Mastering Windows PowerShell Scripting - Third Edition

Getting items

The Get-Item command is used to get an object represented by a path:

Get-Item \ # The root container 
Get-Item .  # The current container 
Get-Item .. # The parent container 
Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe  # A leaf item 
Get-Item Cert:\LocalMachine\Root      #A container item 

The Get-ChildItem command, which has dir and ls aliases, is used to list the children of the current item.

Neither Get-ChildItem nor Get-Item will show hidden files and folders by default. The following error will be returned for a hidden item:

PS> Get-Item $env:USERPROFILE\AppDataGet-Item : Could not find item C:\Users\Someone\AppData.At line:1 char:1+ Get-Item $env:USERPROFILE\AppData+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Users\Someone ...