How to search for a folder with PowerShell

Question

I would like to search for a folder in a specific directory and subdirectorys.

I tried googling it, but didn't really find any usefull examples.

Have you looked at the -recurse switch on Get-ChildItem? — Richard
– Richard, Commented Sep 30, 2013 at 10:32

Matt Hogan-Jones · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-10 15:41:55Z

84

Get-ChildItem C:\test -recurse | Where-Object {$_.PSIsContainer -eq $true -and $_.Name -match "keyword"}

I believe there's no dedicated cmdlet for searching files.

Edit in response to @Notorious comment: Since Powershell 3.0 this is much easier, since switches -Directory and -File were added to Get-ChildItem. So if you want it short you've got:

ls c:\test *key* -Recurse -Directory

With command alias and tab-completion for switches it's a snap. I just missed that the first time.

edited Oct 10, 2019 at 15:41

Matt Hogan-Jones

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answered Sep 30, 2013 at 11:00

AdamL

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5 Comments

daftspaniel Over a year ago

For those less Powershell familiar, the expression '$_.PSIsContainer -eq $true' is the test for the current object being a folder.

AdamL Over a year ago

@NotoriousPet0 Please see the edit for shorter version. Besides that popular commands usually have aliases you're familiar with from *nix or cmd, long command names system has it's advantages. You can easily grasp new module thanks to verb-noun convention, and find commands: get-command -Noun item; Get-Command -Verb convertto.

Robin Andrews Over a year ago

this makes no sense to me. Which part of ls c:\test *key* -Recurse -Directory do I replace with the directory name I want to find?

AdamL Over a year ago

@Robin *key* is a filter for directory name that you expect to be somewhere in c:\test.

Kellen Stuart Over a year ago

-Directory works only in newer versions of powershell. Also Get-ChildItem == ls == gci for any newbs

aturc · Accepted Answer · 2020-08-21 15:49:23Z

9

Here is my version, which is only slightly different:

gci -Recurse -Filter "your_folder_name" -Directory -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -Path "C:\"

some more info:

-Filter "your_folder_name"

From documentation: 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.

-Directory

Only examine directories, also could be -File

-ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Silences any warnings

-Path "C:\"

Specifies a path to start searching from

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.management/get-childitem?view=powershell-7

answered Aug 21, 2020 at 15:49

aturc

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1 Comment

mortenlund Over a year ago

For newbs like my self: The -ErrorAction SilintlyContinue is very important. Some of Windows files are locked. They are locked even if you run as admininistrator. So if searching for files and folders recursively, it can be problematic and the command just stops with and error message.

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