PsHosts

PsHosts is a PowerShell Module that provides Cmdlets for manipulating the local hosts file on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Supports tab completion for hostnames.

All destructive commands support -whatif and honor original formatting wherever possible.

Installation

Windows 10, Linux, and macOS users can simply install the module using the command below. For Windows 8.1 and below, PsGet can be used with the same command.

PS C:\> Install-Module PsHosts

To install manually, download a release and unzip to $home\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\PsHosts

Usage

The Cmdlets use the noun HostEntry and support the following verbs:

• Get
• Test
• Add
• Set
• Remove
• Enable
• Disable

General things to remember:

• All destructive Cmdlets require admin elevation
• The first parameter is always the hostname, which supports tab completion
• All Cmdlets support pipelining
• All destructive Cmdlets support -whatif

With that in mind, here are some samples:

# List all entries
Get-HostEntry

# List matching entries
Get-HostEntry *.local
Get-HostEntry mysite.local

# Test if an entry exists
Test-HostEntry mysite.local

# Add a localhost entry
Add-HostEntry mysite.local -Loopback

# Add a specific entry
Add-HostEntry mysite.local 192.168.1.1

# Change an entry's IP address
Set-HostEntry mysite.local 127.0.0.2

# Add a comment
Set-HostEntry mysite.local -Comment Excellent

# Rename a host
Get-HostEntry mysite.local | Set-HostEntry mysite2.local

# Disable (comment out) entries
Disable-HostEntry mysite.local

# Enable (uncomment) entries
Enable-HostEntry mysite.local

# Remove entries
Remove-HostEntry mysite.local

# Remove matching entries
Remove-HostEntry *.local

# Disable all loopback entries
Get-HostEntry | ?{$_.IsLoopback} | Disable-HostEntry

Build Status

Master branch

OS - PS Version	Build Status
AppVeyor (Windows - PS 5.1)
Travis CI (Linux - PS 6.0.0-Beta)
Travis CI (MacOS - PS 6.0.0-Beta)

Development

Building is supported on all platforms with PowerShell.

PsHosts uses Invoke-Build for build automation. Tests can be run by running the following from the root of the repository:

.\build.ps1 -Test

The solution is made up of a number of projects:

• RichardSzalay.Hosts - .NET Library containing core API for manipulating the hosts file
• RichardSzalay.Hosts.Tests - Unit tests for core API using Machine.Specifications (Mspec)
• RichardSzalay.Hosts.Powershell - PowerShell Cmdlets library (.NET)
• RichardSzalay.Hosts.Powershell.Tests - Pester tests for the PowerShell Cmdlets