How to do it...

1. Investigate Write-Information by looking at the Write-* commands, and help for the about_Redirection topic:

      Get-Command -Verb Write -Module *Utility
      Get-Help about_Redirection -ShowWindow

1. Use Write-Information:

      Write-Information "Test"

1. This produces no output. To resolve, you should inspect and change the $InformationPreference variable:

      Get-Variable "InformationPreference"
      Set-Variable -Name "InformationPreference" -Value "Continue"

1. Use Write-Information again:

      Write-Information "Test"

1. Next, set $InformationPreference back to default value:

      $InformationPreference = "SilentlyContinue"

1. Review the information-related options in the CommonParameters of each command:

      Show-Command Get-Item

1. Use ConvertFrom-String to get objects from strings; NoteProperties are created with default names:

      "Here is a sentence!" | ConvertFrom-String
      "Here is a sentence!" | ConvertFrom-String | Get-Member

1. Use -PropertyNames to control the names:

      "Here is a sentence!" | 
         ConvertFrom-String -PropertyNames First,Second,
                                       Third,Fourth

1. Use -Delimiter to get items from a list:

      "Here,is,a,list!" | 
         ConvertFrom-String -PropertyNames First,Second,
                                       Third,Fourth `
                            -Delimiter ',' 

1. You next test the template capabilities of ConvertFrom-String:

      $TextToParse = @'
      Animal, Bird
      Shape like Square
      Number is 42
      Person named Bob
      '@$Template1 = @'
      {[string]Category*:Animal}, {[string]Example:Bird}
      '@ConvertFrom-String -TemplateContent $Template1 `
                           -InputObject $TextToParse

1. ConvertFrom-String recognizes only one line from the text—the template needs more examples to train the function, so add a second example to the template and test:

      $Template2 = @'
      {[string]Category*:Animal}, {[string]Example:Bird}
      {[string]Category*:Country} like {[string]Example:Italy} 
      '@
      ConvertFrom-String -TemplateContent $Template2 `
                         -InputObject $TextToParse

1. Note three lines are recognized, even the last line that is unusual. Adding another example to our template trains the function enough to recognize all four lines:

      $Template3 = @'
      {[string]Category*:Animal}, {[string]Example:Bird}
      {[string]Category*:Country} like {[string]Example:Italy}
      {[string]Category*:Number} like {[int]Example:99}
      '@ 
      ConvertFrom-String -TemplateContent $Template3 `
                         -InputObject $TextToParse

1. Experiment with Format-Hex to output values in hexadecimal:

      $TestValue = 
      @"
      This is line 1
      and line 2
      "@
      $TestValue | Format-Hex

1. Experiment with Get-ClipBoard and Set-Clipboard by selecting some text, then press Ctrl+C to copy to clipboard, then inspect the clipboard:

      #Select this line and press Control-C to copy to clipboard
      $Value = Get-Clipboard
      $Value

1. Use Set-Clipboard to replace the clipboard value, then Ctrl+V to paste that new value:

      $NewValue = "#Paste This!"
      $NewValue | Set-Clipboard
      #Press Control-V to paste!