Using

The using keyword was introduced with PowerShell 5.0. The using keyword may be used in a script, a module, or in the console.

The using keyword does a number of different things. It can import and declare:

• Assemblies
• Modules
• Namespaces

In the context of working with .NET, assemblies and namespaces are of interest.

Future plans for the using command look to include aliasing as well as support for type and command objects. For example, we might expect the following to work in the future:

using namespace NetInfo = System.Net.NetworkInformation

This statement will fail with a not supported error at this time.

Using assemblies

If an assembly is listed in the using statement for a script, it will be loaded. For example, the System.Windows.Forms may be loaded:

using assembly 'System.Windows.Forms, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' 

Add-Type is able to do much the same thing:

Add-Type -AssemblyName 'System.Windows.Forms, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken...