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Create pwsh as a shorter name for calling powershell.exe #4214

@dragonwolf83

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@dragonwolf83

The muscle memory from switching cmd to powershell is a pain. It is made worse by the fact that it is much longer than typing out cmd or bash. Even with Windows Search in Start, it often picks up the ISE if you have been using it awhile, so typing out the full name is often needed.

A better name would be posh.exe or other valid extension. It is as long as bash and just one character longer than cmd. Posh has been the accepted abbreviation in the community for all things PowerShell so there is some familiarity there. I don't believe there are any conflicts with other apps that this would cause, but that would need some digging.

This could be achieved in two ways.

  1. Create a an official shortcut or symbolic link named posh that would reference powershell.exe
  2. Rename powershell.exe to posh.exe.

The former maintains backwards compatibility and allows the user to choose between posh or powershell.exe. Existing scripts not impacted.

The latter could help give more freedom to issues like #4199 and other POSIX proposals to how the shell is started. However, it is a breaking change and would need to be reviewed for the impact and the branding implication.

I think making an official posh shortcut is the best option with minimal impact. New documentation could give preference to posh as the way to enter PowerShell.

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Area-SideBySiderelated to ability to run PS7 side-by-side with WinPS or different versions of PS7Committee-ReviewedPS-Committee has reviewed this and made a decisionIssue-Discussionthe issue may not have a clear classification yet. The issue may generate an RFC or may be reclassifResolution-FixedThe issue is fixed.

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