AWS Tools for PowerShell V4 has entered maintenance mode. We recommend that you migrate to [AWS Tools for PowerShell V5](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/powershell/v5/userguide/). For additional details and information on how to migrate, please refer to our [maintenance mode announcement](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/developer/aws-tools-for-powershell-v4-maintenance-mode-announcement/). # Cmdlet discovery and aliases This section shows you how to list services that are supported by the AWS Tools for PowerShell, how to show the set of cmdlets provided by the AWS Tools for PowerShell in support of those services, and how to find alternative cmdlet names (also called aliases) to access those services. ## Cmdlet Discovery All AWS service operations (or APIs) are documented in the API Reference Guide for each service. For example, see the [IAM API Reference](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/APIReference/). There is, in most cases, a one-to-one correspondence between an AWS service API and an AWS PowerShell cmdlet. To get the cmdlet name that corresponds to an AWS service API name, run the AWS `Get-AWSCmdletName` cmdlet with the `-ApiOperation` parameter and the AWS service API name. For example, to get all possible cmdlet names that are based on any available `DescribeInstances` AWS service API, run the following command: ``` PS > Get-AWSCmdletName -ApiOperation DescribeInstances CmdletName ServiceOperation ServiceName CmdletNounPrefix ---------- ---------------- ----------- ---------------- Get-EC2Instance DescribeInstances Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Get-GMLInstance DescribeInstances Amazon GameLift Service GML ``` The `-ApiOperation` parameter is the default parameter, so you can omit the parameter name. The following example is equivalent to the previous one: ``` PS > Get-AWSCmdletName DescribeInstances ``` If you know the names of both the API and the service, you can include the `-Service` parameter along with either the cmdlet noun prefix or part of the AWS service name. For example, the cmdlet noun prefix for Amazon EC2 is `EC2`. To get the cmdlet name that corresponds to the `DescribeInstances` API in the Amazon EC2 service, run one of the following commands. They are all result in the same output: ``` PS > Get-AWSCmdletName -ApiOperation DescribeInstances -Service EC2 PS > Get-AWSCmdletName -ApiOperation DescribeInstances -Service Compute PS > Get-AWSCmdletName -ApiOperation DescribeInstances -Service "Compute Cloud" CmdletName ServiceOperation ServiceName CmdletNounPrefix ---------- ---------------- ----------- ---------------- Get-EC2Instance DescribeInstances Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 ``` Parameter values in these commands are case-insensitive. If you do not know the name of either the desired AWS service API or the AWS service, you can use the `-ApiOperation` parameter, along with the pattern to match, and the `-MatchWithRegex` parameter. For example, to get all available cmdlet names that contain `SecurityGroup`, run the following command: ``` PS > Get-AWSCmdletName -ApiOperation SecurityGroup -MatchWithRegex CmdletName ServiceOperation ServiceName CmdletNounPrefix ---------- ---------------- ----------- ---------------- Approve-ECCacheSecurityGroupIngress AuthorizeCacheSecurityGroupIngress Amazon ElastiCache EC Get-ECCacheSecurityGroup DescribeCacheSecurityGroups Amazon ElastiCache EC New-ECCacheSecurityGroup CreateCacheSecurityGroup Amazon ElastiCache EC Remove-ECCacheSecurityGroup DeleteCacheSecurityGroup Amazon ElastiCache EC Revoke-ECCacheSecurityGroupIngress RevokeCacheSecurityGroupIngress Amazon ElastiCache EC Add-EC2SecurityGroupToClientVpnTargetNetwrk ApplySecurityGroupsToClientVpnTargetNetwork Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Get-EC2SecurityGroup DescribeSecurityGroups Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Get-EC2SecurityGroupReference DescribeSecurityGroupReferences Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Get-EC2StaleSecurityGroup DescribeStaleSecurityGroups Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Grant-EC2SecurityGroupEgress AuthorizeSecurityGroupEgress Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Grant-EC2SecurityGroupIngress AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 New-EC2SecurityGroup CreateSecurityGroup Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Remove-EC2SecurityGroup DeleteSecurityGroup Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Revoke-EC2SecurityGroupEgress RevokeSecurityGroupEgress Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Revoke-EC2SecurityGroupIngress RevokeSecurityGroupIngress Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Update-EC2SecurityGroupRuleEgressDescription UpdateSecurityGroupRuleDescriptionsEgress Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Update-EC2SecurityGroupRuleIngressDescription UpdateSecurityGroupRuleDescriptionsIngress Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Edit-EFSMountTargetSecurityGroup ModifyMountTargetSecurityGroups Amazon Elastic File System EFS Get-EFSMountTargetSecurityGroup DescribeMountTargetSecurityGroups Amazon Elastic File System EFS Join-ELBSecurityGroupToLoadBalancer ApplySecurityGroupsToLoadBalancer Elastic Load Balancing ELB Set-ELB2SecurityGroup SetSecurityGroups Elastic Load Balancing V2 ELB2 Enable-RDSDBSecurityGroupIngress AuthorizeDBSecurityGroupIngress Amazon Relational Database Service RDS Get-RDSDBSecurityGroup DescribeDBSecurityGroups Amazon Relational Database Service RDS New-RDSDBSecurityGroup CreateDBSecurityGroup Amazon Relational Database Service RDS Remove-RDSDBSecurityGroup DeleteDBSecurityGroup Amazon Relational Database Service RDS Revoke-RDSDBSecurityGroupIngress RevokeDBSecurityGroupIngress Amazon Relational Database Service RDS Approve-RSClusterSecurityGroupIngress AuthorizeClusterSecurityGroupIngress Amazon Redshift RS Get-RSClusterSecurityGroup DescribeClusterSecurityGroups Amazon Redshift RS New-RSClusterSecurityGroup CreateClusterSecurityGroup Amazon Redshift RS Remove-RSClusterSecurityGroup DeleteClusterSecurityGroup Amazon Redshift RS Revoke-RSClusterSecurityGroupIngress RevokeClusterSecurityGroupIngress Amazon Redshift RS ``` If you know the name of the AWS service but not the AWS service API, include both the `-MatchWithRegex` parameter and the `-Service` parameter to scope the search down to a single service. For example, to get all cmdlet names that contain `SecurityGroup` in only the Amazon EC2 service, run the following command ``` PS > Get-AWSCmdletName -ApiOperation SecurityGroup -MatchWithRegex -Service EC2 CmdletName ServiceOperation ServiceName CmdletNounPrefix ---------- ---------------- ----------- ---------------- Add-EC2SecurityGroupToClientVpnTargetNetwrk ApplySecurityGroupsToClientVpnTargetNetwork Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Get-EC2SecurityGroup DescribeSecurityGroups Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Get-EC2SecurityGroupReference DescribeSecurityGroupReferences Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Get-EC2StaleSecurityGroup DescribeStaleSecurityGroups Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Grant-EC2SecurityGroupEgress AuthorizeSecurityGroupEgress Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Grant-EC2SecurityGroupIngress AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 New-EC2SecurityGroup CreateSecurityGroup Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Remove-EC2SecurityGroup DeleteSecurityGroup Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Revoke-EC2SecurityGroupEgress RevokeSecurityGroupEgress Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Revoke-EC2SecurityGroupIngress RevokeSecurityGroupIngress Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Update-EC2SecurityGroupRuleEgressDescription UpdateSecurityGroupRuleDescriptionsEgress Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 Update-EC2SecurityGroupRuleIngressDescription UpdateSecurityGroupRuleDescriptionsIngress Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 ``` If you know the name of the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) command, you can use the `-AwsCliCommand` parameter and the desired AWS CLI command name to get the name of the cmdlet that's based on the same API. For example, to get the cmdlet name that corresponds to the `authorize-security-group-ingress` AWS CLI command call in the Amazon EC2 service, run the following command: ``` PS > Get-AWSCmdletName -AwsCliCommand "aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress" CmdletName ServiceOperation ServiceName CmdletNounPrefix ---------- ---------------- ----------- ---------------- Grant-EC2SecurityGroupIngress AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 ``` The `Get-AWSCmdletName` cmdlet needs only enough of the AWS CLI command name to identify the service and the AWS API. To get a list of all of the cmdlets in the Tools for PowerShell Core, run the PowerShell `Get-Command` cmdlet, as shown in the following example. ``` PS > Get-Command -Module AWSPowerShell.NetCore ``` You can run the same command with `-Module AWSPowerShell` to see the cmdlets in the AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell. The `Get-Command` cmdlet generates the list of cmdlets in alphabetical order. Note that by default the list is sorted by PowerShell verb, rather than PowerShell noun. To sort results by service instead, run the following command: ``` PS > Get-Command -Module AWSPowerShell.NetCore | Sort-Object Noun,Verb ``` To filter the cmdlets that are returned by the `Get-Command` cmdlet, pipe the output to the PowerShell `Select-String` cmdlet. For example, to view the set of cmdlets that work with AWS regions, run the following command: ``` PS > Get-Command -Module AWSPowerShell.NetCore | Select-String region Clear-DefaultAWSRegion Copy-HSM2BackupToRegion Get-AWSRegion Get-DefaultAWSRegion Get-EC2Region Get-LSRegionList Get-RDSSourceRegion Set-DefaultAWSRegion ``` You can also find cmdlets for a specific service by filtering for the service prefix of cmdlet nouns. To see the list of available service prefixes, run `Get-AWSPowerShellVersion -ListServiceVersionInfo`. The following example returns cmdlets that support the Amazon CloudWatch Events service. ``` PS > Get-Command -Module AWSPowerShell -Noun CWE* CommandType Name Version Source ----------- ---- ------- ------ Cmdlet Add-CWEResourceTag 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Disable-CWEEventSource 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Disable-CWERule 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Enable-CWEEventSource 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Enable-CWERule 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Get-CWEEventBus 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Get-CWEEventBusList 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Get-CWEEventSource 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Get-CWEEventSourceList 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Get-CWEPartnerEventSource 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Get-CWEPartnerEventSourceAccountList 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Get-CWEPartnerEventSourceList 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Get-CWEResourceTag 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Get-CWERule 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Get-CWERuleDetail 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Get-CWERuleNamesByTarget 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Get-CWETargetsByRule 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet New-CWEEventBus 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet New-CWEPartnerEventSource 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Remove-CWEEventBus 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Remove-CWEPartnerEventSource 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Remove-CWEPermission 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Remove-CWEResourceTag 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Remove-CWERule 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Remove-CWETarget 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Test-CWEEventPattern 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Write-CWEEvent 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Write-CWEPartnerEvent 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Write-CWEPermission 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Write-CWERule 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore Cmdlet Write-CWETarget 3.3.563.1 AWSPowerShell.NetCore ``` ## Cmdlet Naming and Aliases The cmdlets in the AWS Tools for PowerShell for each service are based on the methods provided by the AWS SDK for the service. However, because of PowerShell's mandatory naming conventions, the name of a cmdlet might be different from the name of the API call or method on which it is based. For example, the `Get-EC2Instance` cmdlet is based on the Amazon EC2`DescribeInstances` method. In some cases, the cmdlet name may be similar to a method name, but it may actually perform a different function. For example, the Amazon S3`GetObject` method retrieves an Amazon S3 object. However, the `Get-S3Object` cmdlet returns *information* about an Amazon S3 object rather than the object itself. ``` PS > Get-S3Object -BucketName text-content -Key aws-tech-docs ETag : "df000002a0fe0000f3c000004EXAMPLE" BucketName : aws-tech-docs Key : javascript/frameset.js LastModified : 6/13/2011 1:24:18 PM Owner : Amazon.S3.Model.Owner Size : 512 StorageClass : STANDARD ``` To get an S3 object with the AWS Tools for PowerShell, run the `Read-S3Object` cmdlet: ``` PS > Read-S3Object -BucketName text-content -Key text-object.txt -file c:\tmp\text-object-download.text Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a--- 11/5/2012 7:29 PM 20622 text-object-download.text ``` **Note** The cmdlet help for an AWS cmdlet provides the name of the AWS SDK API on which the cmdlet is based. For more information about standard PowerShell verbs and their meanings, see [Approved Verbs for PowerShell Commands](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/developer/cmdlet/approved-verbs-for-windows-powershell-commands). All AWS cmdlets that use the `Remove` verb – and the `Stop-EC2Instance` cmdlet when you add the `-Terminate` parameter – prompt for confirmation before proceeding. To bypass confirmation, add the `-Force` parameter to your command. **Important** AWS cmdlets do not support the `-WhatIf` switch. ### Aliases Setup of the AWS Tools for PowerShell installs an aliases file that contains aliases for many of the AWS cmdlets. You might find these aliases to be more intuitive than the cmdlet names. For example, service names and AWS SDK method names replace PowerShell verbs and nouns in some aliases. An example is the `EC2-DescribeInstances` alias. Other aliases use verbs that, though they do not follow standard PowerShell conventions, can be more descriptive of the actual operation. For example, the alias file maps the alias `Get-S3Content` to the cmdlet `Read-S3Object`. ``` PS > Set-Alias -Name Get-S3Content -Value Read-S3Object ``` The aliases file is located in the AWS Tools for PowerShell installation directory. To load the aliases into your environment, *dot-source* the file. The following is a Windows-based example. ``` PS > . "C:\Program Files (x86)\AWS Tools\PowerShell\AWSPowershell\AWSAliases.ps1" ``` For a Linux or macOS shell, it might look like this: ``` . ~/.local/share/powershell/Modules/AWSPowerShell.NetCore/3.3.563.1/AWSAliases.ps1 ``` To show all AWS Tools for PowerShell aliases, run the following command. This command uses the `?` alias for the PowerShell `Where-Object` cmdlet and the `Source` property to filter for only aliases that come from the `AWSPowerShell.NetCore` module. ``` PS > Get-Alias | ? Source -like "AWSPowerShell.NetCore" CommandType Name Version Source ----------- ---- ------- ------ Alias Add-ASInstances 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Add-CTTag 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Add-DPTags 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Add-DSIpRoutes 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Add-ELBTags 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Add-EMRTag 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Add-ESTag 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Add-MLTag 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Clear-AWSCredentials 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Clear-AWSDefaults 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Dismount-ASInstances 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Edit-EC2Hosts 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Edit-RSClusterIamRoles 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Enable-ORGAllFeatures 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Find-CTEvents 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-ASACases 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-ASAccountLimits 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-ASACommunications 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-ASAServices 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-ASASeverityLevels 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-ASATrustedAdvisorCheckRefreshStatuses 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-ASATrustedAdvisorChecks 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-ASATrustedAdvisorCheckSummaries 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-ASLifecycleHooks 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-ASLifecycleHookTypes 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-AWSCredentials 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-CDApplications 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-CDDeployments 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-CFCloudFrontOriginAccessIdentities 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-CFDistributions 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-CFGConfigRules 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-CFGConfigurationRecorders 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-CFGDeliveryChannels 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-CFInvalidations 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-CFNAccountLimits 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell Alias Get-CFNStackEvents 3.3.343.0 AWSPowerShell ... ``` To add your own aliases to this file, you might need to raise the value of PowerShell's `$MaximumAliasCount` [preference variable](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_preference_variables?view=powershell-6) to a value greater than 5500. The default value is 4096; you can raise it to a maximum of 32768. To do this, run the following. ``` PS > $MaximumAliasCount = 32768 ``` To verify that your change was successful, enter the variable name to show its current value. ``` PS > $MaximumAliasCount 32768 ```