Difference between Test-Path and Resolve-Path in PowerShell?

Test-Path command checks if the particular path exists or not and returns the Boolean output (True or False) while Resolve-Path command displays the particular directory if exists otherwise throws an exception. For example,

For the path to exist,

Example

PS C:\> Test-Path C:\Temp\
True
PS C:\> Resolve-Path C:\Temp\
Path
----
C:\Temp\

For the path doesn’t exist,

PS C:\> Test-Path C:\Temp11\
False
PS C:\> Resolve-Path C:\Temp11\
Resolve-Path : Cannot find path 'C:\Temp11\' because it does not exist.
At line:1 char:1
+ Resolve-Path C:\Temp11\
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Temp11\:String) [Resolve-Path], ItemNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ResolvePathCommand

Resolve-Path is also used to get the file content using the wildcard character. For example,

Example

Resolve-Path C:\Temp\*

The above command will get all the files and folders inside the C:\temp path.

Resolve-Path C:\Temp\web*

The above command will get all the files from the C:\temp with the Web starting keyword.

Output

Path
----
C:\Temp\WebImages
C:\Temp\web.html
C:\Temp\web1.html

Chirag Nagrekar

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Updated on: 08-Feb-2021

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