[powershell] How do I get only directories using Get-ChildItem?

I'm using PowerShell 2.0 and I want to pipe out all the subdirectories of a certain path. The following command outputs all files and directories, but I can't figure out how to filter out the files.

Get-ChildItem c:\mypath -Recurse

I've tried using $_.Attributes to get the attributes but then I don't know how to construct a literal instance of System.IO.FileAttributes to compare it to. In cmd.exe it would be

dir /b /ad /s

Use:

Get-ChildItem \\myserver\myshare\myshare\ -Directory | Select-Object -Property name |  convertto-csv -NoTypeInformation  | Out-File c:\temp\mydirectorylist.csv

Which does the following

• Get a list of directories in the target location: Get-ChildItem \\myserver\myshare\myshare\ -Directory
• Extract only the name of the directories: Select-Object -Property name
• Convert the output to CSV format: convertto-csv -NoTypeInformation
• Save the result to a file: Out-File c:\temp\mydirectorylist.csv

My solution is based on the TechNet article Fun Things You Can Do With the Get-ChildItem Cmdlet.

Get-ChildItem C:\foo | Where-Object {$_.mode -match "d"}

I used it in my script, and it works well.

Use

Get-ChildItem -dir #lists only directories
Get-ChildItem -file #lists only files

If you prefer aliases, use

ls -dir #lists only directories
ls -file #lists only files

or

dir -dir #lists only directories
dir -file #lists only files

To recurse subdirectories as well, add -r option.

ls -dir -r #lists only directories recursively
ls -file -r #lists only files recursively 

Tested on PowerShell 4.0, PowerShell 5.0 (Windows 10), PowerShell Core 6.0 (Windows 10, Mac, and Linux), and PowerShell 7.0 (Windows 10, Mac, and Linux).

Note: On PowerShell Core, symlinks are not followed when you specify the -r switch. To follow symlinks, specify the -FollowSymlink switch with -r.

Note 2: PowerShell is now cross-platform, since version 6.0. The cross-platform version was originally called PowerShell Core, but the the word "Core" has been dropped since PowerShell 7.0+.

Get-ChildItem documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.management/get-childitem

Use:

dir -r | where { $_ -is [System.IO.DirectoryInfo] }

From PowerShell v2 and newer (k represents the folder you are beginning your search at):

Get-ChildItem $Path -attributes D -Recurse

If you just want folder names only, and nothing else, use this:

Get-ChildItem $Path -Name -attributes D -Recurse

If you are looking for a specific folder, you could use the following. In this case, I am looking for a folder called myFolder:

Get-ChildItem $Path -attributes D -Recurse -include "myFolder"

A cleaner approach:

Get-ChildItem "<name_of_directory>" | where {$_.Attributes -match'Directory'}

I wonder if PowerShell 3.0 has a switch that only returns directories; it seems like a logical thing to add.

Use:

dir -Directory -Recurse | Select FullName

This will give you an output of the root structure with the folder name for directories only.

Use this one:

Get-ChildItem -Path \\server\share\folder\ -Recurse -Force | where {$_.Attributes -like '*Directory*'} | Export-Csv -Path C:\Temp\Export.csv -Encoding "Unicode" -Delimiter ";"

The accepted answer mentions

Get-ChildItem -Recurse | ?{ $_.PSIsContainer } | Select-Object FullName

to get a "raw string". But in fact objects of type Selected.System.IO.DirectoryInfo will be returned. For raw strings the following can be used:

Get-ChildItem -Recurse | ?{ $_.PSIsContainer } | % { $_.FullName }

The difference matters if the value is concatenated to a string:

• with Select-Object suprisingly foo\@{FullName=bar}
• with the ForEach-operator the expected: foo\bar

A bit more readable and simple approach could be achieved with the script below:

$Directory = "./"
Get-ChildItem $Directory -Recurse | % {
    if ($_.Attributes -eq "Directory") {
        Write-Host $_.FullName
    }
}

Hope this helps!

In PowerShell 3.0, it is simpler:

Get-ChildItem -Directory #List only directories
Get-ChildItem -File #List only files

You'll want to use Get-ChildItem to recursively get all folders and files first. And then pipe that output into a Where-Object clause which only take the files.

# one of several ways to identify a file is using GetType() which
# will return "FileInfo" or "DirectoryInfo"
$files = Get-ChildItem E:\ -Recurse | Where-Object {$_.GetType().Name -eq "FileInfo"} ;

foreach ($file in $files) {
  echo $file.FullName ;
}

To answer the original question specifically (using IO.FileAttributes):

Get-ChildItem c:\mypath -Recurse | Where-Object {$_.Attributes -and [IO.FileAttributes]::Directory}

I do prefer Marek's solution though (Where-Object { $_ -is [System.IO.DirectoryInfo] }).

Less text is required with this approach:

ls -r | ? {$_.mode -match "d"}