Determining the PowerShell host

Richard Siddaway Profile: Richard Siddaway

The PowerShell ecosystem is more diverse than it used to be which makes determining the PowerShell host a bit more difficult.

The variable $host, and its Name property, is a good starting point.

PS>  $host.Name
ConsoleHost

You get ConSoleHost if you’re running in the console.

For ISE you get –  Windows PowerShell ISE Host

And for VScode you get  –  Visual Studio Code Host

If you want to know the PowerShell version as well it’s a bit more awkward.

$host.Version works for the console and ISE as it returns the PowerShell version. In VScode however it returns the version of VScode.  The best route is to use

$PSVersionTable.PSVersion

While you’re at it you may want to check the edition of PowerShell – Core or Desktop

PS>  $PSVersionTable.PSEdition
Core

To make that a bit easier

function get-powershellhost {

New-Object -TypeName PSobject -Property @{
Hostname = $host.Name
PSversion = $PSVersionTable.PSVersion
PSEdition = $PSVersionTable.PSEdition
}

}

The function runs in the console, ISE and VScode and was tested across Windows PowerShell v5.1 and PowerShell v6.1

Feel free to add other information as required

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