This is a valid PowerShell code that runs.
Do you know what "a" will be?

📦 v7.2.0-preview.5 Release of PowerShell.

Breaking Changes
- Make PowerShell Linux deb and RPM packages universal
- Enforce AppLocker Deny configuration before Execution Policy Bypass configuration
- Disallow mixed dash and slash in command line parameter prefix
Experimental Features
- PSNativeCommandArgumentPassing: Use ArgumentList for native executable invocation (breaking change)
Engine Updates and Fixes
General Cmdlet Updates and Fixes

📌 A PowerShell users' guide to regular expressions: part 1 and part 2 (of 3).

Even experts can be a little intimidated by reading through a noscript and meeting something like
^\{?[0-9a-f]{8}-([0-9a-f]{4}-){3}[0-9a-f]{12}\}?$

So here is piece of good news - It won’t take much longer to understand that monster. Let’s start at the beginning.

https://jhoneill.github.io/powershell/2021/04/10/regex1.html

https://jhoneill.github.io/powershell/2021/04/11/regex2.html

🎬 PowerShell Testing with Pester 5

0:00​ Intro
2:28​ About Jakub Jares
3:15​ Install Pester
4:46​ Overview of Pester
13:32​ Practical Example
34:38​ Pester VSCode Extension
37:22​ Debugging in VSCode with Pester
43:24​ Practical Example
1:07:00​ Test Drive
1:16:00​ Other Features
1:34:00​ VS Code Code Coverage
1:49:00​ Q&A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeiy8fRMHf8

Inline values for PowerShell variables

This extension enables inline values for variables when debugging a PowerShell noscript.

📚 5 new modules on Microsoft Learn for PowerShell

▪️ Introduction to PowerShell
▪️ Connect commands into a pipeline
▪️ Introduction to noscripting in PowerShell
▪️ Write your first PowerShell code
▪️ Automate Azure tasks using noscripts with PowerShell

🎬 PowerShell Secrets Management Module - Easily use any secret provider

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b0KGVI4VLY

Second preview of PowerShell Crescendo
A framework to rapidly develop PowerShell cmdlets for native commands, regardless of platform.

- Added support for native command elevation on Windows and Linux platforms.
- Export-CrescendoModule now exports a module manifest (psd1) along with the module file (psm1).
- Added support for generating aliases for Crescendo cmdlets
- Added support for SupportsShouldProcess.

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/powershell/announcing-powershell-crescendo-preview-2/

I know, I missed "Announcing PSDesiredStateConfiguration on PowerShell Gallery" ☹️

But, how about Puppet's support for the PowerShell DSC configuration framework for Windows ?

See more details here:

PowerShell 7.2-preview.6 is out!

Experimental Features
- [Breaking Change] Update prediction interface to provide additional feedback to a predictor plugin

Performance
- Avoid collecting logs in buffer if a pipeline execution event is not going to be logged
- Avoid allocation in LanguagePrimitives.UpdateTypeConvertFromTypeTable
- Replace Directory.GetDirectories with Directory.EnumerateDirectories to avoid array allocations
- Use List.ConvertAll instead of LINQ

General Cmdlet Updates and Fixes
- Use AllocConsole before initializing CLR to ensure codepage is correct for WinRM remoting
- Add completions for #requires statements
- Add completions for comment-based help keywords
- Move cross platform DSC code to a PowerShell engine subsystem
- Fix Minimal progress view to handle activity that is longer than console width
- Handle exception if ConsoleHost tries to set cursor out of bounds because screen buffer changed
- Fix NullReferenceException in DSC ClearCache()
- Update ControlSequenceLength to handle colon as a virtual terminal parameter separator
- Update the summary comment for StopTrannoscriptCmdlet.cs
- Remove the unusable alias d for the -Directory parameter from Get-ChildItem
- Fix tab completion for un-localized about topics
- Remove the unneeded SSH stdio handle workaround
- Add LoadAssemblyFromNativeMemory API to load assemblies from memory in a native PowerShell host
- Re-implement Remove-Item OneDrive support
- Kill native processes in pipeline when pipeline is disposed on Unix
- Default to MTA on Windows platforms where STA is not supported

Did you know explainshell.com now has a PowerShell counterpart?

💡Preview updating PowerShell 7.2 with Microsoft Update

With Microsoft Update, you’ll get the latest PowerShell 7 updates directly in your traditional Windows Update management flow

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/powershell/preview-updating-powershell-7-2-with-microsoft-update/

❗ v7.2.0-preview.7 Release of PowerShell

Breaking Changes
 - Remove PSDesiredStateConfiguration v2.0.5 module and published it to the PowerShell Gallery
Engine Updates and Fixes
 - Fix splatting being treated as positional parameter in completions
 - Prevent PowerShell from crashing when a telemetry mutex can't be created
 - Ignore all exceptions when disposing an instance of a subsystem implementation
 - Wait for SSH exit when closing remote connection
Performance
 - Retrieve ProductVersion using informational version attribute in AmsiUtils.Init()
General Cmdlet Updates and Fixes
 - Fix retrieving dynamic parameters from provider even if globbed path returns no results
 - Revert "Enhance Remove-Item to work with OneDrive" due to long path issue

https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/tag/v7.2.0-preview.7

💡 Azure Durable Functions for PowerShell: Human interaction

Azure Durable Functions provide some functionality that Azure functions don’t offer with the other bindings. The most important one is that it provides you with a state.

https://4bes.nl/2021/06/13/azure-durable-functions-for-powershell-human-interaction/

PowerShell Notes for Professionals book
+ Algorithms, Python, Git and many more.

❗v7.2.0-preview.8 Release of PowerShell
Engine Updates and Fixes
- Add a Windows mode to $PSNativeCommandArgumentPassing that allows some commands to use legacy argument passing
- Use nameof to get parameter names when creating ArgumentNullException
- Test if a command is 'Out-Default' more thoroughly for transcribing scenarios
- Add Microsoft.PowerShell.Crescendo to telemetry allow list

General Cmdlet Updates and Fixes
- Use $PSStyle.Formatting.FormatAccent for Format-List and $PSStyle.Formatting.TableHeader for Format-Table output
- Highlight using error color the exception Message and underline in PositionMessage for Get-Error
- Implement a completion for View parameter of format cmdlets
- Add support to colorize FileInfo file names
- Don't serialize to JSON ETS properties for DateTime and string types
- Fix HyperVSocketEndPoint.ServiceId setter
- Add DetailedView to $ErrorView

A new PowerShell book is now available for purchase.

All code examples and noscripts in the book are available on the GitHub repo for the book.