#73 : How to list all files in current directory and subdirectories using Powershell?

Sometimes, we need to work with numerous files located in certain location. We might need to perform some action or read some lines with those files. When the requirement is all about reading all files in directory and sub-directories, we can simply use ls in Powershell. (Run Get-Alias ls to know which cmdlet is called in background, skipping this so that you learn something more, those who know this can avoid it ;))

Every experiment starts with a small building block, so let's run ls with recursion :

ls -recurse


You see multiple directories, but this is not useful as you don't have much option to perform any task on them.

    Directory: B:\tst

Mode                LastWriteTime     Length Name
----                -------------     ------ ----
d----         5/26/2015   6:08 AM            A
d----         5/26/2015   6:09 AM            B
-a---         5/26/2015   6:09 AM          0 file4.txt
-a---         5/26/2015   6:09 AM          0 file5.txt

    Directory: B:\tst\A

Mode                LastWriteTime     Length Name
----                -------------     ------ ----
-a---         5/26/2015   6:08 AM          0 file1.txt

    Directory: B:\tst\B

Mode                LastWriteTime     Length Name
----                -------------     ------ ----
-a---         5/26/2015   6:09 AM          0 file2.txt
-a---         5/26/2015   6:09 AM          0 file3.txt


Now, run the same command with little twist and then you will be able to much from output :

ls -Recurse | foreach { $_.FullName  }

The result is full list of files and you can perform more precise operations on them.
B:\tst\A
B:\tst\B
B:\tst\file4.txt
B:\tst\file5.txt
B:\tst\A\file1.txt
B:\tst\B\file2.txt
B:\tst\B\file3.txt

But, if you see the output above, you can see that directories are also there,  but your requirement might be only related with files or directories. So, let's get separate results for them.

List all Files recursively :
ls -Recurse | where { $_.PSIsContainer -eq $false } |  foreach { $_.FullName }

Output:
B:\tst\file4.txt
B:\tst\file5.txt
B:\tst\A\file1.txt
B:\tst\B\file2.txt
B:\tst\B\file3.txt

List all directories recursively :
ls -Recurse | where { $_.PSIsContainer -eq $true } |  foreach { $_.FullName }

Output:
B:\tst\A
B:\tst\B

So, this concludes today's tip. Always start with small example and keep trying till you get the results. Send your mails and comments and let me know if you have questions.

Enjoy!