Without any arguments or parameters, Get-Help will show introductory help about the help system. This content is taken from the default help file (Get-Help default); a snippet of this is as follows:
PS> Get-Help
TOPIC
Windows PowerShell Help System
SHORT DESCRIPTION
Displays help about Windows PowerShell cmdlets and concepts.
LONG DESCRIPTION
Windows PowerShell Help describes Windows PowerShell cmdlets,
The help content, in most cases, will not fit on a single screen. The help command differs from Get-Help in that it pauses (waiting for a key to be pressed) after each page, for example: help default.
The previous command is equivalent to running Get-Help and piping it into the more command:
Get-Help default | more
Alternatively, in Windows PowerShell, but not PowerShell Core, Get-Help can be asked to show a window:
Get-Help default -ShowWindow
The available help content may be listed using either of the following two commands:
Get-Help * Get-Help -Category All
Help for a command may be viewed as follows:
Get-Help <CommandName>
Let's look at an example:
Get-Help Get-Variable
If a help document includes an online version link, it may be opened in a browser by using this:
Get-Help Get-Command -Online
The help content is broken down into a number of visible sections: name, synopsis, syntax, description, related links, and remarks. Syntax is covered in the following section in more detail as it is the most complex.