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about_FileSystem_Provider

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Provider name

FileSystem

Drives

C:, D:, Temp: ...

Capabilities

Filter, ShouldProcess

Short description

Provides access to files and directories.

Detailed description

The PowerShell FileSystem provider lets you get, add, change, clear, and delete files and directories in PowerShell.

The FileSystem drives are a hierarchical namespace containing the directories and files on your computer. A FileSystem drive can be a logical or physical drive, directory, or mapped network share.

The FileSystem provider supports the following cmdlets, which are covered in this article.

Types exposed by this provider

Files are instances of the System.IO.FileInfo class. Directories are instances of the System.IO.DirectoryInfo class.

The PowerShell Extended Type System adds extra properties to these object types to provide additional information. Some information is platform specific. For example, the possible values of the LinkType property depend on the platform and filesystem being used. Linux and macOS filesystems support HardLink and SymLink. Windows NTFS supports HardLink, SymLink, Junction, and several other values for LinkType.

When you use Get-Item or Get-ChildItem to information about a linked item, the Mode property contains an l to indicate that the item is a link. The LinkType property contains the type of link.

AppExecLink links are created when you install an application from the Microsoft Store. For AppExecLink links, Windows doesn't provide values for the LinkType or LinkTarget properties.

Get-Item ~\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\winget.exe

    Directory: C:\Users\user1\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps

Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
-a---l          6/8/2023  12:20 PM              0 winget.exe

The FileSystem provider exposes its data stores by mapping any logical drives on the computer as PowerShell drives. To work with a FileSystem drive you can change your location to a drive using the drive name followed by a colon (:).

Set-Location C:

You can also work with the FileSystem provider from any other PowerShell drive. To reference a file or directory from another location, use the drive name (C:, D:, ...) in the path.

Note

PowerShell uses aliases to allow you a familiar way to work with provider paths. Commands such as dir and ls are now aliases for Get-ChildItem, cd is an alias for Set-Location. and pwd is an alias for Get-Location.

Getting files and directories

The Get-ChildItem cmdlet returns all files and directories in the current location. You can specify a different path to search and use built in parameters to filter and control the recursion depth.

Get-ChildItem

To read more about cmdlet usage, see Get-ChildItem.

Copying files and directories

The Copy-Item cmdlet copies files and directories to a location you specify. Parameters are available to filter and recurse, similar to Get-ChildItem.

The following command copies all of the files and directories under the path C:\temp\ to the folder C:\Windows\Temp.

Copy-Item -Path C:\temp\* -Destination C:\Windows\Temp -Recurse -File

Copy-Item overwrites files in the destination directory without prompting for confirmation.

This command copies the a.txt file from the C:\a directory to the C:\a\bb directory.

Copy-Item -Path C:\a\a.txt -Destination C:\a\bb\a.txt

Copies all the directories and files in the C:\a directory to the C:\c directory. If any of the directories to copy already exist in the destination directory, the command fails unless you specify the Force parameter.

Copy-Item -Path C:\a\* -Destination C:\c -Recurse

For more information, see Copy-Item.

Moving files and directories

This command moves the c.txt file in the C:\a directory to the C:\a\aa directory:

Move-Item -Path C:\a\c.txt -Destination C:\a\aa

By default, the cmdlet doesn't overwrite an existing file that has the same name. To force the cmdlet to overwrite an existing file, specify the Force parameter.

You can't move a directory when that directory is the current location. When you use Move-Item to move the directory at the current location, you see this error.

C:\temp> Move-Item -Path C:\temp\ -Destination C:\Windows\Temp

Move-Item : Cannot move item because the item at 'C:\temp\' is in use.
At line:1 char:1
+ Move-Item C:\temp\ C:\temp2\
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [Move-Item], PSInvalidOperationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperation,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.MoveItemCommand

Managing file content

Get the content of a file

This command gets the contents of the "Test.txt" file and displays them in the console.

Get-Content -Path Test.txt

You can pipe the contents of the file to another cmdlet. For example, the following command reads the contents of the Test.txt file and then supplies them as input to the ConvertTo-Html cmdlet:

Get-Content -Path Test.txt | ConvertTo-Html

You can also retrieve the content of a file by prefixing its provider path with the dollar sign ($). The path must be enclosed in curly braces due to variable naming restrictions. For more information, see about_Variables.

${C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts}

Add content to a file

This command appends the "test content" string to the Test.txt file:

Add-Content -Path test.txt -Value "test content"

The existing content in the Test.txt file isn't deleted.

Replace the content of a file

This command replaces the contents of the Test.txt file with the "test content" string:

Set-Content -Path test.txt -Value "test content"

It overwrites the contents of Test.txt. You can use the Value parameter of the New-Item cmdlet to add content to a file when you create it.

Loop through the contents of a file

By default, the Get-Content cmdlet uses the end-of-line character as its delimiter, so it gets a file as a collection of strings, with each line as one string in the file.

You can use the Delimiter parameter to specify an alternate delimiter. If you set it to the characters that denote the end of a section or the beginning of the next section, you can split the file into logical parts.

The first command gets the Employees.txt file and splits it into sections, each of which ends with the words "End of Employee Record" and it saves it in the $e variable.

The second command uses array notation to get the first item in the collection in $e. It uses an index of 0, because PowerShell arrays are zero-based.

For more information about Get-Content cmdlet, see the help topic for the Get-Content.

For more information about arrays, see about_Arrays.

$e = Get-Content c:\test\employees.txt -Delimited "End Of Employee Record"
$e[0]

Managing security descriptors

View the ACL for a file

This command returns a System.Security.AccessControl.FileSecurity object:

Get-Acl -Path test.txt | Format-List -Property *

For more information about this object, pipe the command to the Get-Member cmdlet or see the FileSecurity Class.

Creating files and directories

Create a directory

This command creates the logfiles directory on the C drive:

New-Item -Path c:\ -Name logfiles -Type directory

PowerShell also includes a mkdir function (alias md) that uses the New-Item cmdlet to create a new directory.

Create a file

This command creates the log2.txt file in the C:\logfiles directory and then adds the "test log" string to the file:

New-Item -Path c:\logfiles -Name log2.txt -Type file

Create a file with content

Creates a file called log2.txt in the C:\logfiles directory and adds the string "test log" to the file.

New-Item -Path c:\logfiles -Name log2.txt -Type file -Value "test log"

Renaming files and directories

Rename a file

This command renames the a.txt file in the C:\a directory to b.txt:

Rename-Item -Path c:\a\a.txt -NewName b.txt

Rename a directory

This command renames the C:\a\cc directory to C:\a\dd:

Rename-Item -Path c:\a\cc -NewName dd

Deleting files and directories

Delete a file

This command deletes the Test.txt file in the current directory:

Remove-Item -Path test.txt

Delete files using wildcards

This command deletes all the files in the current directory that have the .xml file name extension:

Remove-Item -Path *.xml

Starting a program by invoking an associated file

Invoke a file

The Get-Service cmdlet to get information about local services and pipes the information to the Export-Csv cmdlet to store the information in the Services.csv file.

Then Invoke-Item opens the services.csv file in the program associated with the .csv extension:

Get-Service | Export-Csv -Path services.csv
Invoke-Item -Path services.csv

Getting files and folders with specified attributes

Get System files

This command gets system files in the current directory and its subdirectories.

It uses the File parameter to get only files (not directories) and the System parameter to get only items with the "system" attribute.

It uses the Recurse parameter to get the items in the current directory and all subdirectories.

Get-ChildItem -File -System -Recurse

Get Hidden files

This command gets all files, including hidden files, in the current directory.

It uses the Attributes parameter with two values, !Directory+Hidden, which gets hidden files, and !Directory, which gets all other files.

Get-ChildItem -Attributes !Directory,!Directory+Hidden

dir -att !d,!d+h is the equivalent of this command.

Get Compressed and Encrypted files

This command gets files in the current directory that are either compressed or encrypted.

It uses the Attributes parameter with two values, Compressed and Encrypted. The values are separated by a comma , which represents the "OR" operator.

Get-ChildItem -Attributes Compressed,Encrypted

Dynamic parameters

Dynamic parameters are cmdlet parameters that are added by a PowerShell provider and are available only when the cmdlet is being used in the provider-enabled drive.

Encoding <FileSystemCmdletProviderEncoding>

Specifies the file encoding. The default is ASCII.

  • Ascii Uses ASCII (7-bit) character set.
  • BigEndianUnicode Uses UTF-16 with the big-endian byte order.
  • BigEndianUTF32 Uses UTF-32 with the big-endian byte order.
  • Byte Encodes a set of characters into a sequence of bytes.
  • Default Uses the encoding that corresponds to the system's active code page (usually ANSI).
  • Oem Uses the encoding that corresponds to the system's current OEM code page.
  • String Same as Unicode.
  • Unicode Uses UTF-16 with the little-endian byte order.
  • Unknown Same as Unicode.
  • UTF7 Uses UTF-7.
  • UTF8 Uses UTF-8.
  • UTF32 Uses UTF-32 with the little-endian byte order.

Cmdlets supported

  • Add-Content
  • Get-Content
  • Set-Content

Delimiter <String>

Specifies the delimiter that Get-Content uses to divide the file into objects while it reads.

The default is \n, the end-of-line character.

When reading a text file, Get-Content returns a collection of string objects, each of which ends with the delimiter character.

Entering a delimiter that doesn't exist in the file, Get-Content returns the entire file as a single, un-delimited object.

You can use this parameter to split a large file into smaller files by specifying a file separator, such as "End of Example", as the delimiter. The delimiter is preserved (not discarded) and becomes the last item in each file section.

Note

Currently, when the value of the Delimiter parameter is an empty string, Get-Content doesn't return anything. This is a known issue. To force Get-Content to return the entire file as a single, undelimited string, enter a value that doesn't exist in the file.

Cmdlets supported

  • Get-Content

Wait <SwitchParameter>

Waits for content to be appended to the file. If content is appended, it returns the appended content. If the content has changed, it returns the entire file.

When waiting, Get-Content checks the file once each second until you interrupt it, such as by pressing CTRL+C.

Cmdlets supported

  • Get-Content

Attributes <FlagsExpression>

Gets files and folders with the specified attributes. This parameter supports all attributes and lets you specify complex combinations of attributes.

The Attributes parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

The Attributes parameter supports the following attributes:

  • Archive
  • Compressed
  • Device
  • Directory
  • Encrypted
  • Hidden
  • Normal
  • NotContentIndexed
  • Offline
  • ReadOnly
  • ReparsePoint
  • SparseFile
  • System
  • Temporary

For a description of these attributes, see the FileAttributes enumeration.

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.

Cmdlets supported

  • Get-ChildItem

Directory <SwitchParameter>

Gets directories (folders).

The Directory parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

To get only directories, use the Directory parameter and omit the File parameter. To exclude directories, use the File parameter and omit the Directory parameter, or use the Attributes parameter.

Cmdlets supported

  • Get-ChildItem

File <SwitchParameter>

Gets files.

The File parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

To get only files, use the File parameter and omit the Directory parameter. To exclude files, use the Directory parameter and omit the File parameter, or use the Attributes parameter.

Cmdlets supported

  • Get-ChildItem

Hidden <SwitchParameter>

Gets only hidden files and directories (folders). By default, Get-ChildItem gets only non-hidden items.

The Hidden parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

To get only hidden items, use the Hidden parameter, its h or ah aliases, or the Hidden value of the Attributes parameter. To exclude hidden items, omit the Hidden parameter or use the Attributes parameter.

Cmdlets supported

  • Get-ChildItem

ReadOnly <SwitchParameter>

Gets only read-only files and directories (folders).

The ReadOnly parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

To get only read-only items, use the ReadOnly parameter, its ar alias, or the ReadOnly value of the Attributes parameter. To exclude read-only items, use the Attributes parameter.

Cmdlets supported

  • Get-ChildItem

System <SwitchParameter>

Gets only system files and directories (folders).

The System parameter was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.

To get only system files and folders, use the System parameter, its as alias, or the System value of the Attributes parameter. To exclude system files and folders, use the Attributes parameter.

Cmdlets supported

  • Get-ChildItem

NewerThan <DateTime>

Returns $True when the LastWriteTime value of a file is greater than the specified date. Otherwise, it returns $False.

Enter a DateTime object, such as one that the Get-Date cmdlet returns, or a string that can be converted to a DateTime object, such as "August 10, 2011 2:00 PM".

Cmdlets supported

OlderThan <DateTime>

Returns $True when the LastWriteTime value of a file is less than the specified date. Otherwise, it returns $False.

Enter a DateTime object, such as one that the Get-Date cmdlet returns, or a string that can be converted to a DateTime object, such as "August 10, 2011 2:00 PM".

Cmdlets supported

  • Test-Path

Stream <String>

Manages alternate data streams. Enter the stream name. Wildcards are permitted only in Get-Item for and Remove-Item commands in a file system drive.

Cmdlets supported

  • Add-Content
  • Clear-Content
  • Get-Item
  • Get-Content
  • Remove-Item
  • Set-Content

Raw <SwitchParameter>

Ignores newline characters. Returns contents as a single item.

Cmdlets supported

  • Get-Content

ItemType <String>

This parameter allows you to specify the type of item to create with New-Item.

The available values of this parameter depend on the current provider you are using.

In a FileSystem drive, the following values are allowed:

  • File
  • Directory
  • SymbolicLink
  • Junction
  • HardLink

Cmdlets supported

  • New-Item

Using the pipeline

Provider cmdlets accept pipeline input. You can use the pipeline to simplify task by sending provider data from one cmdlet to another provider cmdlet. To read more about how to use the pipeline with provider cmdlets, see the cmdlet references provided throughout this article.

Getting help

Beginning in Windows PowerShell 3.0, you can get customized help topics for provider cmdlets that explain how those cmdlets behave in a file system drive.

To get the help topics that are customized for the file system drive, run a Get-Help command in a file system drive or use the Path parameter of Get-Help to specify a file system drive.

Get-Help Get-ChildItem

Get-Help Get-ChildItem -Path c:

See also