A wildcard is a pattern that stands for possible characters in a name. In PowerShell, it turns help and command searches into practical discovery tools when you know only part of what you need. section 3.4
Find commands about events
Run Help *event* or Help *object* to search help topics broadly. PowerShell can return commands such as Get-Event, Register-ObjectEvent, and Wait-Event. Begin with a broad term to discover more possible matches, then inspect a likely candidate with Help Register-ObjectEvent. section 3.4 section 7.6
Wildcards also work where a command parameter accepts them. For example, a path value such as Down* can match an item whose name begins with “Down,” so you need not type the complete name. Check the parameter’s full help entry before relying on this behavior. section 3.5.3
Use wildcards to:
- Search help topics when the exact command name is unknown. section 3.4
- Narrow large command collections toward a noun or task before reading examples and full help. section 7.6
- Supply partial names to parameters that explicitly accept wildcard values. section 3.5.3
Help *event* Help *object*
Compare broad wildcard searches such as Help *event* and Help *object* before choosing a specific help topic. section 3.4
