How to list the directory content in PowerShell?

To display the directory content, Get-ChildItem cmdlet is used. You need to provide the path of the directory or if you are in the same directory, you need to use only Get-ChildItem directly. In the below example, we need to display the contents of the D:\temp directory.

When Get-ChildItem command is run outside of this directory then the path of the directory should be provided. This is called the absolute path.

PS C:\> Get-ChildItem D:\Temp\

Command

When this command is run directly within the directory then simply run this command. This is called a relative path.

PS D:\Temp> Get-ChildItem

Output

Directory: D:\Temp

Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
d-----       13-12-2019     09:52                GPO_backup
d-----       24-11-2018     11:31                LGPO
-a----       07-05-2018     23:00            301 cars.xml
-a----       29-12-2017     15:16           4526 healthcheck.html
-a----       29-12-2017     15:16           4526 healthcheck1.html
-a----       08-12-2017     10:24          48362 servicereport.html
-a----       08-12-2017     10:24          48362 servicereport1.html
-a----       08-12-2017     10:16            393 style.css
-a----       08-12-2017     11:29           7974 Test.xlsx
-a----       25-10-2017     08:13            104 testcsv.csv
-a----       12-12-2017     23:04           1034 testhtmoutput.html

Please note − Get-ChildItem command only displays the folders and files but not the content of the subfolders. To display the subfolders and their files, you need to use –Recursive parameter.