Default-verb logic (implied `Get-` prefix) works when executing commands, but not with Get-Command and Get-Help

[mklement0]

When invoking a Get-* cmdlet, the Get- prefix is optional, because Get is the default verb; E.g., Get-Content can be invoked as content.

By contrast, both Get-Command and Get-Help (as well as the common -? parameter) are unaware of this; Get-Command fails (unless there happens to be a different command with that exact name), and Get-Help / -? list all topics that contain the name.

All three scenarios should treat a given command name the same.

Steps to reproduce

'hi' > t.txt; content t.txt
'---'
Get-Command content | % Name
'---'
Get-Help content | % Name
'---'
content -? | % Name

Expected behavior

hi
---
Get-Content
---
Get-Content
---
Get-Content

Actual behavior

hi
---
Get-Command : The term 'content' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included,  verify that the path is correct and try again. 
....
---
Add-Content
Clear-Content
Get-Content
Set-Content
---
Add-Content
Clear-Content
Get-Content
Set-Content

Environment data

PowerShell Core v6.0.0-beta2
Windows PowerShell v5.1.14393.1198 on Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (64-bit; v10.0.14393)

[IISResetMe]

Looks like someone actually included CommandDiscovery.LookupCommandInfo() (in which the Get- prefix search option is implemented) as a fallback in the Get-Command command definition but forgot to assign and return the output

[lzybkr]

Note that this command lookup behavior is not limited to cmdlets - it works for any command including native commands.

It is also very expensive - we first search normally (including the PATH), and if that fails, we repeat the search prepending Get-.

Personally, I'd rather remove this misfeature than formalize it.

We could provide a handler for $ExecutionContext.InvokeCommand.CommandNotFoundAction for folks that are unwilling to fix old scripts that rely on this odd feature.

[bergmeister]

Get-Process has an even more difficult problem to solve because process is a keyword for the process {} block, therefore executing process makes it prompt because it waits for the statement block. Maybe instead of completely removing it, apply the lookup only if the command starts with e.g. -- or some special character.
I would otherwise vote to remove optional expensive actions that get invoked when the user does not intend/want/need to. Everytime I try to tab-complete stuff when the AzureRM module is loaded, I can take a sipp of coffee...

[lzybkr]

If you want to invoke process without saying get-process, you can use & process or & "process".

Adding complexity here is unlikely good for the user experience or for performance.

If performance is unacceptable, you should open another issue with details - I don't notice performance issues when AzureRM is loaded on Windows PowerShell, but I haven't tried with PowerShell Core.

[bergmeister]

That's neat, I did not know that. But it still shows that the Get- auto completion should either always work or we should get rid of it because having to remember those exceptions is not very good.

What I noticed today is that there can be a difference between using the auto completed command or the actual command:

> (get-help).gettype()

IsPublic IsSerial Name                                     BaseType
-------- -------- ----                                     --------
True     True     String                                   System.Object


> (help).gettype()

IsPublic IsSerial Name                                     BaseType
-------- -------- ----                                     --------
True     True     Object[]                                 System.Array


> $PSVersionTable

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      6.0.0-rc
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    v6.0.0-rc
OS                             Microsoft Windows 6.3.9600
Platform                       Win32NT
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0

[lzybkr]

Help is a real command that pipes through the pager like more or less.

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has not had any activity in 6 months, if this is a bug please try to reproduce on the latest version of PowerShell and reopen a new issue and reference this issue if this is still a blocker for you.

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has not had any activity in 6 months, if this is a bug please try to reproduce on the latest version of PowerShell and reopen a new issue and reference this issue if this is still a blocker for you.