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Get-Job

  • Reference
Module:
Microsoft.PowerShell.Core

Gets PowerShell background jobs that are running in the current session.

Syntax

Get-Job
   [-IncludeChildJob]
   [-ChildJobState <JobState>]
   [-HasMoreData <Boolean>]
   [-Before <DateTime>]
   [-After <DateTime>]
   [-Newest <Int32>]
   [[-Id] <Int32[]>]
   [<CommonParameters>]
Get-Job
   [-IncludeChildJob]
   [-ChildJobState <JobState>]
   [-HasMoreData <Boolean>]
   [-Before <DateTime>]
   [-After <DateTime>]
   [-Newest <Int32>]
   [-InstanceId] <Guid[]>
   [<CommonParameters>]
Get-Job
   [-IncludeChildJob]
   [-ChildJobState <JobState>]
   [-HasMoreData <Boolean>]
   [-Before <DateTime>]
   [-After <DateTime>]
   [-Newest <Int32>]
   [-Name] <String[]>
   [<CommonParameters>]
Get-Job
   [-IncludeChildJob]
   [-ChildJobState <JobState>]
   [-HasMoreData <Boolean>]
   [-Before <DateTime>]
   [-After <DateTime>]
   [-Newest <Int32>]
   [-State] <JobState>
   [<CommonParameters>]
Get-Job
   [-IncludeChildJob]
   [-ChildJobState <JobState>]
   [-HasMoreData <Boolean>]
   [-Before <DateTime>]
   [-After <DateTime>]
   [-Newest <Int32>]
   [-Command <String[]>]
   [<CommonParameters>]
Get-Job
   [-Filter] <Hashtable>
   [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The Get-Job cmdlet gets objects that represent the background jobs that were started in the current session. You can use Get-Job to get jobs that were started by using the Start-Job cmdlet, or by using the AsJob parameter of any cmdlet.

Without parameters, a Get-Job command gets all jobs in the current session. You can use the parameters of Get-Job to get particular jobs.

The job object that Get-Job returns contains useful information about the job, but it does not contain the job results. To get the results, use the Receive-Job cmdlet.

A Windows PowerShell background job is a command that runs in the background without interacting with the current session. Typically, you use a background job to run a complex command that takes a long time to finish. For more information about background jobs in Windows PowerShell, see about_Jobs.

Beginning in Windows PowerShell 3.0, the Get-Job cmdlet also gets custom job types, such as workflow jobs and instances of scheduled jobs. To find the job type of a job, use the PSJobTypeName property of the job.

To enable Get-Job to get a custom job type, import the module that supports the custom job type into the session before you run a Get-Job command, either by using the Import-Module cmdlet or by using or getting a cmdlet in the module. For information about a particular custom job type, see the documentation of the custom job type feature.

Examples

Example 1: Get all background jobs started in the current session

This command gets all background jobs started in the current session. It does not include jobs created in other sessions, even if the jobs run on the local computer.

PS C:\> Get-Job

Example 2: Stop a job by using an instance ID

These commands show how to get the instance ID of a job and then use it to stop a job. Unlike the name of a job, which is not unique, the instance ID is unique.

The first command uses the Get-Job cmdlet to get a job. It uses the Name parameter to identify the job. The command stores the job object that Get-Job returns in the $j variable. In this example, there is only one job with the specified name. The second command gets the InstanceId property of the object in the $j variable and stores it in the $ID variable. The third command displays the value of the $ID variable. The fourth command uses Stop-Job cmdlet to stop the job. It uses the InstanceId parameter to identify the job and $ID variable to represent the instance ID of the job.

PS C:\> $j = Get-Job -Name Job1
PS C:\> $ID = $j.InstanceID
PS C:\> $ID

Guid
----
03c3232e-1d23-453b-a6f4-ed73c9e29d55

PS C:\> Stop-Job -InstanceId $ID

Example 3: Get jobs that include a specific command

This command gets the jobs on the system that include a Get-Process command. The command uses the Command parameter of Get-Job to limit the jobs retrieved. The command uses wildcard characters (*) to get jobs that include a Get-Process command anywhere in the command string.

PS C:\> Get-Job -Command "*get-process*"

Example 4: Get jobs that include a specific command by using the pipeline

Like the command in the previous example, this command gets the jobs on the system that include a Get-Process command. The command uses a pipeline operator (|) to send a string, in quotation marks, to the Get-Job cmdlet. It is the equivalent of the previous command.

PS C:\> "*get-process*" | Get-Job

Example 5: Get jobs that have not been started

This command gets only those jobs that have been created but have not yet been started. This includes jobs that are scheduled to run in the future and those not yet scheduled.

PS C:\> Get-Job -State NotStarted

Example 6: Get jobs that have not been assigned a name

This command gets all jobs that have job names that begin with job. Because job<number> is the default name for a job, this command gets all jobs that do not have an explicitly assigned name.

PS C:\> Get-Job -Name Job*

Example 7: Use a job object to represent the job in a command

This example shows how to use Get-Job to get a job object, and then it shows how to use the job object to represent the job in a command.

The first command uses the Start-Job cmdlet to start a background job that runs a Get-Process command on the local computer. The command uses the Name parameter of Start-Job to assign a friendly name to the job. The second command uses Get-Job to get the job. It uses the Name parameter of Get-Job to identify the job. The command saves the resulting job object in the $j variable. The third command displays the value of the job object in the $j variable. The value of the State property shows that the job is completed. The value of the HasMoreData property shows that there are results available from the job that have not yet been retrieved. The fourth command uses the Receive-Job cmdlet to get the results of the job. It uses the job object in the $j variable to represent the job. You can also use a pipeline operator to send a job object to Receive-Job.

PS C:\> Start-Job -ScriptBlock {Get-Process} -Name MyJob
PS C:\> $j = Get-Job -Name MyJob
PS C:\> $j
Id     Name            PSJobTypeName   State         HasMoreData     Location             Command
--     ----            -------------   -----         -----------     --------             -------
6      MyJob           BackgroundJob   Completed     True            localhost            Get-Process

PS C:\> Receive-Job -Job $j
Handles  NPM(K)    PM(K)      WS(K) VM(M)   CPU(s)     Id ProcessName
-------  ------    -----      ----- -----   ------     -- -----------
    124       4    13572      12080    59            1140 audiodg
    783      16    11428      13636   100             548 CcmExec
     96       4     4252       3764    59            3856 ccmsetup
...

Example 8: Get all jobs including jobs started by a different method

This example demonstrates that the Get-Job cmdlet can get all of the jobs that were started in the current session, even if they were started by using different methods.

The first command uses the Start-Job cmdlet to start a job on the local computer. The second command uses the AsJob parameter of the Invoke-Command cmdlet to start a job on the S1 computer. Even though the commands in the job run on the remote computer, the job object is created on the local computer, so you use local commands to manage the job. The third command uses the Invoke-Command cmdlet to run a Start-Job command on the S2 computer. By using this method, the job object is created on the remote computer, so you use remote commands to manage the job. The fourth command uses Get-Job to get the jobs stored on the local computer. The PSJobTypeName property of jobs, introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0, shows that the local job started by using the Start-Job cmdlet is a background job and the job started in a remote session by using the Invoke-Command cmdlet is a remote job. The fifth command uses Invoke-Command to run a Get-Job command on the S2 computer.The sample output shows the results of the Get-Job command. On the S2 computer, the job appears to be a local job. The computer name is localhost and the job type is a background job.For more information about how to run background jobs on remote computers, see about_Remote_Jobs.

PS C:\> Start-Job -ScriptBlock {Get-EventLog System}
PS C:\> Invoke-Command -ComputerName S1 -ScriptBlock {Get-EventLog System} -AsJob
PS C:\> Invoke-Command -ComputerName S2 -ScriptBlock {Start-Job -ScriptBlock {Get-EventLog System}}
PS C:\> Get-Job
Id     Name       PSJobTypeName   State         HasMoreData     Location        Command
--     ----       -------------   -----         -----------     --------        -------
1      Job1       BackgroundJob   Running       True            localhost       Get-EventLog System
2      Job2       RemoteJob       Running       True            S1              Get-EventLog System

PS C:\> Invoke-Command -ComputerName S2 -ScriptBlock {Start-Job -ScriptBlock {Get-EventLog System}}
Id    Name     PSJobTypeName  State      HasMoreData   Location   Command
--    ----     -------------  -----      -----------   -------    -------
4     Job4     BackgroundJob  Running    True          localhost  Get-Eventlog System

Example 9: Investigate a failed job

This command shows how to use the job object that Get-Job returns to investigate why a job failed. It also shows how to get the child jobs of each job.

The first command uses the Start-Job cmdlet to start a job on the local computer. The job object that Start-Job returns shows that the job failed. The value of the State property is Failed.

The second command uses the Get-Job cmdlet to get the job. The command uses the dot method to get the value of the JobStateInfo property of the object. It uses a pipeline operator to send the object in the JobStateInfo property to the Format-List cmdlet, which formats all of the properties of the object (*) in a list.The result of the Format-List command shows that the value of the Reason property of the job is blank.

The third command investigates more. It uses a Get-Job command to get the job and then uses a pipeline operator to send the whole job object to the Format-List cmdlet, which displays all of the properties of the job in a list.The display of all properties in the job object shows that the job contains a child job named Job2.

The fourth command uses Get-Job to get the job object that represents the Job2 child job. This is the job in which the command actually ran. It uses the dot method to get the Reason property of the JobStateInfo property.The result shows that the job failed because of an Access Denied error. In this case, the user forgot to use the Run as administrator option when starting Windows PowerShell.Because background jobs use the remoting features of Windows PowerShell, the computer must be configured for remoting to run a job, even when the job runs on the local computer.For information about requirements for remoting in Windows PowerShell, see about_Remote_Requirements. For troubleshooting tips, see about_Remote_Troubleshooting.

PS C:\> Start-Job -ScriptBlock {Get-Process}
Id     Name       PSJobTypeName   State       HasMoreData     Location             Command
--     ----       -------------   -----       -----------     --------             -------
1      Job1       BackgroundJob   Failed      False           localhost            Get-Process

PS C:\> (Get-Job).JobStateInfo | Format-List -Property *
State  : Failed
Reason :

PS C:\> Get-Job | Format-List -Property *
HasMoreData   : False
StatusMessage :
Location      : localhost
Command       : get-process
JobStateInfo  : Failed
Finished      : System.Threading.ManualReset
EventInstanceId    : fb792295-1318-4f5d-8ac8-8a89c5261507
Id            : 1
Name          : Job1
ChildJobs     : {Job2}
Output        : {}
Error         : {}
Progress      : {}
Verbose       : {}
Debug         : {}
Warning       : {}
StateChanged  :

PS C:\> (Get-Job -Name job2).JobStateInfo.Reason
Connecting to remote server using WSManCreateShellEx api failed. The async callback gave the
following error message: Access is denied.

Example 10: Get filtered results

This example shows how to use the Filter parameter to get a workflow job. The Filter parameter, introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0 is valid only on custom job types, such as workflow jobs and scheduled jobs.

The first command uses the Workflow keyword to create the WFProcess workflow. The second command uses the AsJob parameter of the WFProcess workflow to run the workflow as a background job. It uses the JobName parameter of the workflow to specify a name for the job, and the PSPrivateMetadata parameter of the workflow to specify a custom ID. The third command uses the Filter parameter of Get-Job to get the job by custom ID that was specified in the PSPrivateMetadata parameter.

PS C:\> Workflow WFProcess {Get-Process}
PS C:\> WFProcess -AsJob -JobName WFProcessJob -PSPrivateMetadata @{MyCustomId = 92107}
PS C:\> Get-Job -Filter @{MyCustomId = 92107}
Id     Name            State         HasMoreData     Location             Command
--     ----            -----         -----------     --------             -------
1      WFProcessJob    Completed     True            localhost            WFProcess

Example 11: Get information about child jobs

This example shows the effect of using the IncludeChildJob and ChildJobState parameters of the Get-Job cmdlet.

The first command gets the jobs in the current session. The output includes a background job, a remote job and several instances of a scheduled job. The remote job, Job4, appears to have failed. The second command uses the IncludeChildJob parameter of Get-Job. The output adds the child jobs of all jobs that have child jobs.In this case, the revised output shows that only the Job5 child job of Job4 failed. The third command uses the ChildJobState parameter with a value of Failed.The output includes all parent jobs and only the child jobs that failed. The fifth command uses the JobStateInfo property of jobs and its Reason property to discover why Job5 failed.

PS C:\> Get-Job
Id     Name            PSJobTypeName   State         HasMoreData     Location             Command
--     ----            -------------   -----         -----------     --------             -------
2      Job2            BackgroundJob   Completed     True            localhost            .\Get-Archive.ps1
4      Job4            RemoteJob       Failed        True            Server01, Server02   .\Get-Archive.ps1
7      UpdateHelpJob   PSScheduledJob  Completed     True            localhost            Update-Help
8      UpdateHelpJob   PSScheduledJob  Completed     True            localhost            Update-Help
9      UpdateHelpJob   PSScheduledJob  Completed     True            localhost            Update-Help
10     UpdateHelpJob   PSScheduledJob  Completed     True            localhost            Update-Help

PS C:\> Get-Job -IncludeChildJob
Id     Name            PSJobTypeName   State         HasMoreData     Location             Command
--     ----            -------------   -----         -----------     --------             -------
2      Job2            BackgroundJob   Completed     True            localhost           .\Get-Archive.ps1
3      Job3                            Completed     True            localhost           .\Get-Archive.ps1
4      Job4            RemoteJob       Failed        True            Server01, Server02  .\Get-Archive.ps1
5      Job5                            Failed        False           Server01            .\Get-Archive.ps1
6      Job6                            Completed     True            Server02            .\Get-Archive.ps1
7      UpdateHelpJob   PSScheduledJob  Completed     True            localhost            Update-Help
8      UpdateHelpJob   PSScheduledJob  Completed     True            localhost            Update-Help
9      UpdateHelpJob   PSScheduledJob  Completed     True            localhost            Update-Help
10     UpdateHelpJob   PSScheduledJob  Completed     True            localhost            Update-Help

PS C:\> Get-Job -Name Job4 -ChildJobState Failed
Id     Name            PSJobTypeName   State         HasMoreData     Location             Command
--     ----            -------------   -----         -----------     --------             -------
2      Job2            BackgroundJob   Completed     True            localhost           .\Get-Archive.ps1
4      Job4            RemoteJob       Failed        True            Server01, Server02  .\Get-Archive.ps1
5      Job5                            Failed        False           Server01            .\Get-Archive.ps1
7      UpdateHelpJob   PSScheduledJob  Completed     True            localhost            Update-Help
8      UpdateHelpJob   PSScheduledJob  Completed     True            localhost            Update-Help
9      UpdateHelpJob   PSScheduledJob  Completed     True            localhost            Update-Help
10     UpdateHelpJob   PSScheduledJob  Completed     True            localhost            Update-Help

PS C:\> (Get-Job -Name Job5).JobStateInfo.Reason
Connecting to remote server Server01 failed with the following error message:
Access is denied.

For more information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.

Parameters

-After

Gets completed jobs that ended after the specified date and time. Enter a DateTime object, such as one returned by the Get-Date cmdlet or a string that can be converted to a DateTime object, such as Dec 1, 2012 2:00 AM or 11/06.

This parameter works only on custom job types, such as workflow jobs and scheduled jobs, that have an EndTime property. It does not work on standard background jobs, such as those created by using the Start-Job cmdlet. For information about support for this parameter, see the help topic for the job type.

This parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

Type:DateTime
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Before

Gets completed jobs that ended before the specified date and time. Enter a DateTime object.

This parameter works only on custom job types, such as workflow jobs and scheduled jobs, that have an EndTime property. It does not work on standard background jobs, such as those created by using the Start-Job cmdlet. For information about support for this parameter, see the help topic for the job type.

This parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

Type:DateTime
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-ChildJobState

Gets only the child jobs that have the specified state. The acceptable values for this parameter are:

  • NotStarted
  • Running
  • Completed
  • Failed
  • Stopped
  • Blocked
  • Suspended
  • Disconnected
  • Suspending
  • Stopping

By default, Get-Job does not get child jobs. By using the IncludeChildJob parameter, Get-Job gets all child jobs. If you use the ChildJobState parameter, the IncludeChildJob parameter has no effect.

This parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

Type:JobState
Accepted values:NotStarted, Running, Completed, Failed, Stopped, Blocked, Suspended, Disconnected, Suspending, Stopping, AtBreakpoint
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Command

Specifies an array of commands as strings. This cmdlet gets the jobs that include the specified commands. The default is all jobs. You can use wildcard characters to specify a command pattern.

Type:String[]
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:True

-Filter

Specifies a hash table of conditions. This cmdlet gets jobs that satisfy all of the conditions. Enter a hash table where the keys are job properties and the values are job property values.

This parameter works only on custom job types, such as workflow jobs and scheduled jobs. It does not work on standard background jobs, such as those created by using the Start-Job cmdlet. For information about support for this parameter, see the help topic for the job type.

This parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

Type:Hashtable
Position:0
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-HasMoreData

Indicates whether this cmdlet gets only jobs that have the specified HasMoreData property value. The HasMoreData property indicates whether all job results have been received in the current session. To get jobs that have more results, specify a value of $True. To get jobs that do not have more results, specify a value of $False.

To get the results of a job, use the Receive-Job cmdlet.

When you use the Receive-Job cmdlet, it deletes from its in-memory, session-specific storage the results that it returned. When it has returned all results of the job in the current session, it sets the value of the HasMoreData property of the job to $False) to indicate that it has no more results for the job in the current session. Use the Keep parameter of Receive-Job to prevent Receive-Job from deleting results and changing the value of the HasMoreData property. For more information, type Get-Help Receive-Job.

The HasMoreData property is specific to the current session. If results for a custom job type are saved outside of the session, such as the scheduled job type, which saves job results on disk, you can use the Receive-Job cmdlet in a different session to get the job results again, even if the value of HasMoreData is $False. For more information, see the help topics for the custom job type.

This parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

Type:Boolean
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Id

Specifies an array of IDs of jobs that this cmdlet gets.

The ID is an integer that uniquely identifies the job in the current session. It is easier to remember and to type than the instance ID, but it is unique only in the current session. You can type one or more IDs separated by commas. To find the ID of a job, type Get-Job without parameters.

Type:Int32[]
Position:0
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-IncludeChildJob

Indicates that this cmdlet returns child jobs, in addition to parent jobs.

This parameter is especially useful for investigating workflow jobs, for which Get-Job returns a container parent job, and job failures, because the reason for the failure is saved in a property of the child job.

This parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-InstanceId

Specifies an array of instance IDs of jobs that this cmdlet gets. The default is all jobs.

An instance ID is a GUID that uniquely identifies the job on the computer. To find the instance ID of a job, use Get-Job.

Type:Guid[]
Position:0
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Name

Specifies an array of instance friendly names of jobs that this cmdlet gets. Enter a job name, or use wildcard characters to enter a job name pattern. By default, Get-Job gets all jobs in the current session.

Type:String[]
Position:0
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:True

-Newest

Specifies a number of jobs to get. This cmdlet gets the jobs that ended most recently.

The Newest parameter does not sort or return the newest jobs in end-time order. To sort the output, use the Sort-Object cmdlet.

This parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

Type:Int32
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-State

Specifies a job state. This cmdlet gets only jobs in the specified state. The acceptable values for this parameter are:

  • NotStarted
  • Running
  • Completed
  • Failed
  • Stopped
  • Blocked
  • Suspended
  • Disconnected
  • Suspending
  • Stopping

By default, Get-Job gets all the jobs in the current session.

For more information about job states, see JobState Enumeration.

Type:JobState
Accepted values:NotStarted, Running, Completed, Failed, Stopped, Blocked, Suspended, Disconnected, Suspending, Stopping, AtBreakpoint
Position:0
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

Inputs

None

You cannot pipe input to this cmdlet.

Outputs

System.Management.Automation.RemotingJob

This cmdlet returns objects that represent the jobs in the session.

Notes

The PSJobTypeName property of jobs indicates the job type of the job. The property value is determined by the job type author. The following list shows common job types.

  • BackgroundJob. Local job started by using Start-Job.
  • RemoteJob. Job started in a PSSession by using the AsJob parameter of the Invoke-Command cmdlet.
  • PSWorkflowJob. Job started by using the AsJob common parameter of workflows.