Bash vs PowerShell

The headline difference: bash pipes bytes of text, PowerShell pipes typed .NET objects.

Summary

Bash is the default Linux shell — POSIX-derived, text-stream–oriented, everything that flows through a pipe is bytes that the next command parses.

PowerShell is Microsoft's object shell — pipes carry typed .NET objects with properties and methods, and most commands are verb-noun cmdlets (`Get-ChildItem`, `Set-Content`) rather than tiny external binaries.

In practice that means bash favors tight one-liners glued together with `grep`/`awk`/`sed`, while PowerShell favors `Where-Object` / `Select-Object` / `ForEach-Object` operating on objects you can introspect with `Get-Member`.

Syntax & semantic differences

Pipe contents
Bash
Bytes of text. Next command parses lines itself.
PowerShell
Typed .NET objects. Next cmdlet reads properties directly.
`Get-ChildItem | Where-Object Length -gt 1MB` works because each item is a `FileInfo` object — no `awk '$5 > 1000000'` parsing needed.
Variable syntax
Bash
NAME=value (no spaces around `=`). Read as `$NAME` or `${NAME}`.
PowerShell
$Name = value (spaces allowed). Read as `$Name`. Holds any object, not just strings.
Bash variables are strings by default; PowerShell variables are typed unless declared `[string]$x`.
Command substitution
Bash
$(command) or backticks (legacy).
PowerShell
$(command) for strings; @(command) to force an array; (command) returns the raw object.
Conditionals
Bash
`if [[ -f file ]]; then ...; fi` — `[[ ]]` is the bash test built-in.
PowerShell
`if (Test-Path file) { ... }` — comparison operators are `-eq`, `-lt`, `-match`, not `==`/`<`/`=~`.
PowerShell `==` is **not** a comparison operator. Using `if ($a == $b)` is a silent bug — use `-eq`.
Loops
Bash
`for f in *.log; do echo "$f"; done` — word-split + glob expansion is shell-side.
PowerShell
`Get-ChildItem *.log | ForEach-Object { Write-Output $_.Name }` — pipeline-oriented.
Functions
Bash
`my_fn() { echo "$1"; }` — positional args `$1 $2 ... $@`.
PowerShell
`function My-Fn { param($Name) Write-Output $Name }` — named, typed params with `param()`.
Exit status
Bash
`$?` is the previous command's exit code (0 = success).
PowerShell
`$LASTEXITCODE` for external programs; `$?` is a boolean for the *last cmdlet*. Different beast.
Porting a `[[ $? -ne 0 ]]` check straight to PowerShell will read the boolean, not the exit code — use `$LASTEXITCODE` for external `.exe` results.
String interpolation
Bash
Double quotes interpolate `$var` and `$(cmd)`. Single quotes do not.
PowerShell
Same — but only **double quotes**; single quotes are literal. `$()` is the subexpression operator inside strings.
Globbing
Bash
Shell expands `*` / `?` / `[abc]` before the command sees them.
PowerShell
`*` / `?` are expanded by *cmdlets* that opt in. Or use `-like` / `-match` for explicit pattern matching.
Error handling
Bash
`set -e` to abort on failure; check `$?` after each command; `||` short-circuit.
PowerShell
`try { ... } catch { ... }` — only catches **terminating** errors. Use `-ErrorAction Stop` to make a non-terminating error throw.
This is the #1 source of "my PowerShell script ignored the error" bugs — `Get-Content missing.txt` writes an error record but the script keeps running unless you add `-ErrorAction Stop`.
Aliases
Bash
`alias ll='ls -la'` — text substitution, not exported to subshells unless `shopt -s expand_aliases`.
PowerShell
`Set-Alias ll Get-ChildItem` — aliases map a name to a cmdlet *only*. They cannot include parameters.
You cannot `Set-Alias ll 'Get-ChildItem -Force'` — for that, define a function: `function ll { Get-ChildItem -Force @args }`.
Script extension
Bash
`.sh` (convention only — bash ignores extensions, the shebang `#!/usr/bin/env bash` decides the interpreter).
PowerShell
`.ps1`. Execution policy can block running unsigned scripts: `Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned`.

Side-by-side commands

The 32 most-compared commands in Bash and PowerShell. See all Bash commands · See all PowerShell commands.

aliasCreate a shortcut name for a longer command line.
Bash
```
alias ll='ls -la'
```
PowerShell
```
Set-Alias ll Get-ChildItem
```
awkPattern scanning and processing language for structured text.
Bash
```
awk '{print $1}' file
```
PowerShell
```
Get-Content file | ForEach-Object { ($_ -split '\s+')[0] }
```
catPrint file contents to standard output.
Bash
```
cat file.txt
```
PowerShell
```
Get-Content file.txt
```
chmodChange file mode bits (read / write / execute permissions) on Unix files.
Bash
```
chmod 755 file
```
PowerShell
```
icacls file /grant Users:(RX)
```
cpCopy files and directories.
Bash
```
cp source dest
```
PowerShell
```
Copy-Item source dest
```
curlTransfer data from or to a server over HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and many other protocols.
Bash
```
curl https://example.com
```
PowerShell
```
Invoke-WebRequest https://example.com
```

cutExtract sections (fields or characters) from each line.

Bash

cut -d',' -f1 file.csv

PowerShell

Get-Content file.csv | ForEach-Object { ($_ -split ',')[0] }

echoPrint arguments to standard output, separated by spaces, followed by a newline.
Bash
```
echo "hello world"
```
PowerShell
```
echo "hello world"
```
exportSet an environment variable and mark it for export to child processes.
Bash
```
export NAME=value
```
PowerShell
```
$env:NAME = "value"
```
findLocate files by name, size, time, or other attributes.
Bash
```
find . -name "*.log"
```
PowerShell
```
Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Filter *.log
```

grepSearch file contents for a pattern.

Bash

grep -r "pattern" .

PowerShell

Select-String -Pattern "pattern" -Path *.txt

headOutput the first lines of a file.
Bash
```
head -n 10 file
```
PowerShell
```
Get-Content file -TotalCount 10
```
historyShow previously run commands from the shell history.
Bash
```
history
```
PowerShell
```
Get-History
```
killSend a signal to a process (typically to terminate it).
Bash
```
kill <pid>
```
PowerShell
```
Stop-Process -Id <pid>
```
lsList directory contents.
Bash
```
ls -la
```
PowerShell
```
Get-ChildItem -Force
```
mkdirCreate a new directory.
Bash
```
mkdir dir
```
PowerShell
```
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path dir
```
mvMove or rename files and directories.
Bash
```
mv source dest
```
PowerShell
```
Move-Item source dest
```
pingSend ICMP echo requests to test reachability and round-trip latency.
Bash
```
ping example.com
```
PowerShell
```
Test-Connection example.com
```
psList a snapshot of currently running processes.
Bash
```
ps aux
```
PowerShell
```
Get-Process
```
rmDelete files and directories.
Bash
```
rm file
```
PowerShell
```
Remove-Item file
```
sedStream editor for filtering and transforming text.
Bash
```
sed 's/old/new/g' file
```
PowerShell
```
(Get-Content file) -replace 'old', 'new'
```
sortSort lines of text.
Bash
```
sort file
```
PowerShell
```
Get-Content file | Sort-Object
```
sshOpen a secure shell on a remote host or run a remote command.
Bash
```
ssh user@host
```
PowerShell
```
ssh user@host
```
tailOutput the last lines of a file.
Bash
```
tail -n 10 file
```
PowerShell
```
Get-Content file -Tail 10
```
tarBundle and unbundle files into a single archive (often combined with gzip / bzip2 / xz).
Bash
```
tar -czf archive.tar.gz dir/
```
PowerShell
```
tar -czf archive.tar.gz dir
```
topInteractive process viewer — show running processes sorted by CPU or memory, refreshed in place.
Bash
```
top
```
PowerShell
```
Get-Process | Sort-Object CPU -Descending | Select-Object -First 20
```
touchCreate an empty file or update its modification time if it exists.
Bash
```
touch file.txt
```
PowerShell
```
New-Item file.txt
```
wcCount lines, words, or bytes.
Bash
```
wc -l file
```
PowerShell
```
(Get-Content file).Count
```

wgetNon-interactive network downloader for HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP.

Bash

wget https://example.com/file.zip

PowerShell

Invoke-WebRequest https://example.com/file.zip -OutFile file.zip

whichLocate an executable in PATH and print its full path.
Bash
```
which python3
```
PowerShell
```
Get-Command python3
```

xargsBuild and execute command lines from standard input.

Bash

find . -name '*.tmp' | xargs rm

PowerShell

Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Filter *.tmp | ForEach-Object { Remove-Item $_.FullName }

zipPackage and compress files into a ZIP archive.

Bash

zip -r archive.zip dir/

PowerShell

Compress-Archive -Path dir -DestinationPath archive.zip

Gotchas when porting between them

PowerShell `ls`, `cat`, `cp`, `mv`, `rm`, `ps` are *aliases* for cmdlets, not the Unix binaries — Unix flags like `ls -la` will error.
Quoting differs: bash `"$var"` and PowerShell `"$var"` both interpolate, but bash single-quotes block all expansion and PowerShell single-quotes block expansion and the `$()` subexpression operator. Don't copy-paste quoted strings blindly.
Backticks in bash run a command; backticks in PowerShell are **the line-continuation character** and the escape character inside double-quoted strings — completely unrelated.
PowerShell ships only on Windows by default. `pwsh` (PowerShell 7+) is the cross-platform Core build and behaves slightly differently — e.g. case-sensitive on Linux/macOS.
Pipe behavior on Windows: when a PowerShell cmdlet pipes to a legacy `.exe`, the objects are stringified using the host's default formatter — what you see in the terminal is **not** what the `.exe` receives.

Bash vs PowerShell

Summary

Syntax & semantic differences

Pipe contents

Variable syntax

Command substitution

Conditionals

Loops

Functions

Exit status

String interpolation

Globbing

Error handling

Aliases

Script extension

Side-by-side commands

Gotchas when porting between them

Full references

Other comparisons