Powershell - Search for Files

Only current directory, no subdirectories, any matching files:

Get-ChildItem *.txt

Specify directory and recursive:

Get-Childitem -Path C:\Users\user1 -Recurse

Search two directories:

 
Get-Childitem -Path C:\Users\user1, D:\Steaam -Recurse
Get-Childitem -Path C:\Users\user1\Documents, C:\Users\user1\Videos -Recurse

Useful example with most options:

Get-Childitem –Path C:\  -Include *.mkv* -Exclude *test* -File -Recurse -force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Options:

 
 -File                           # only files, not dirs
 -Path C:\                       # start searching here
 -Include *.mkv*                 # include any matching filev
 -Exclude *test*                 # exclude any matching file
 -Recurse                        # recursive - show sub dir contents
 -force                          # include hidden dirs
 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue   # ignore minor errors like unreadable permissions

Anything after a certain date:

$TheDate=Get-Date -Year 2021 -Month 08 -Day 18
Get-Childitem –Path C:\Users\user1 -Recurse | Where-Object { $_.LastWriteTime -ge $TheDate }

Anything during a one day period after a certian date:

$TheDate=Get-Date -Year 2021 -Month 08 -Day 18
Get-Childitem –Path C:\Users\user1 -Recurse | Where-Object { $_.LastWriteTime -ge $TheDate -and $_.LastWriteTime -le $TheDate.adddays(1) }

Anything greater than 25KB:

 
Get-ChildItem | Where-Object {$_.Length -gt 25KB}
  

Everything older than 30 days:

  
Get-ChildItem | Where-Object {$_.LastWriteTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-30)}

Examples before, after, and between specific dates:

  
Get-ChildItem | Where-Object {$_.LastWriteTime -lt '7/7/2023'}
Get-ChildItem | Where-Object {$_.LastWriteTime -gt '7/7/2023'}
Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Where-Object {$_.LastWriteTime -lt '7/7/2023'}
Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Where-Object {$_.LastWriteTime -lt '7/8/2023' -and $_.LastWriteTime -gt '7/7/2023'}