Comparing Windows PowerShell and Bash

ariwasabi, 123RF

Disparate Development

Marcus Nasarek

Bash and PowerShell are related, but as in all large families, the branches of the tree often take on different forms.]

Several years have passed since my previous article looking at the command-line languages under Windows and Linux [1] – time to reinvestigate how these two opponents have developed over the past half decade. A comparison of Windows PowerShell and Bash might indicate who has the current edge in modern scripting.

Windows PowerShell was a completely fresh start of Microsoft's command language under Vista (see the "New Beginning" box). Meanwhile, Bash under Linux was always at the core of the system (see the "Tried and Tested" box) with the project participants continuously updating the interface. So, has Bash matured and got better with age, or has inherited too much cruft that weighs it down?

Comparing Concepts

One of the most important characteristics of a scripting language is the ability to link two commands, assuming that one command receives, understands, and processes the output of the other. As a rule, Bash uses plain text as input and output. Thus, the following command shows the size and name of the three largest files in the /var/log directory:

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