Commands / Files

PS> Get-ChildItem -Path .\docs

Works on

WindowsLinuxmacOS

PowerShell

5.1 and later

Reference

Microsoft Learn: Get-ChildItem

• PowerShell 7 On Linux and macOS, ls runs the system command instead of this cmdlet. Type the full cmdlet name there.

What you'll see

    Directory: C:\Path\To\docs

Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
d----          10/1/2026  9:12 AM                images
-a---          10/3/2026  4:40 PM           2048 notes.txt
-a---          10/5/2026 11:02 AM          18233 report.docx

Lists files and folders. Point -Path at a folder. Skip -Path and it uses the current directory.

Common parameters

• -Recurse walks subfolders.
• -File or -Directory filters the type.
• -Filter *.log is the fast way to match a pattern.

Try this

Get-ChildItem -Path .\docs -Recurse -File -Filter *.md

Coming from another shell

ls -la does not work: -Force is what shows hidden files.

More in From bash and From cmd.

Related commands

• Add-Content Append text to a file
• Join-Path Build a path safely
• Set-Location Change the current directory
• Get-FileHash Check a file's hash (checksum)
• Test-Path Check whether a path exists

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