Question

Using

Get-ChildItem | Get-Member

I can see the methods and properties for an object. But how can I see the different possible values for e.g. properties? I can use

Get-ChildItem | Where-Object {$_.Attributes -ne "Directory"}

to extract objects which are not directory objects, but how can I see the other alternatives for .Attributes?

Answer 1

The provider property PSIsContainer is true for folders and false for files, so you can get files only with one of the following:

Get-ChildItem | Where-Object {$_.PSIsContainer -ne $true}

Get-ChildItem | Where-Object {!$_.PSIsContainer}

Get-ChildItem | Where-Object {-not $_.PSIsContainer}

As for the Attributes property, the output of Get-Member shows its type name (System.IO.FileAttributes), which is an Enum object:

PS> dir | gm attr*


   TypeName: System.IO.DirectoryInfo

Name       MemberType Definition
----       ---------- ----------
Attributes Property   System.IO.FileAttributes Attributes {get;set;}

You can get its possible values with:

PS> [enum]::GetNames('System.IO.FileAttributes')
ReadOnly
Hidden
System
Directory
Archive
Device
Normal
Temporary
SparseFile
ReparsePoint
Compressed
Offline
NotContentIndexed
Encrypted