In PowerShell, what does the symbol % represent in the pipeline?

• A. It is the alias for Where-Object
• B. It is the alias for ForEach-Object
• C. It is the alias for Select-Object
• D. It is the alias for New-Variable

Answer: (B)

In PowerShell, the % symbol is the alias for ForEach-Object. It processes each item flowing through the pipeline by executing a script block for that item, effectively transforming or acting on every object as it passes through. Inside the script block, the current item is referred to as $_ (or $PSItem). For example, Get-Service | % { $.Status } applies the block to each service and outputs its status, or Get-ChildItem | % { $.Name.ToUpper() } outputs the names in uppercase. This is different from filtering, which uses a condition to pass along only some items; the % alias is about per-item processing and transformation.