Version 5 (V5) of the AWS Tools for PowerShell has been released\$1

For information about breaking changes and migrating your applications, see the [migration topic](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/powershell/v5/userguide/migrating-v5.html).

 [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/powershell/v5/userguide/migrating-v5.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/powershell/v5/userguide/migrating-v5.html)

# Calling AWS services in the AWS Tools for PowerShell
<a name="pstools-using"></a>

This section provides examples of using the AWS Tools for PowerShell to access AWS services. These examples help demonstrate how to use the cmdlets to perform actual AWS tasks. These examples rely on cmdlets that the Tools for PowerShell provides. To see what cmdlets are available, see the [AWS Tools for PowerShell Cmdlet Reference](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/powershell/v5/reference/).

You can find more AWS Tools for PowerShell examples in the [Code examples](powershell_code_examples.md) chapter.

## PowerShell File Concatenation Encoding
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Some cmdlets in the AWS Tools for PowerShell edit existing files or records that you have in AWS. An example is `Edit-R53ResourceRecordSet`, which calls the [ChangeResourceRecordSets](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/Route53/latest/APIReference/API_ChangeResourceRecordSets.html) API for Amazon Route 53.

When you edit or concatenate files in PowerShell 5.1 or older releases, PowerShell encodes the output in UTF-16, not UTF-8. This can add unwanted characters and create results that are not valid. A hexadecimal editor can reveal the unwanted characters.

To avoid converting file output to UTF-16, you can pipe your command into PowerShell's `Out-File` cmdlet and specify UTF-8 encoding, as shown in the following example:

```
PS > *some file concatenation command* | Out-File filename.txt -Encoding utf8
```

If you are running AWS CLI commands from within the PowerShell console, the same behavior applies. You can pipe the output of an AWS CLI command into `Out-File` in the PowerShell console. Other cmdlets, such as `Export-Csv` or `Export-Clixml`, also have an `Encoding` parameter. For a complete list of cmdlets that have an `Encoding` parameter, and that allow you to correct the encoding of the output of a concatenated file, run the following command:

```
PS > Get-Command -ParameterName "Encoding"
```

**Note**  
PowerShell 6.0 and newer, including PowerShell Core, automatically retains UTF-8 encoding for concatenated file output.

## Returned Objects for the PowerShell Tools
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To make AWS Tools for PowerShell more useful in a native PowerShell environment, the object returned by a AWS Tools for PowerShell cmdlet is a .NET object, not the JSON text object that is typically returned from the corresponding API in the AWS SDK. For example, `Get-S3Bucket` emits a `Buckets` collection, not an Amazon S3 JSON response object. The `Buckets` collection can be placed in the PowerShell pipeline and interacted with in appropriate ways. Similarly, `Get-EC2Instance` emits a `Reservation` .NET object collection, not a `DescribeEC2Instances` JSON result object. This behavior is by design and enables the AWS Tools for PowerShell experience to be more consistent with idiomatic PowerShell.

The actual service responses are available for you if you need them. They are stored as `note` properties on the returned objects. For API actions that support paging by using `NextToken` fields, these are also attached as `note` properties.

## [Amazon EC2](pstools-ec2.md)
<a name="using-ec2"></a>

This section walks through the steps required to launch an Amazon EC2 instance including how to:
+ Retrieve a list of Amazon Machine Images (AMIs).
+ Create a key pair for SSH authentication.
+ Create and configure an Amazon EC2 security group.
+ Launch the instance and retrieve information about it.

## [Amazon S3](pstools-s3.md)
<a name="using-s3"></a>

The section walks through the steps required to create a static website hosted in Amazon S3. It demonstrates how to:
+ Create and delete Amazon S3 buckets.
+ Upload files to an Amazon S3 bucket as objects.
+ Delete objects from an Amazon S3 bucket.
+ Designate an Amazon S3 bucket as a website.

## [AWS Lambda and AWS Tools for PowerShell](pstools-lambda.md)
<a name="using-lambda"></a>

This section provides a brief overview of the AWS Lambda Tools for PowerShell module and describes the required steps for setting up the module.

## [Amazon SNS and Amazon SQS](pstools-sqs-queue-sns-topic.md)
<a name="using-sns"></a>

This section walks through the steps required to subscribe an Amazon SQS queue to an Amazon SNS topic. It demonstrates how to:
+ Create an Amazon SNS topic.
+ Create an Amazon SQS queue.
+ Subscribe the queue to the topic.
+ Send a message to the topic.
+ Receive the message from the queue.

## [CloudWatch](pstools-cw.md)
<a name="using-cw"></a>

This section provides an example of how to publish custom data to CloudWatch.
+ Publish a Custom Metric to Your CloudWatch Dashboard.

## See Also
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+  [Configuring and using the AWS Tools for PowerShell](pstools-getting-started.md) 

## Topics
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+ [Amazon S3 and Tools for Windows PowerShell](pstools-s3.md)
+ [Amazon EC2 and Tools for Windows PowerShell](pstools-ec2.md)
+ [AWS Lambda and AWS Tools for PowerShell](pstools-lambda.md)
+ [Amazon SQS, Amazon SNS and Tools for Windows PowerShell](pstools-sqs-queue-sns-topic.md)
+ [CloudWatch from the AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell](pstools-cw.md)
+ [Using the ClientConfig parameter in cmdlets](pstools-clientconfig.md)