What is the relationship between gwmi and Get-WmiObject

Question

After reading around, I'm confused about the relationship between these. I don't believe gwmi is a pure alias for Get-WmiObject, as they seem to share similar but not identical syntax in the examples I've seen.

Interestingly enough, when I google "gwmi" on its own, all the top references immediately refer back to Get-WmiObject but don't seem to reference gwmi itself.

Answer 1

There is no fancy voodoo at work here. Aliases in PowerShell are a very simple mechanic that help with short hand coding. Unix aliases, on the other hand, are different and can include entire command calls (Which could possibly be a source of confusion?).

In all cases, there is nothing more that just what you see here from Get-Alias

PS C:\Users\Bagel> get-alias gwmi

CommandType     Name                                               ModuleName                                                      
-----------     ----                                               ----------                                                      
Alias           gwmi -> Get-WmiObject                                                                                              

If you have evidence to the contrary I am sure the community would love to see it!

Answer 2

The authoritative reference you need to clear this up is about_Aliases:

An alias is an alternate name or nickname for a cmdlet or for a command element, such as a function, script, file, or executable file. You can use the alias instead of the command name in any Windows PowerShellcommands.