How to query Powershell cmdlet parameter values

Question

How can I get a list possible values of cmdlet parameter programmatically? E.g for New-Item -Type:

File
Directory
SymbolicLink
Junction
HardLink

Answer 1

Get-Help New-Item -Full
Get-Command New-Item | select *

You can also check the online documentation (e.g. New-Item).

Or you can use

(Get-Command -Name new-item).parametersets

as suggested by vonPryz above.

For "Get-" cmdlets I usually create an object and then do a Get-Member to retrieve the definition of the members.

e.g.

$item = Get-Item .\test.csv
$item | Get-Member


   TypeName: System.IO.FileInfo

Name                      MemberType     Definition
----                      ----------     ----------
LinkType                  CodeProperty   System.String LinkType{get=GetLinkType;}
Mode                      CodeProperty   System.String Mode{get=Mode;}
Target                    CodeProperty   System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1[[System.String, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]] Target{get=GetTarget;}
AppendText                Method         System.IO.StreamWriter AppendText()
CopyTo                    Method         System.IO.FileInfo CopyTo(string destFileName), System.IO.FileInfo CopyTo(string destFileName, bool overwrite)
Create                    Method         System.IO.FileStream Create()
CreateObjRef              Method         System.Runtime.Remoting.ObjRef CreateObjRef(type requestedType)
CreateText                Method         System.IO.StreamWriter CreateText()
Decrypt                   Method         void Decrypt()
Delete                    Method         void Delete()
Encrypt                   Method         void Encrypt()
Equals                    Method         bool Equals(System.Object obj)
GetAccessControl          Method         System.Security.AccessControl.FileSecurity GetAccessControl(), System.Security.AccessControl.FileSecurity GetAccessControl(System.Security.AccessControl.AccessControlSections includeSections)
GetHashCode               Method         int GetHashCode()
GetLifetimeService        Method         System.Object GetLifetimeService()
GetObjectData             Method         void GetObjectData(System.Runtime.Serialization.SerializationInfo info, System.Runtime.Serialization.StreamingContext context), void ISerializable.GetObjectData(System.Runtime.Serialization.Se...
GetType                   Method         type GetType()
InitializeLifetimeService Method         System.Object InitializeLifetimeService()
MoveTo                    Method         void MoveTo(string destFileName)
Open                      Method         System.IO.FileStream Open(System.IO.FileMode mode), System.IO.FileStream Open(System.IO.FileMode mode, System.IO.FileAccess access), System.IO.FileStream Open(System.IO.FileMode mode, System.I...
OpenRead                  Method         System.IO.FileStream OpenRead()
OpenText                  Method         System.IO.StreamReader OpenText()
OpenWrite                 Method         System.IO.FileStream OpenWrite()
Refresh                   Method         void Refresh()
Replace                   Method         System.IO.FileInfo Replace(string destinationFileName, string destinationBackupFileName), System.IO.FileInfo Replace(string destinationFileName, string destinationBackupFileName, bool ignoreMe...
SetAccessControl          Method         void SetAccessControl(System.Security.AccessControl.FileSecurity fileSecurity)
ToString                  Method         string ToString()
PSChildName               NoteProperty   string PSChildName=test.csv
PSDrive                   NoteProperty   PSDriveInfo PSDrive=C
PSIsContainer             NoteProperty   bool PSIsContainer=False
PSParentPath              NoteProperty   string PSParentPath=Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\test
PSPath                    NoteProperty   string PSPath=Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\test\test.csv
PSProvider                NoteProperty   ProviderInfo PSProvider=Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem
Attributes                Property       System.IO.FileAttributes Attributes {get;set;}
CreationTime              Property       datetime CreationTime {get;set;}
CreationTimeUtc           Property       datetime CreationTimeUtc {get;set;}
Directory                 Property       System.IO.DirectoryInfo Directory {get;}
DirectoryName             Property       string DirectoryName {get;}
Exists                    Property       bool Exists {get;}
Extension                 Property       string Extension {get;}
FullName                  Property       string FullName {get;}
IsReadOnly                Property       bool IsReadOnly {get;set;}
LastAccessTime            Property       datetime LastAccessTime {get;set;}
LastAccessTimeUtc         Property       datetime LastAccessTimeUtc {get;set;}
LastWriteTime             Property       datetime LastWriteTime {get;set;}
LastWriteTimeUtc          Property       datetime LastWriteTimeUtc {get;set;}
Length                    Property       long Length {get;}
Name                      Property       string Name {get;}
BaseName                  ScriptProperty System.Object BaseName {get=if ($this.Extension.Length -gt 0){$this.Name.Remove($this.Name.Length - $this.Extension.Length)}else{$this.Name};}
VersionInfo               ScriptProperty System.Object VersionInfo {get=[System.Diagnostics.FileVersionInfo]::GetVersionInfo($this.FullName);}