PowerShell Scripting - Get-ChildItem

Question

I\'ve written a script that will be used for archiving log files from a server. I\'m in pretty good shape with everything but the recursiveness or not of Get-ChildItem...

Answer 1

This is expected behaviour, but admittedly confusing. From the Get-ChildItem help file:

-Include <string[]>

Retrieves only the specified items. The value of this parameter qualifies the Path parameter. Enter a path element or pattern, such as "*.txt". Wildcards are permitted.

The Include parameter is effective only when the command includes the Recurse parameter or the path leads to the contents of a directory, such as C:\Windows*, where the wildcard character specifies the contents of the C:\ Windows directory.

ps> help dir -full | more

Hope this helps,

-Oisin

Answer 2

The answer is in the full description of the command (get-help get-childitem -full):

The Include parameter is effective only when the command includes the Recurse parameter or the path leads to the contents of a directory, such as C:\Windows\*, where the wildcard character specifies the contents of the C:\Windows directory.

So the following would work without recurse.

PS C:\foo> Get-childitem -path "c:\foo\*" -Include *.txt

Answer 3

I can't tell you the exact why of it (but I will keep looking), but the behavior is documented in the Get-Help for Get-ChildItem:

-Include <string[]>
    Retrieves only the specified items. The value of this parameter qualifies the Path parameter. Enter a path elem
    ent or pattern, such as "*.txt". Wildcards are permitted.

    The Include parameter is effective only when the command includes the Recurse parameter or the path leads to th
    e contents of a directory, such as C:\Windows\*, where the wildcard character specifies the contents of the C:\
    Windows directory.