The -like operator allows us to use wildcards to select required objects.

For example, like this.

Get-Service | Where-Object Description -like "*wsman*"

Or else

Get-Service | Where-Object Description -like "*w?man*"

By default, this operator is not case-sensitive, so the following commands are equivalent.

Get-Service | Where-Object Description -like "*wsman*"
Get-Service | Where-Object Description -like "*WSman*"
Get-Service | Where-Object Description -like "*WSMAN*"

If we want it to consider the case of the objects it examines, we can specify it as -clike.

Get-Service | Where-Object Description -clike "*wsman*"

On the other hand, if we want to be clear, that the operator is case-insensitive, we can spell it as -ilike.

Get-Service | Where-Object Description -ilike "*wsman*"

Besides, there are opposite operator in PowerShell, -notlike.

Get-Service | Where-Object StartupType -notlike "Auto*"

Which, as the -like operator, has two variations: -cnotlike and -inotlike.

Result

Like many other comparison operators, -like returns different results, depending on if the object it acts upon is scalar or an array.

If argument is scalar, then the result is a bool object, i.e. True or False.

"Some string." -like "*string*"

True

"Some string." -like "*integer*"

False

But if we pass it an array, then the result will consist of the elements, that meet the condition.

"Winter", "Spring", "Summer", "Autumn" -like "*er"

Winter
Summer

Combine

Besides simple comparisons, -like and -notlike operators can be used to specify more complex expressions.

Let’s start with getting all the services, that depend on the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service.

Get-Service | Where-Object { $_.RequiredServices.Name -like "RpcSs" } | Select-Object Name, DisplayName, RequiredServices

Name                 DisplayName                             RequiredServices
----                 -----------                             ----------------
AppIDSvc             Application Identity                    {RpcSs, CryptSvc, AppID}
Appinfo              Application Information                 {RpcSs, ProfSvc}
AppVClient           Microsoft App-V Client                  {AppvVfs, RpcSS, AppvStrm, netprofm}
AppXSvc              AppX Deployment Service (AppXSVC)       {rpcss, staterepository}
Audiosrv             Windows Audio                           {AudioEndpointBuilder, RpcSs}
autotimesvc          Cellular Time                           {rpcss}
AxInstSV             ActiveX Installer (AxInstSV)            {rpcss}
BFE                  Base Filtering Engine                   {RpcSs}
BITS                 Background Intelligent Transfer Service {RpcSs}
BrokerInfrastructure Background Tasks Infrastructure Service {DcomLaunch, RpcSs, RpcEptMapper}

...

As you can see, there are services that depend only on RpcSs, and services, that require some additional services.

Let’s get services, that depend on Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and some other services.

Get-Service | Where-Object { $_.RequiredServices.Name -like "RpcSs" -and $_.RequiredServices.Name -notlike "RpcSs" } | Select-Object Name, DisplayName, RequiredServices

Name                 DisplayName                             RequiredServices
----                 -----------                             ----------------
AppIDSvc             Application Identity                    {RpcSs, CryptSvc, AppID}
Appinfo              Application Information                 {RpcSs, ProfSvc}
AppVClient           Microsoft App-V Client                  {AppvVfs, RpcSS, AppvStrm, netprofm}
AppXSvc              AppX Deployment Service (AppXSVC)       {rpcss, staterepository}
Audiosrv             Windows Audio                           {AudioEndpointBuilder, RpcSs}
BrokerInfrastructure Background Tasks Infrastructure Service {DcomLaunch, RpcSs, RpcEptMapper}

...

Now we get the services, that depend on the RpcSs only.

Get-Service | Where-Object { $_.RequiredServices.Name -like "RpcSs" -and -not ($_.RequiredServices.Name -notlike "RpcSs") } | Select-Object Name, DisplayName, RequiredServices

Name        DisplayName                             RequiredServices
----        -----------                             ----------------
autotimesvc Cellular Time                           {rpcss}
AxInstSV    ActiveX Installer (AxInstSV)            {rpcss}
BFE         Base Filtering Engine                   {RpcSs}
BITS        Background Intelligent Transfer Service {RpcSs}

...

So, we can use the -like, -notlike, and -not operators to define rather uncommon conditions.