Compatibility-Aliases.md

description	PowerShell has several aliases that allow UNIX and cmd.exe users to use familiar commands.
ms.date	08/13/2021
title	Compatibility Aliases

Compatibility Aliases

PowerShell has several aliases that allow UNIX and cmd.exe users to use familiar commands. The commands and their related PowerShell cmdlet and PowerShell alias are shown in the following table:

cmd.exe command	UNIX command	PowerShell cmdlet	PowerShell alias
cd, chdir	cd	Set-Location	sl, cd, chdir
cls	clear	Clear-Host	cls clear
copy	cp	Copy-Item	cpi, cp, copy
del, erase, rd, rmdir	rm	Remove-Item	ri, del, erase, rd, rm, rmdir
dir	ls	Get-ChildItem	gci, dir, ls
echo	echo	Write-Output	write echo
md	mkdir	New-Item	ni
move	mv	Move-Item	mi, move, mi
popd	popd	Pop-Location	popd
	pwd	Get-Location	gl, pwd
pushd	pushd	Push-Location	pushd
ren	mv	Rename-Item	rni, ren
type	cat	Get-Content	gc, cat, type

Note

The aliases in this table are Windows-specific. Some of the aliases are not available on other platforms. This is to allow the native command to work in a PowerShell session. For example, ls is not a PowerShell alias on macOS but uses the native command to display directory contents.

To find all PowerShell aliases available in your environment, use the Get-Alias cmdlet. To display a cmdlet's aliases, use the Definition parameter and specify the cmdlet name. Or, to find an alias's cmdlet name, use the Name parameter and specify the alias.

Get-Alias -Definition Get-ChildItem

CommandType     Name
-----------     ----
Alias           dir -> Get-ChildItem
Alias           gci -> Get-ChildItem
Alias           ls -> Get-ChildItem

Get-Alias -Name gci

CommandType     Name
-----------     ----
Alias           gci -> Get-ChildItem

See Also

• about_Aliases