Get the items and child items in a folder or registry key. If the item is a container, it gets the items inside the container, known as child items. You can use the Recurse parameter to get items in all child containers. Aliases: dir / ls / gci
Syntax
Get-ChildItem [ [-path] string[] | [-literalPath] string[] ]
[-Attributes FileAttributes] [[-filter] string] [-include string[]] [-exclude string[]]
[-FollowSymlink] [-Depth UInt32] [-Name] [-Directory] [-File] [-Hidden]
[-ReadOnly] [-recurse] [-force] [-System] [-UseTransaction] [CommonParameters]
Key
-path string
The paths to the items from which content is to be retrieved.
Wildcards are permitted. Default is the current directory (.)
-literalPath string
Like Path above, only the value is used exactly as typed. [bug: ignores filters]
No characters are interpreted as wildcards. If the path includes any escape characters then
enclose the path in single quotation marks.
One or more locations can be specified as a string array.
-Attributes {ReadOnly | Hidden | System | Directory | Archive | Device | Normal | Temporary | SparseFile |
ReparsePoint | Compressed | Offline | NotContentIndexed | Encrypted | IntegrityStream | NoScrubData}
Get files and folders with the specified attributes.
This parameter supports all attributes and complex combinations of attributes.
For example, to get non-system files (not directories) that are encrypted or compressed, type:
Get-ChildItem -Attributes !Directory+!System+Encrypted, !Directory+!System+Compressed
To find files and folders with commonly used attributes, you can use the Attributes parameter, or the
-Directory, -File, -Hidden, -ReadOnly, and -System switch parameters.
A 'Normal' file is a standard file that has no special attributes. This attribute is valid only if it is used alone.
Use the following operators to combine attributes.
! NOT
+ AND
, OR
No spaces are permitted between an operator and its attribute. However, spaces are permitted before commas.
Abbreviations for commonly used attributes:
D Directory
H Hidden
R Read-only
S System
-Depth UInt32
use with –Recurse to limit the recursion to UInt32 levels.
-Directory
Get directories (folders).
To get only directories, use -Directory and omit -File.
To exclude directories, use -File and omit -Directory, or use the -Attributes parameter.
alias: ad
-File
Get files.
To get only files, use -File and omit -Directory.
To exclude files, use -Directory and omit -File, or use the -Attributes parameter.
-FollowSymlink (PowerShell 6.0+)
Search any directories that are the target of symbolic links in the search path.
By default, Get-ChildItem displays symbolic links to directories found during recursion, but
doesn't recurse into them. This is a dynamic parameter and is supported only in the FileSystem provider.
-Hidden
Get only hidden files and directories (folders).
By default, Get-ChildItem gets only non-hidden items, use the -Force parameter to include
both hidden and non-hidden items in the results.
-include string
Include only the specified items from the Path. e.g. 'May*'
This parameter is only effective when the command includes -Recurse to match files
or if the string matches the contents of a directory.
So to match C:\demo\sample.txt you could use: GCI -include *sample.txt
For most providers particularly the filesystem, the -filter parameter is a better/faster way
to filter results. e.g. GCI -filter sample.txt
-exclude string
Omit the specified items from the Path e.g. '*SS64*'
-force
Get all items including hidden or system files, but will not override
security/file permissions. You can also get hidden files and folders with -Hidden or
with the Hidden value of the -Attributes parameter.
-filter string
A filter in the provider's format or language.
The exact syntax of the filter (wildcard support etc) depends on the provider.
A filesystem -filter will use the old Win32/DOS syntax - see the wildcards page for details.
Filters are slightly more efficient than -include/-exclude, because the provider
applies the filter when retrieving the objects, rather than having
PowerShell filter the objects after they are retrieved.
-Name
Retrieve only the names of the items.
This is useful when piping the names of the child items to another command.
-ReadOnly
Get only read-only files and directories (folders).
To exclude read-only items, use the -Attributes parameter.
Alias: ar
-recurse
Get the items plus all child items of the location(s).
Only for paths that point to a container such as C:\Windows or C:\Windows\*
A path such as *.txt will not have any child items.
-Depth UInt32
-System
Get only system files and directories (folders).
To exclude system files and folders, use the -Attributes parameter.
Alias: as
-UseTransaction
Include the command in the active transaction. This option was removed in PowerShell 6.0.
Standard Aliases for Get-ChildItem: dir, list, ls, gci
By default, Get-ChildItem gets only non-hidden items, but you can use the -Directory, -File, -Hidden, -ReadOnly, and -System parameters to get only items with these attributes.
When listing files and sub-directories, get-childitem will return the mode (attributes), last write time, file size (length), and the filename.
Valid modes (attributes) are: d (directory), a (archive), r (read-only), h (hidden), and s (system).
The default path is the current directory ' . '
To specify all the items in the current directory use '*'
When listing a single folder (without recursion), you can do get-childitem c:\music\*.mp3
Unlike the CMD shell, in PowerShell the path filter of c:\music\*.mp3 is applied only to files not folders (or other containers).To apply a wildcard recursively to a whole tree of items in PowerShell add the -recurse parameter:
get-childitem c:\music\*.mp3 -recurse
or more explicitly:
get-childitem c:\music\ -filter *.mp3 -recurse
Get the child items in the current location:
PS C:\> get-childitem
Get a plain list of full filenames, like DIR /b without a header, Select just the fullname:
PS C:\> $stuff = gci "C:\some folder" | select FullName
PS C:\> $stuff.fullname > demo.txt
If some of the filenames are very long they may be truncated, to avoid this add -expandProperty:
PS C:\> gci "C:\some folder" | select -expandProperty FullName | `
out-file -encoding utf8 'C:\demo\demo.txt'
If listing files to the console, then you may need to use Write-Host -width 999 to ensure that nothing gets truncated.
PS C:\> $stuff = gci "C:\some folder" | select -expandProperty FullName
PS C:\> Write-Host -width 999 $stuff
An effect similar to the above can be had by piping the result to format-table –hidetableheaders however Format-Table will also pad the output with spaces.
Get all the .XLS files in a folder:
PS C:\> get-childitem \\Server64\Work\* -filter *.xls
Count all the .XLSX files in a folder and all sub-folders:
PS C:\> $a = get-childitem \\Server64\Work\ -filter *.xlsx -Recurse
PS C:\>> $a.Count
Get all the files owned by BWithers:
PS C:\> PS C:\> get-childitem C:\Work\ -recurse | get-acl | where {$_.Owner -match "BWithers"}
Get all files, including hidden files, in the current directory, but exclude subdirectories,
The second command below uses aliases and abbreviations, but has the same effect as the first:
PS C:\> Get-ChildItem -Attributes !Directory,!Directory+Hidden
PS C:\> dir -att !d,!d+h
Get a list of sub-folder names and store in $folders:
PS C:\> $folders = gci 'C:\YourDir' | Where-Object{($_.PSIsContainer)} | foreach-object{$_.Name}
Measure the size of a folder:
PS C:\> Get-ChildItem C:\Work\ -Recurse -Force |
Measure-Object -property length -sum
Measure the size of a folder and display in GB, (to also round the numbers use the -F operator):
PS C:\> (Get-ChildItem C:\Work\ -Recurse -Force | Measure-Object -property length -sum).sum / 1Gb
Get all the certificates in the certificate store, use the dynamic parameter -codesigningcert to get only certificates with code-signing authority. ( see "get-help certificate" for more):
PS C:\> get-childitem cert:\. -recurse -codesigningcert
List the certificates and their thumbprints for the current user:
PS C:\> CD cert:\currentuser\my
PS C:\> Get-ChildItem
“You [humans] think that you an insignificant, while there is a great universe contained in you” ~ Ali ibn Abi Talib
Wildcards - Match multiple items.
Get-Item - Get a file object or get a registry (or other namespace) object.
Get-Location - Display the current location.
Measure-Object - Measure the properties of an object - use this to return the size of a file or folder.
Test-Path - Return true if the path exists, otherwise return false.
Join-Path -resolve - Combine a path and child-path.
Superuser - Find all empty directories.