Get-ChildItem for listing in PowerShell - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Get-ChildItem for listing

📖 Scenario: You are organizing files in a folder on your computer. You want to list all files and folders inside a specific directory to see what is there.

🎯 Goal: Build a PowerShell script that lists all items in a folder using Get-ChildItem.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a variable with the folder path

Create a variable to hold the listing options

Use Get-ChildItem with the path and options

Print the list of items

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Listing files and folders is a common task when managing files on your computer or server.

💼 Career

Knowing how to use Get-ChildItem helps in automation scripts for system administration and file management.

1

Set the folder path

Create a variable called $folderPath and set it to 'C:\Users\Public\Documents'.

PowerShell

# Create a variable called $folderPath and set it to 'C:\Users\Public\Documents'
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use single quotes for the path string and double backslashes to escape.

2

Set the listing options

Create a variable called $options and set it to @{ Recurse = $false; File = $true; Directory = $true } to list files and folders without recursion.

PowerShell

$folderPath = 'C:\Users\Public\Documents'
# Create a variable called $options with Recurse = $false, File = $true, Directory = $true
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a hashtable to set options for Get-ChildItem.

3

Get the list of items

Use Get-ChildItem with -Path $folderPath and the options -Recurse:$options.Recurse, -File:$options.File, and -Directory:$options.Directory. Store the result in a variable called $items.

PowerShell

$folderPath = 'C:\Users\Public\Documents'
$options = @{ Recurse = $false; File = $true; Directory = $true }
# Use Get-ChildItem with -Path $folderPath and options to get files and directories
# Store the result in $items
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use the -Recurse, -File, and -Directory parameters with values from $options.

4

Display the list of items

Print the variable $items to display the list of files and folders.

PowerShell

$folderPath = 'C:\Users\Public\Documents'
$options = @{ Recurse = $false; File = $true; Directory = $true }
$items = Get-ChildItem -Path $folderPath -Recurse:$options.Recurse -File:$options.File -Directory:$options.Directory
# Print the $items variable
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use Write-Output $items to print the list.