`powershell -version` doesn't work on Linux

Question

I have just installed the open-source version of PowerShell for Linux on Arch Linux using the powershell-git package from AUR. When I try PowerShell's -Version functionality, I get the following:

PS /home/user> powershell -Version 5.1                                          
-Version : The term '-Version' 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.
At line:1 char:1
+ -Version 5.1
+ ~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (-Version:String) [], CommandNot 
   FoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

How to fix this?

use the ` $PSVersionTable.PSVersion` command. – Citizen Apr 24 '20 at 04:48 — Citizen, Apr 24 '20 at 04:48

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 31 '16 at 08:16

PowerShell was written for Windows, which assumes an underlying filesystem where case does not matter. When you enter a PowerShell command, the program reads whatever you type, and then matches it against its idea of what the case ought to be and redisplays that.

The help-message for PowerShell shows the option as -Version:

-Version
    Starts the specified version of Windows PowerShell. 
    Enter a version number with the parameter, such as "-version 2.0".

The error message is saying that it expected to find a match using the filesystem's notion of the fully-spelled name. You will probably have better success if you use the mixed-case names as indicated in the help-message.

This does not work either. – ThePiercingPrince Aug 31 '16 at 09:22 — ThePiercingPrince, Aug 31 '16 at 09:22
Raise a bug report. It is an alpha release, after all. – fpmurphy Aug 31 '16 at 11:06 — fpmurphy, Aug 31 '16 at 11:06

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 18 '18 at 16:53

On Ubuntu seems to work fine:

thufir@dur:~$ 
thufir@dur:~$ pwsh
PowerShell v6.0.1
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

https://aka.ms/pscore6-docs
Type 'help' to get help.

PS /home/thufir> 
PS /home/thufir> $PSVersionTable.PSVersion                                                                              

Major  Minor  Patch  PreReleas BuildLabel 
                     eLabel               
-----  -----  -----  --------- ---------- 
6      0      1                           


PS /home/thufir> 
PS /home/thufir> get-host                                                                                               


Name             : ConsoleHost
Version          : 6.0.1
InstanceId       : 914b71f4-0e73-461c-b1c3-f04753e5ed34
UI               : System.Management.Automation.Internal.Host.InternalHostUserInterface
CurrentCulture   : en-CA
CurrentUICulture : en-CA
PrivateData      : Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost+ConsoleColorProxy
DebuggerEnabled  : True
IsRunspacePushed : False
Runspace         : System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.LocalRunspace



PS /home/thufir> 
PS /home/thufir> $PSVersionTable                                                                                        

Name                           Value                                                                                   
----                           -----                                                                                   
PSVersion                      6.0.1                                                                                   
PSEdition                      Core                                                                                    
GitCommitId                    v6.0.1                                                                                  
OS                             Linux 4.13.0-32-generic #35-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jan 25 09:13:46 UTC 2018                     
Platform                       Unix                                                                                    
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}                                                                 
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3                                                                                     
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1                                                                                 
WSManStackVersion              3.0                                                                                     


PS /home/thufir> 
PS /home/thufir> exit                                                                                                   
thufir@dur:~$ 
thufir@dur:~$ pwsh hello_world.ps1 
hello powershell world
thufir@dur:~$ 
thufir@dur:~$ ./hello_world.ps1 
hello powershell world
thufir@dur:~$ 
thufir@dur:~$ cat hello_world.ps1 
#!/usr/bin/pwsh -Command


"hello powershell world"
thufir@dur:~$

you'll have to clarify the problem. You can't find the version for pwsh?

`powershell -version` doesn't work on Linux

2 Answers2