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

Clearing the commandline buffer by pressing ESC

Legacy versions of PowerShell feature the ability to clear the commandline buffer by pressing the ESC key.

While Nu does not replicate this by default, a keybind can be added to your config.nu to enable similar functionality:

$env.config.keybindings ++= [{
    name: 'esc_clear'
    modifier: 'None'
    keycode: 'Esc'
    mode: ['Emacs', 'Vi_Normal']
    event: {edit: 'Clear'}
}]