PowerShell file operations

last modified February 15, 2025

In this article we show how to work with files in PowerShell.

PowerShell is a cross-platform task automation solution made up of a command-line shell, a scripting language, and a configuration management framework.

PowerShell provides a rich set of cmdlets for file operations.

Get-ChildItem

The Get-ChildItem cmdlet gets the items in one or more specified locations.

Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\"

In this program, we get the child items of the root of the C drive.

PS C:\> .\get_child_item.ps1

    Directory: C:\


Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
d-----        15/02/2025     16:23                Config.Msi
d-----        15/02/2025     16:23                Documents and Settings
d-----        15/02/2025     16:23                PerfLogs
d-----        15/02/2025     16:23                Program Files
d-----        15/02/2025     16:23                Program Files (x86)
d-----        15/02/2025     16:23                Recovery
d-----        15/02/2025     16:23                System Volume Information
d-----        15/02/2025     16:23                Users
d-----        15/02/2025     16:23                Windows

We run the script and see the output.

Remove-Item

The Remove-Item cmdlet deletes items such as files, directories, and registry keys.

Remove-Item -Path "test.txt"

In this program, we delete a file named test.txt.

PS C:\> .\remove_item.ps1

We run the script and see no output.

Copy-Item

The Copy-Item cmdlet copies an item from one location to another.

Copy-Item -Path "test.txt" -Destination "test_copy.txt"

In this program, we copy a file named test.txt to a new file named test_copy.txt.

PS C:\> .\copy_item.ps1

We run the script and see no output.

Move-Item

The Move-Item cmdlet moves an item from one location to another.

Move-Item -Path "test.txt" -Destination "test_moved.txt"

In this program, we move a file named test.txt to a new file named test_moved.txt.

PS C:\> .\move_item.ps1

We run the script and see no output.

Test-Path

The Test-Path cmdlet tests whether a path exists.

Test-Path -Path "test_moved.txt"

In this program, we test whether a file named test_moved.txt exists.

PS C:\> .\test_path.ps1
True

We run the script and see the output.

Source

PowerShell documentation

In this article we have shown you how to work with files in PowerShell.

Author

I am Jan Bodnar, a programmer and technical writer. I have been writing programming tutorials at ZetCode since 2007 and have published eight e-books. See about the author.

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