Edit

Get-Item

  • Reference
Module:
Microsoft.PowerShell.Management

Gets the item at the specified location.

Syntax 

Get-Item
   [-Path] <String[]>
   [-Filter <String>]
   [-Include <String[]>]
   [-Exclude <String[]>]
   [-Force]
   [-Credential <PSCredential>]
   [-Stream <String[]>]
   [<CommonParameters>]
Get-Item
   -LiteralPath <String[]>
   [-Filter <String>]
   [-Include <String[]>]
   [-Exclude <String[]>]
   [-Force]
   [-Credential <PSCredential>]
   [-Stream <String[]>]
   [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The Get-Item cmdlet gets the item at the specified location. It doesn't get the contents of the item at the location unless you use a wildcard character ( * ) to request all the contents of the item.

This cmdlet is used by PowerShell providers to navigate through different types of data stores.

Examples

Example 1: Get the current directory

This example gets the current directory. The dot ('.') represents the item at the current location (not its contents). 

Get-Item .

Directory: C:\

Mode                LastWriteTime     Length Name
----                -------------     ------ ----
d----         7/26/2006  10:01 AM            ps-test

Example 2: Get all the items in the current directory

This example gets all the items in the current directory. The wildcard character ( * ) represents all the contents of the current item. 

Get-Item *

Directory: C:\ps-test

Mode                LastWriteTime     Length Name
----                -------------     ------ ----
d----         7/26/2006   9:29 AM            Logs
d----         7/26/2006   9:26 AM            Recs
-a---         7/26/2006   9:28 AM         80 date.csv
-a---         7/26/2006  10:01 AM         30 filenoext
-a---         7/26/2006   9:30 AM      11472 process.doc
-a---         7/14/2006  10:47 AM         30 test.txt

Example 3: Get the current directory of a drive

This example gets the current directory of the C: drive. The object that is retrieved represents only the directory, not its contents. 

Get-Item C:

Example 4: Get items in the specified drive

This example gets the items in the C: drive. The wildcard character ( * ) represents all the items in the container, not just the container. 

Get-Item C:\*

In PowerShell, use a single asterisk ( * ) to get contents, instead of the traditional *.* . The format is interpreted literally, so *.* wouldn't retrieve directories or filenames without a dot.

Example 5: Get a property in the specified directory

This example gets the LastAccessTime property of the C:\Windows directory. LastAccessTime is just one property of file system directories. To see all the properties of a directory, type (Get-Item <directory-name>) | Get-Member . 

(Get-Item C:\Windows).LastAccessTime

Example 6: Show the contents of a registry key

This example shows the contents of the Microsoft.PowerShell registry key. You can use this cmdlet with the PowerShell Registry provider to get registry keys and subkeys, but you must use the Get-ItemProperty cmdlet to get the registry values and data. 

Get-Item HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Powershell\1\Shellids\Microsoft.Powershell\

Example 7: Get items in a directory that have an exclusion

This example gets items in the Windows directory with names that include a dot ( . ), but don't begin with w* .This example works only when the path includes a wildcard character ( * ) to specify the contents of the item. 

Get-Item C:\Windows\*.* -Exclude "w*"

In PowerShell 6.2, an alternate view was added to get hardlink information. To get the hardlink information, pipe the output to Format-Table -View childrenWithHardlink 

Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\ntoskrnl.exe | Format-Table -view childrenWithHardLink

Directory: C:\Windows\System32

Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
la---           5/12/2021  7:40 AM       10848576 ntoskrnl.exe

The Mode property identifies the hardlink by the l in la---

Example 9: Output for Non-Windows Operating Systems

In PowerShell 7.1 on Unix systems, the Get-Item cmdlet provides Unix-like output: 

PS> Get-Item /Users

Directory: /

UnixMode    User  Group   LastWriteTime      Size  Name
--------    ----  -----   -------------      ----  ----
drwxr-xr-x  root  admin   12/20/2019 11:46   192   Users

The new properties that are now part of the output are:

  • UnixMode is the file permissions as represented on a Unix system
  • User is the file owner
  • Group is the group owner
  • Size is the size of the file or directory as represented on a Unix system

Note

This feature was moved from experimental to mainstream in PowerShell 7.1.

Parameters

-Credential

Note

This parameter isn't supported by any providers installed with PowerShell. To impersonate another user, or elevate your credentials when running this cmdlet, use Invoke-Command .

Type: PSCredential
Position: Named
Default value: Current user
Accept pipeline input: True
Accept wildcard characters: False

-Exclude

Specifies, as a string array, an item or items that this cmdlet excludes in the operation. The value of this parameter qualifies the Path parameter. Enter a path element or pattern, such as *.txt . Wildcard characters are permitted. The Exclude parameter is effective only when the command includes the contents of an item, such as C:\Windows\* , where the wildcard character specifies the contents of the C:\Windows directory.

Type: String [ ]
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: True

-Filter

Specifies a filter to qualify the Path parameter. The FileSystem provider is the only installed PowerShell provider that supports filters. Filters are more efficient than other parameters. The provider applies filter when the cmdlet gets the objects rather than having PowerShell filter the objects after they're retrieved. The filter string is passed to the .NET API to enumerate files. The API only supports * and ? wildcards.

Type: String
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: True

-Force

Indicates that this cmdlet gets items that can't otherwise be accessed, such as hidden items. Implementation varies from provider to provider. For more information, see about_Providers . Even using the Force parameter, the cmdlet can't override security restrictions.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: False
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False

-Include

Specifies, as a string array, an item or items that this cmdlet includes in the operation. The value of this parameter qualifies the Path parameter. Enter a path element or pattern, such as *.txt . Wildcard characters are permitted. The Include parameter is effective only when the command includes the contents of an item, such as C:\Windows\* , where the wildcard character specifies the contents of the C:\Windows directory.

Type: String [ ]
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: True

-LiteralPath

Specifies a path to one or more locations. The value of LiteralPath is used exactly as it's typed. No characters are interpreted as wildcards. If the path includes escape characters, enclose it in single quotation marks. Single quotation marks tell PowerShell not to interpret any characters as escape sequences.

For more information, see about_Quoting_Rules .

Type: String [ ]
Aliases: PSPath, LP
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: True
Accept wildcard characters: False

-Path

Specifies the path to an item. This cmdlet gets the item at the specified location. Wildcard characters are permitted. This parameter is required, but the parameter name Path is optional.

Use a dot ( . ) to specify the current location. Use the wildcard character ( * ) to specify all the items in the current location.

Type: String [ ]
Position: 0
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: True
Accept wildcard characters: True

-Stream

Note

This Parameter is only available on Windows.

Gets the specified alternative data stream from the file. Enter the stream name. Wildcards are supported. To get all streams, use an asterisk ( * ). This parameter is valid on directories, but note that directories do not have data streams by default.

This parameter was introduced in PowerShell 3.0. As of PowerShell 7.2, Get-Item can get alternative data streams from directories as well as files.

Type: String [ ]
Position: Named
Default value: No alternate file streams
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: True

Inputs

String

You can pipe a string that contains a path to this cmdlet.

Outputs

AliasInfo

The cmdlet outputs this type when accessing the Alias: drive.

X509StoreLocation

X509Store

X509Certificate2

The cmdlet outputs these types when accessing the Cert: drive.

DictionaryEntry

The cmdlet outputs this type when accessing the Env: drive.

DirectoryInfo

FileInfo

The cmdlet outputs these types when accessing the Filesystem drives.

FunctionInfo

FilterInfo

The cmdlet outputs these types when accessing the Function: drives.

RegistryKey

The cmdlet outputs this type when accessing the Registry drives.

PSVariable

The cmdlet outputs this type when accessing the Variable: drives.

Microsoft.WSMan.Management.WSManConfigContainerElement

Microsoft.WSMan.Management.WSManConfigLeafElement

The cmdlet outputs these types when accessing the WSMan: drives.

Notes

PowerShell includes the following aliases for Get-Item :

  • All platforms:
    • gi

This cmdlet does not have a Recurse parameter, because it gets only an item, not its contents. To get the contents of an item recursively, use Get-ChildItem .

To navigate through the registry, use this cmdlet to get registry keys and the Get-ItemProperty to get registry values and data. The registry values are considered to be properties of the registry key.

This cmdlet is designed to work with the data exposed by any provider. To list the providers available in your session, type Get-PsProvider . For more information, see about_Providers .