Files & Folders

PowerShell provides a variety of cmdlets for working with files and folders. In PowerShell, an "item" is a generic term used to refer to a file, folder, registry key, or other object that can be manipulated by cmdlets in the PowerShell environment. The term "item" is used in cmdlet names such as Get-Item, Set-Item, and Remove-Item, which can be used to manipulate different types of items in PowerShell.

Items

Here are some examples of how to use these cmdlets:

Cmdlet	Description	Alias
Get-ChildItem	Gets the items and child items in one or more specified locations	gci, dir, ls
Set-Location	Sets the working location to a specified location	cd, sl, chdir
Copy-Item	Copies an item from one location to another location	cp, copy
Move-Item	Moves an item from one location to another location	mv, move
Remove-Item	Deletes the specified items	ri, rmdir, rd, del, erase
New-Item	Creates a new item at the specified location	ni
Rename-Item	Renames an item at the specified location	rni

Note that some of these cmdlets have additional parameters that can be used to control their behavior. For example, you can use the -Recurse parameter with Remove-Item to delete a directory and all its contents. You can also use wildcards with many of these cmdlets to perform operations on multiple files or directories at once.

Get-ChildItem

This cmdlet lists the contents of a directory. By default, it displays both files and directories. Example:

Get-ChildItem C:\Users

Set-Location

This cmdlet changes the current working directory. Example:

Set-Location C:\Users\UserName\Desktop

Copy-Item

This cmdlet copies a file or directory to a new location. Example:

Copy-Item C:\Users\UserName\Desktop\MyFile.txt C:\Temp\

Move-Item

This cmdlet moves a file or directory to a new location. Example:

Move-Item C:\Users\UserName\Desktop\MyFile.txt C:\Temp\

Rename-Item

This cmdlet renames a file or directory. Example:

Rename-Item C:\Temp\MyFile.txt MyNewFile.txt

New-Item

This cmdlet creates a new file or directory. Example:

New-Item -ItemType File -Path C:\Temp\NewFile.txt

Remove-Item

This cmdlet deletes a file or directory. Example:

Remove-Item C:\Temp\MyFile.txt

Properties

In PowerShell, cmdlets whose names end with "Property" are used to retrieve or manipulate the properties of objects. Properties are attributes or characteristics of an object, such as its name, size, or creation date.

The most common cmdlet that ends with "Property" is the Get-ItemProperty cmdlet, which is used to retrieve the properties of a file, folder, or registry key. For example, you can use the Get-ItemProperty cmdlet to retrieve the version number of a file or the registry key value for a particular setting.

Other examples of cmdlets that end with "Property" include the Get-ServiceProperty cmdlet, which is used to retrieve the properties of a Windows service, and the Get-ADUserProperty cmdlet, which is used to retrieve the properties of an Active Directory user.

In general, cmdlets that end with "Property" are useful for retrieving specific information about an object, which can be used in scripts or further manipulated using other PowerShell cmdlets.

Cmdlet	Description
New-ItemProperty	Creates a new property for an item at the specified location
Get-ItemProperty	Gets the properties of the specified items
Set-ItemProperty	Sets the value of a property for the specified item
Remove-ItemProperty	Removes a property from an item at the specified location

Some interesting properties are: CreationTime, FullName, LastAccessTime, LastWriteTime, Attributes. For example, to check the creation time of a file:

get-itemproperty -path filename -name CreationTime

To check the attributes (permissions) of the file:

get-itemproperty -path file -name Attributes

To set the attributes, the Set-Itemproperty command is used, for example:

set-itemproperty -path file -name Attributes -value "ReadOnly"

Some permission values are ReadOnly, Hidden, System. If you want to set multiple permissions at once, separate their names with commas, and enclose the entire set in quotation marks (as in the example).

Paths

In PowerShell, cmdlets whose names end with "Path" are used to work with file and directory paths. These cmdlets are commonly used to manipulate or retrieve information about file and directory paths, such as their locations, names, or extensions.

One of the most commonly used cmdlets that ends with "Path" is the Split-Path cmdlet, which is used to split a file or directory path into its individual components, such as the directory, filename, and extension. For example, the command "Split-Path C:\Temp\test.txt -Leaf" would return "test.txt", while "Split-Path C:\Temp\test.txt -Parent" would return "C:\Temp".

Another example is the Join-Path cmdlet, which is used to combine two or more path strings into a single path. For example, the command "Join-Path C:\Temp test.txt" would return "C:\Temp\test.txt".

Other examples of cmdlets that end with "Path" include the Resolve-Path cmdlet, which is used to resolve a path to its full, absolute form, and the Test-Path cmdlet, which is used to test whether a file or directory path exists.

In general, cmdlets that end with "Path" are useful for manipulating file and directory paths, which can be useful for scripting or automating tasks that involve working with files and directories.

Cmdlet	Description
Test-Path	Determines whether all elements of a path exist
Join-Path	Joins two or more parts of a path into a single path
Split-Path	Returns specific parts of a path
Convert-Path	Converts a path from a relative path to a full path or from a full path to a relative path

Directories or Folders

Operation	Command
Creation	new-item -itemtype directory -name directory_name
Deletion	remove-item -path directory_name -Recurse
Rename	rename-item -path directory_name -newname new_directory_name -Recurse
Move	move-item -path directory_name -destination new_location
Enter	cd directory_name
Show current directory	Get-Location or pwd (same as Linux)

Note .(dot) indicates the current directory and ..(dot dot) indicates the parent of the current directory.

Files

Operation	Command
Creation	new-item -itemtype file -name file_name [-value content]
Deletion	remove-item -path file_name
Renaming	rename-item -path file_name -newname new_name
Moving	move-item -path file_name -destination new_location

Text files can be displayed on the console using the Get-Content command, which has the alias "type".