I have written this bit of PowerShell code to get a listing of files meeting the type criteria shown below:
Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Program Files\Common Files' -Recurse -Include *.exe, *.bat, *.com, *.cmd, *.dll
This is part of the result:
Directory: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\vmci\sockets\Win8
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a---- 10/23/2022 12:23 AM 31120 vsocklib_x64.dll
-a---- 10/23/2022 12:23 AM 26512 vsocklib_x86.dll
-a---- 10/23/2022 12:23 AM 2048 vsockver.dll
Directory: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\vmxnet3\Win8
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a---- 11/3/2022 7:53 AM 2048 vmxnet3ver.dll
I like that it breaks the results down by subdirectory. However, I want to specify certain properties to be shown.
When I change the code to this:
Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Program Files\Common Files' -Recurse -Include *.exe, *.bat, *.com, *.cmd, *.dll -ErrorAction Ignore |
Select-Object -Property LastWriteTime, Length, @{N='Owner';E={$_.GetAccessControl().Owner}}, Name
I get the following result:
LastWriteTime Length Owner Name
------------- ------ ----- ----
10/21/2019 11:28:34 PM 464232 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM ac.activclient.gui.diagtoolrc.dll
10/21/2019 11:28:50 PM 31080 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM ac.diag.hidproductsrc.dll
10/21/2019 11:28:52 PM 33120 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM ac.diag.systemrc.dll
10/22/2019 6:35:46 PM 133032 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM ac.activclient.gui.diagtool.exe
10/21/2019 11:28:46 PM 266568 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM ac.cext.dll
10/21/2019 11:28:50 PM 76648 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM ac.diag.hidproducts.dll
10/21/2019 11:28:50 PM 104792 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM ac.diag.system.dll
10/21/2019 11:29:36 PM 177512 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM ac.winext.settingsapi.dll
10/21/2019 11:29:44 PM 236880 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM aclogu64.dll
10/21/2019 11:29:50 PM 215376 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM aiwinextu.dll
1/8/2022 4:04:34 AM 367616 NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller InkDiv.dll
1/8/2022 4:04:34 AM 1979392 NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller InkObj.dll
1/8/2022 4:05:17 AM 383488 NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller InputPersonalization.exe
1/8/2022 4:05:17 AM 43520 NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller IpsMigrationPlugin.dll
The directory info is gone! How can I specify desired properties of the files I retrieve, but keep them separated by subdir, instead of all bunched up together in one list?
>Solution :
You’re looking for grouping for display purposes, which Format-Table can provide via the -GroupBy parameter:
# -GroupBy DirectoryName groups the display output by shared
# .DirectoryName values
Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Program Files\Common Files' -Recurse -Include *.exe, *.bat, *.com, *.cmd, *.dll -ErrorAction Ignore |
Format-Table -GroupBy DirectoryName -Property LastWriteTime, Length, @{N='Owner';E={$_.GetAccessControl().Owner}}, Name
Note that – unlike when you use Select-Object – the output is only usable for display.