Use PowerShell to generate a list of files and directories

Question

I'm writing a PowerShell script to make several directories and copy a bunch of files together to "compile" some technical documentation. I'd like to generate a manifest of the files and directories as part of the readme file, and I'd like PowerShell to do this, since I'm already working in PowerShell to do the "compiling".

I've done some searching already, and it seems that I need to use the cmdlet "Get-ChildItem", but it's giving me too much data, and I'm not clear on how to format and prune out what I don't want to get my desired results.

I would like an output similar to this:

Directory
     file
     file
     file
Directory
     file
     file
     file
     Subdirectory
          file
          file
          file

or maybe something like this:

+---FinGen
|   \---doc
+---testVBFilter
|   \---html
\---winzip

In other words, some kind of basic visual ASCII representation of the tree structure with the directory and file names and nothing else. I have seen programs that do this, but I am not sure if PowerShell can do this.

Can PowerShell do this? If so, would Get-ChildItem be the right cmdlet?

Like tree under CMD? You could get the info with Get-ChildItem and organise the output to the host depending on the items returned yes. — Micky Balladelli
– Micky Balladelli, Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 15:42
Oooooo, tree gives me the directory structure. That would be great! Is there a way to get the files in there too, or something similar to that? — YetAnotherRandomUser
– YetAnotherRandomUser, Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 15:48
possible duplicate of How to save file structure to text file? — Matt
– Matt, Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 16:07

Matt · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-16 13:04:37Z

62

In your particular case what you want is Tree /f. You have a comment asking how to strip out the part at the front talking about the volume, serial number, and drive letter. That is possible filtering the output before you send it to file.

$Path = "C:\temp"
Tree $Path /F | Select-Object -Skip 2 | Set-Content C:\temp\output.tkt

Tree's output in the above example is a System.Array which we can manipulate. Select-Object -Skip 2 will remove the first 2 lines containing that data. Also, If Keith Hill was around he would also recommend the PowerShell Community Extensions(PSCX) that contain the cmdlet Show-Tree. Download from here if you are curious. Lots of powerful stuff there.

edited Nov 16, 2017 at 13:04

answered Dec 12, 2014 at 16:28

Matt

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3 Comments

BeanBagKing Over a year ago

Tree doesn't seem to show hidden files/folders, and doesn't seem to have a /force or similar switch. Is there any way to show hidden files/folders?

Matt Over a year ago

Does not appear to be a way no. Can't even find anything authoritative that specifically states this is normal behaviour

Nicholas Saunders Over a year ago

The capitalized "Tree" doesn't work on Linux, it's just "tree"

Ananth Kumar Vasamsetti · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-07 09:53:02Z

9

The following script will show the tree as a window, it can be added to any form present in the script

function tree {

   [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
   [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Drawing")

   # create Window
   $Form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
   $Form.Text = "Files"
   $Form.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(390, 390)
   # create Treeview-Object
   $TreeView = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TreeView
   $TreeView.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Point(48, 12)
   $TreeView.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(290, 322)
   $Form.Controls.Add($TreeView)

   ###### Add Nodes to Treeview
   $rootnode = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TreeNode
   $rootnode.text = "Root"
   $rootnode.name = "Root"
   [void]$TreeView.Nodes.Add($rootnode)

   #here i'm going to import the csv file into an array
   $array=@(Get-ChildItem -Path D:\personalWorkspace\node)
   Write-Host $array
   foreach ( $obj in $array ) {                                                                                                             
        Write-Host $obj
        $subnode = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TreeNode
        $subnode.text = $obj
        [void]$rootnode.Nodes.Add($subnode)
     }

   # Show Form // this always needs to be at the bottom of the script!
   $Form.Add_Shown({$Form.Activate()})
   [void] $Form.ShowDialog()

   }
   tree

answered Apr 7, 2017 at 9:53

Ananth Kumar Vasamsetti

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2 Comments

Adam Over a year ago

What's with the local path D:\personalWorkspace\node ?

Ananth Kumar Vasamsetti Over a year ago

It is a folder location whose files are display

Roman · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-20 12:43:21Z

7

In Windows, navigate to the directory of interest

Shift+ right click mouse -> Open PowerShell window here

Get-ChildItem | tree /f > tree.log

answered Dec 20, 2018 at 12:43

Roman

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Comments

NIK · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-16 01:17:00Z

4

The best and clear way for me is:

PS P:\> Start-Transcript -path C:\structure.txt -Append
PS P:\> tree c:\test /F
PS P:\> Stop-Transcript

answered Nov 16, 2017 at 1:17

NIK

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Comments

Franck Dernoncourt · Accepted Answer · 2025-01-24 01:31:34Z

Here's a PowerShell script to list folders and files, color files differently than folders, and adding file size as well as folder size:

function Get-FolderTreeWithSizes {
    param (
        [string]$Path = ".",
        [int]$Indent = 0
    )

    $items = Get-ChildItem -Path $Path -Force
    $folderSize = 0

    foreach ($item in $items) {
        if ($item.PSIsContainer) {
            $subFolderSize = (Get-ChildItem -Path $item.FullName -Recurse -Force | Measure-Object -Property Length -Sum).Sum
            $subFolderSizeKB = "{0:N2} KB" -f ($subFolderSize / 1KB)
            Write-Host (" " * $Indent + "+-- " + $item.Name + " [Folder] (" + $subFolderSizeKB + ")") -ForegroundColor Green
            Get-FolderTreeWithSizes -Path $item.FullName -Indent ($Indent + 4)
        } else {
            $fileSizeKB = "{0:N2} KB" -f ($item.Length / 1KB)
            Write-Host (" " * $Indent + "+-- " + $item.Name + " (" + $fileSizeKB + ")") -ForegroundColor Yellow
            $folderSize += $item.Length
        }
    }

    if ($Indent -eq 0) {
        Write-Host ("Total Size of '$Path': {0:N2} KB" -f ($folderSize / 1KB)) -ForegroundColor Cyan
    }
}

Get-FolderTreeWithSizes

Example output:

kravasb · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-12 15:49:43Z

0

You can use command Get-ChildItem -Path <yourDir> | tree >> myfile.txt this will output tree-like structure of a directory and write it to "myfile.txt"

answered Dec 12, 2014 at 15:49

kravasb

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4 Comments

YetAnotherRandomUser Over a year ago

That does the same thing as "tree", and only gives me the directory structure. How can I add the files to that tree?

Matt Over a year ago

Tree will have output but it will be from the current directory not <yourDir>

kravasb Over a year ago

@Matt I've checked in such way and thought it will work in other cases

YetAnotherRandomUser Over a year ago

I tried "Get-ChildItem | tree" and got the same results as "tree". I have PowerShell 2.0

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