Shell Hacks

String Multiplier

PowerShell: $temp = "A" * 100000
–You can even pipe it to clip for an easy copy and paste 🙂
Python: python -c "print('A' * 10000)"
Bash: temp=$(printf 'A%.0s' {1..10000})

PowerShell

Running cmd commands inside PowerShell

$tempDir = cmd.exe /c "dir /s /b C:\"

Encoding and Running Encoded Commads

$CommandToExecute = "Get-ChildItem"
$encodedcommand = [Convert]::ToBase64String([Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetBytes($CommandToExecute))
powershell -exec bypass -w 1 -enc $encodedcommand

Windows Named Pipes

Listing Named Pipes w/ PowerShell

Should work with older versions + Pwsh 7.x: [System.IO.Directory]::GetFiles("\\.\\pipe\\")
Works in Windows PowerShell only at this time (Issue in pwsh 7.x): (get-childitem \\.\pipe\).FullName

Sample Named Pipe Client

$pipeName = 'myPipe'
$pipe = new-object System.IO.Pipes.NamedPipeClientStream '.', $pipeName, 'In', 'None', 'Impersonation'
$pipe.Connect(1000)
$sr = new-object System.IO.StreamReader $pipe
while (($data = $sr.ReadLine()) -ne $null) { Write-Host "Received: $data" -ForegroundColor Magenta }
$sr.Dispose()
$pipe.Dispose()

Sample Named Pipe Server

$pipeName = 'myPipe'
$pipe = new-object System.IO.Pipes.NamedPipeServerStream $pipeName,'Out'
$pipe.WaitForConnection()
$sw = new-object System.IO.StreamWriter $pipe
$sw.AutoFlush = $true
$sw.WriteLine("Server pid is $pid")
$sw.Dispose()
$pipe.Dispose()

Reference:

• StackOverflow – PowerShell Named Pipe: no connection?
• StackOverflow – Asynchronous named pipes

VSCode Tips

Join your multi-line list to a single line:

Ctrl + A (to Select All Text)
Ctrl + Shift + P > Join Lines
Scenario: Multi-line list of whatever (users, machines, addresses, etc…), but need it in one line!