Coming from PowerShell

Tips

PowerShell pipelines pass rich .NET objects, which allow property access like $process.Name or piping objects directly into cmdlets that understand them.

Nushell pipelines, by contrast, pass structured data such as tables, lists, and values.
This means:

No .PropertyName access
Use get column, select, $it.column, or table operations instead
Commands always receive predictable structured input, not strings or .NET types

Command Equivalents:

PowerShell	Nu	Task
`Get-ChildItem`	`ls`	List files in current directory
`Get-ChildItem <dir>`	`ls <dir>`	List files in given directory
`Get-ChildItem pattern*`	`ls pattern*`	Pattern-match files
`Get-ChildItem -Force -File -Hidden`	`ls --long --all` or `ls -la`	Detailed listing including hidden files
`Get-ChildItem \| Where-Object { $_.PSIsContainer }`	`ls \| where type == dir`	List directories only
`Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Filter *.rs`	`ls */.rs`	Recursive search for files
`Get-ChildItem -Recurse Makefile \| Select-Object -Expand Name`	`ls **/Makefile \| get name \| vim ...$in`	Pass matched paths to command
`Set-Location <dir>`	`cd <dir>`	Change directory
`Set-Location`	`cd`	Go to home directory
`Set-Location -`	`cd -`	Go to previous directory
`New-Item -ItemType Directory <path>`	`mkdir <path>`	Create a directory
`New-Item test.txt`	`touch test.txt`	Create a file
`command \| Out-File <path>`	`out> <path>` or `o> <path>`	Save output to file (raw)
`command \| Set-Content <path>`	`\| save <path>`	Save output to file (structured)
`command \| Out-File -Append <path>`	`out>> <path>` or `o>> <path>`	Append output to file
	`\| save --append <path>`	Append structured output
`command \| Out-Null`	`\| ignore`	Discard output
`cmd1 \| Tee-Object -FilePath log.txt \| cmd2`	`cmd1 \| tee { save log.txt } \| cmd2`	Tee output to file
`command \| Select-Object -First 5`	`command \| first 5`	Limit output to first N rows
`Get-Content <path>`	`open --raw <path>`	Display file contents
`Move-Item <source> <dest>`	`mv <source> <dest>`	Move file
`Get-ChildItem *.md \| ForEach-Object { $_.Name }`	`ls *.md \| each { $in.name }`	Iterate list values
`foreach ($i in 1..10) { $i }`	`for i in 1..10 { print $i }`	Loop over range
`Copy-Item <source> <dest>`	`cp <source> <dest>`	Copy file
`Copy-Item -Recurse <source> <dest>`	`cp -r <source> <dest>`	Copy directory recursively
`Remove-Item <path>`	`rm <path>`	Remove file
	`rm -t <path>`	Move file to trash
`Remove-Item -Recurse -Force <path>`	`rm -r <path>`	Remove directory recursively
`Get-Date "<date>"`	`"<date>" \| into datetime -f <format>`	Parse date
`"<str>" -replace 'a','b'`	`str replace "a" "b"`	Replace substrings
`Select-String <pattern>`	`where $it =~ <pattern>` or `find <pattern>`	Search text
`Get-Help <command>`	`help <command>`	Get command help
`Get-Command`	`help commands`	List all commands
`Get-Command "<string>"`	`help --find <string>`	Search commands
`command1; if ($?) { command2 }`	`command1; command2`	Run second command only if first succeeds
`/tmp/$((Get-Random))`	`$"/tmp/(random int)"`	String interpolation
`$env:Path`	`$env.PATH` or `$env.Path`	Show PATH
`$LASTEXITCODE`	`$env.LAST_EXIT_CODE`	Exit code of last external command
`$env:PATH += ":/usr/bin"`	`$env.PATH = ($env.PATH \| append /usr/bin)`	Update PATH (temporary)
`Get-ChildItem Env:`	`$env`	List environment variables
`$env:FOO`	`$env.FOO`	Access environment variable
`Remove-Item Env:FOO`	`hide-env FOO`	Unset environment variable
`Set-Alias s "git status -sb"`	`alias s = git status -sb`	Temporary alias
`Get-Command FOO`	`which FOO`	Inspect command / alias / binary
`powershell -Command "<commands>"`	`nu -c <commands>`	Run inline pipeline
`.\script.ps1`	`nu <script file>`	Run script file
`Get-Location` or `$PWD`	`pwd` or `$env.PWD`	Show current directory
`Read-Host`	`let var = input`	Read user input
`Read-Host -AsSecureString`	`let secret = input -s`	Read secret input