New-Module

New-Module
    [-ScriptBlock] <ScriptBlock>
    [-Function <String[]>]
    [-Cmdlet <String[]>]
    [-ReturnResult]
    [-AsCustomObject]
    [-ArgumentList <Object[]>]
    [<CommonParameters>]

New-Module
    [-Name] <String>
    [-ScriptBlock] <ScriptBlock>
    [-Function <String[]>]
    [-Cmdlet <String[]>]
    [-ReturnResult]
    [-AsCustomObject]
    [-ArgumentList <Object[]>]
    [<CommonParameters>]

The New-Module cmdlet creates a dynamic module from a script block. The members of the dynamic module, such as functions and variables, are immediately available in the session and remain available until you close the session.

Like static modules, by default, the cmdlets and functions in a dynamic module are exported and the variables and aliases are not. However, you can use the Export-ModuleMember cmdlet and the parameters of New-Module to override the defaults.

You can also use the AsCustomObject parameter of New-Module to return the dynamic module as a custom object. The members of the modules, such as functions, are implemented as script methods of the custom object instead of being imported into the session.

Dynamic modules exist only in memory, not on disk. Like all modules, the members of dynamic modules run in a private module scope that is a child of the global scope. Get-Module cannot get a dynamic module, but Get-Command can get the exported members.

To make a dynamic module available to Get-Module, pipe a New-Module command to Import-Module, or pipe the module object that New-Module returns to Import-Module. This action adds the dynamic module to the Get-Module list, but it does not save the module to disk or make it persistent.

This example creates a new dynamic module with a function called Hello. The command returns a module object that represents the new dynamic module.

New-Module -ScriptBlock {function Hello {"Hello!"}}

Name              : __DynamicModule_2ceb1d0a-990f-45e4-9fe4-89f0f6ead0e5
Path              : 2ceb1d0a-990f-45e4-9fe4-89f0f6ead0e5
Description       :
Guid              : 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
Version           : 0.0
ModuleBase        :
ModuleType        : Script
PrivateData       :
AccessMode        : ReadWrite
ExportedAliases   : {}
ExportedCmdlets   : {}
ExportedFunctions : {[Hello, Hello]}
ExportedVariables : {}
NestedModules     : {}

This example demonstrates that dynamic modules are not returned by the Get-Module cmdlet. The members that they export are returned by the Get-Command cmdlet.

New-Module -ScriptBlock {function Hello {"Hello!"}}

Name              : __DynamicModule_2ceb1d0a-990f-45e4-9fe4-89f0f6ead0e5
Path              : 2ceb1d0a-990f-45e4-9fe4-89f0f6ead0e5
Description       :
Guid              : 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
Version           : 0.0
ModuleBase        :
ModuleType        : Script
PrivateData       :
AccessMode        : ReadWrite
ExportedAliases   : {}
ExportedCmdlets   : {}
ExportedFunctions : {[Hello, Hello]}
ExportedVariables : {}
NestedModules     : {}

Get-Module

Get-Command Hello

CommandType     Name   Definition
-----------     ----   ----------
Function        Hello  "Hello!"

This example uses the Export-ModuleMember cmdlet to export a variable into the current session. Without the Export-ModuleMember command, only the function is exported.

New-Module -ScriptBlock {$SayHelloHelp="Type 'SayHello', a space, and a name."; function SayHello ($Name) { "Hello, $Name" }; Export-ModuleMember -Function SayHello -Variable SayHelloHelp}
$SayHelloHelp

Type 'SayHello', a space, and a name.

SayHello Jeffrey

Hello, Jeffrey

The output shows that both the variable and the function were exported into the session.

This example demonstrates that you can make a dynamic module available to Get-Module by piping the dynamic module to Import-Module.

New-Module creates a module object that is piped to the Import-Module cmdlet. The Name parameter of New-Module assigns a friendly name to the module. Because Import-Module does not return any objects by default, there is no output from this command. Get-Module that the GreetingModule has been imported into the current session.

New-Module -ScriptBlock {function Hello {"Hello!"}} -Name GreetingModule | Import-Module
Get-Module

Name              : GreetingModule
Path              : d54dfdac-4531-4db2-9dec-0b4b9c57a1e5
Description       :
Guid              : 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
Version           : 0.0
ModuleBase        :
ModuleType        : Script
PrivateData       :
AccessMode        : ReadWrite
ExportedAliases   : {}
ExportedCmdlets   : {}
ExportedFunctions : {[Hello, Hello]}
ExportedVariables : {}
NestedModules     : {}

Get-Command Hello

CommandType     Name                                                               Definition
-----------     ----                                                               ----------
Function        Hello                                                              "Hello!"

The Get-Command cmdlet shows the Hello function that the dynamic module exports.

This example shows how to use the AsCustomObject parameter of New-Module to generate a custom object that has script methods that represent the exported functions.

The New-Module cmdlet creates a dynamic module with two functions, Hello and Goodbye. The AsCustomObject parameter creates a custom object instead of the PSModuleInfo object that New-Module generates by default. This custom object is saved in the $m variable. The $m variable appears to have no assigned value.

$m = New-Module -ScriptBlock {
  function Hello ($Name) {"Hello, $Name"}
  function Goodbye ($Name) {"Goodbye, $Name"}
} -AsCustomObject
$m
$m | Get-Member

TypeName: System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject

Name        MemberType   Definition
----        ----------   ----------
Equals      Method       bool Equals(System.Object obj)
GetHashCode Method       int GetHashCode()
GetType     Method       type GetType()
ToString    Method       string ToString()
Goodbye     ScriptMethod System.Object Goodbye();
Hello       ScriptMethod System.Object Hello();

$m.Goodbye("Jane")

Goodbye, Jane

$m.Hello("Manoj")

Hello, Manoj

Piping $m to the Get-Member cmdlet displays the properties and methods of the custom object. The output shows that the object has script methods that represent the Hello and Goodbye functions. Finally, we call these script methods and display the results.

This example uses the ReturnResult parameter to request the results of running the script block instead of requesting a module object. The script block in the new module defines the SayHello function and then calls the function.

New-Module -ScriptBlock {function SayHello {"Hello, World!"}; SayHello} -ReturnResult

Hello, World!

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: -Debug, -ErrorAction, -ErrorVariable, -InformationAction, -InformationVariable, -OutBuffer, -OutVariable, -PipelineVariable, -ProgressAction, -Verbose, -WarningAction, and -WarningVariable. For more information, see about_CommonParameters.

You can pipe a module name to this cmdlet.

This cmdlet generates a PSModuleInfo object by default.

If you use the AsCustomObject parameter, it generates a PSCustomObject object.

If you use the ReturnResult parameter, this cmdlet returns the result of evaluating the script block in the dynamic module.

PowerShell includes the following aliases for New-Module:

• All platforms:
  • nmo