .net framework, this is called the power of PowerShell.
  8. While CMD does not have such class access that it lacks compared to PowerShell. CMD can also use it to automate things, but it doesn’t have access to the.net class that needed a lot of developers’ attempts to do that.
  9. PowerShell can be incorporated with the.net framework at runtime and can also readily consume output from other apps.
  10. CMD does not have such features.
  11. PowerShell can run all types of programs, produce different types of outcomes, object text, etc.
  12. While CMD can only generate text output type, it can only console program type.

PowerShell vs CMD Comparison Table

Below is the 4 topmost comparison between PowerShell vs CMD

The basis of comparison  

PowerShell

CMD
Definition PowerShell is a scripting language and object-oriented automation engine. It is designed especially for the system administrators. It is similar to Linux Bash Scripting and built on the top of .NET Framework CMD is a command-line interface to interact with the operating system, it is command based.
Usage It is used to control the applications and windows operating system on windows servers. It used to control & automate the administration of the Window OS and other applications by the administrators It is used to execute the given command on the console, can be used to debug the problem.
Commands Change the directory Set-Location. To list out the file Get-ChildItem command used. To change the directory cd command used. To list out the files in the directory dir command used.
Inventor It is developed by the James Truher The first version of cmd was developed by Therese Stowell

Conclusion

PowerShell vs CMD both are very powerful, As we saw that PowerShell is new products of Microsoft, it has many features compared to CMD, it can do lots of automation. It helps the System Administrator to automate the task very easily with the help of PowerShell, it provides lots of commands compared to CMD and more features. It can also produce output not only as a string it may be an object or any other kind of data. It can be integrated with .net applications and can use all classes of .net, While CMD is the very old product of Microsoft.

It has a limited set of functionality compared to PowerShell it is good for the people who have basics knowledge of computer or starting the career in the computer field, It does not have access to .net framework, which required lots of effort compared to PowerShell during automation, it produces only text-based output and executes only console-based applications. So finally we say that we should use PowerShell because it is new and more powerful. PowerShell is the very well-integrated command-line experience for the operating system. It has full access to all kinds of .net frameworks.

With the help of the PowerShell system, admin can easily manipulate the system workstation, server components. It is more secure compared to another scripting language like VBScript. CMD is also known as cmd.exe we can go directly to any drive location on cmd just typing cmd in the search bar of windows explorer. It is similar to Unix like system. The first version of cmd was developed by Therese Stowell. In windows for interface implementation win32 console is used.

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This has been a guide to the top difference between PowerShell vs CMD. Here we also discuss the key differences with infographics and comparison table. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more.

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