find-module powershell command

Find-Module | Taking on PowerShell one cmdlet at a time | Weekly Blog

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This is a part of an on-going blog series written by Adam Gordon. Each week, Adam will walk you through a PowerShell command, showing you when and how to use each one. This week, Adam covers Find-Module. 

When to use Find-Module

The Find-Module cmdlet finds modules in a repository that match the specified criteria.

Find-Module returns a PSRepositoryItemInfo object for each module it finds. The objects can be sent down the pipeline to cmdlets such as Install-Module.

The first time Find-Module attempts to use a repository, you might be prompted to install updates. If the repository source is not registered with Register-PSRepository cmdlet, an error is returned.

Find-Module returns the newest version of a module if no parameters are used that limit the version.

To get a repository’s list of a module’s versions, use the parameter –AllVersions.

 

How to use Find-Module

Find a module by name:

Find-Module -Name PowerShellGet

The Find-Module cmdlet uses the –Name parameter to specify the PowerShellGet module.

Find-Module powershell command

 

Find a module by minimum version:

Find-Module -Name PowerShellGet -MinimumVersion 1.6.5

The Find-Module cmdlet uses the -Name parameter to specify the PowerShellGet module.

The -MinimumVersion parameter specifies version 1.6.5.

Find-Module returns PowerShellGet version 2.2.1 because it exceeds the minimum version and is the most current version.

Find-Module powershell command

 

Find a module in a specific repository:

Find-Module -Name PowerShellGet -Repository PSGallery

The Find-Module cmdlet uses the –Name parameter to specify the PowerShellGet module. The –Repository parameter specifies to search the PSGallery repository.

Find-Module powershell command

 

Find a module that contains a DSC resource:

Find-Module -Repository PSGallery -Includes DscResource

The Find-Module cmdlet uses the –Repository parameter to search the repository, PSGallery.

The –Includes parameter specifies DscResource, which is a functionality that the parameter can search for in the repository.

Find-Module powershell command

Learn last week’s command: Find-DscResource.

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