Powershell get latest file matching But, the other methods are good to know. Unlock the secrets of pattern matching with PowerShell -match regex. txt Test-20120626-1915. Powershell Get the most recent file in Directory Today in this article, we shall see l simple and easy technique of Powershell Get the Latest file in Directory using basic and other filter criteria. Master context parameters, regex & custom functions for efficient log analysis. However, it could be the case that there may be other files in this folder, so I’d like to only return files that have names that fit the pattern above. The Get-ChildItem cmdlet uses the Path parameter to specify the directory C:\Test. This cmdlet is used by PowerShell providers to navigate through different types of data stores. , -cmatch instead of -match. All comparison operators can be negated with Sep 11, 2023 · Using PowerShell, administrators can use the Get-Content command to get the tail of the file, get the last line of the file, and retrieve the last 10 lines of a text file. *' } | Sort-Object -Property LastWriteTime | Select-Object LastWriteTime,FullName Now I am only interested in seeing the latest file of each, so using last or -days, month, hours or similar wont work. I am trying to find a pattern in files. I am doing the following. As you have noticed from the above snippet that I used the regular expression on the "Name" attribute by $_. If you have at least PowerShell 3. In Powershell, how to read and get as fast as possible the last line (or all the lines) which contains a specific string in a huge text file (about 200000 lines / 30 MBytes) ? Jun 7, 2024 · Find and Replace in File using PowerShell Now, let us check out various methods to find and replace in a file using PowerShell. exe in Windows. Finally, the LastWriteTime property, which indicates when the file or directory was last updated, is used to sort the list of files and directories using the Mar 15, 2024 · This tutorial explains how to use the Select-String cmdlet and output only the matching text in PowerShell, including an example. I want to display the last 10 matching lines (at the time the command runs) and keep watching the file for newly appended lines that match the criteria. Learn to perform pattern matching for text processing in your scripts. You can also use a tail alias Last. Jun 25, 2025 · Learn how to use PowerShell's Select-String with -AllMatches parameter through practical examples. 0 12/10/2… Delete Files Matching Pattern in PowerShell To delete all files matching a pattern in PowerShell, use the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to retrieve the list of files that match the patterns and pipe them to the Remove-Item cmdlet for deleting all of the files that match the pattern. Get-ChildItem in PowerShell gets one or more child items from the directory and subdirectories. 858 T May 13, 2024 · This tutorial explains how to insert a line in a file after a matching pattern using PowerShell, including an example. Mar 8, 2016 · 15 You don't need to post process this with Where-Object. 2. Jul 24, 2017 · Why not create a function that takes version pattern and sort order as parameters? I have a text file containing lines of data. Get-ChildItem -Attributes !Directory *. This is the shorter and more efficient commands than other methods. The following PowerShell script shows how to do it with syntax. This guide simplifies file searching, making it a breeze to locate what you need. For example, you can use the Where-Object cmdlet to select files that were created after a certain date, events with a particular ID, or computers that use a particular version of Windows. | Where{$_. If you want to search for a file with a certain extension, but don't know the name of the file, you can use: Test-20120626-2202. This omits lines with the hashtag/pound symbol #, splits on the default space, and returns the second index value which is just the number. This cmdlet is only available on the Windows platform. The command would look like this: (Get-ChildItem . The powershell script should ignore all other files like Sales, HR, etc. The Get-Item cmdlet gets the item at the specified location. Part 1: Useful methods on the String class Introduction to Regular Expressions The Select-String cmdlet Part 2: The -split operator The -match operator The switch statement The Regex class Part 3: A real world, complete and slightly bigger, example of a switch-based parser A task […] Master the art of Powershell regex extract to efficiently capture and manipulate string data. This article discusses how to deal with specific file and folder manipulation tasks using PowerShell. 0 then you can remove Where-object in its entirety. By default, Select-String finds the first match in each line and, for each match, it displays the file name, line number, and all text in the line containing the Sep 26, 2024 · Learn how to use the PowerShell -match operator with syntax, examples, and related methods. I tried to find a better solution googling it but could not come up with anything that solved The Select-String cmdlet uses regular expression matching to search for text patterns in input strings and files. Select-String is based on lines of text. 9. Master pattern matching for efficient text processing. Using the -replace Operator The -replace operator is one of the simplest ways to perform a string replacement in PowerShell. For empty locations, the command doesn't return any output and returns to the PowerShell prompt. It doesn't get the contents of the item at the location unless you use a wildcard character (*) to request all the contents of the item. This is part of an ETL process. How do I find the name of the latest file name (in this case Test-20120626-2202. May 25, 2021 · Get-ChildItem -Path D:\Temp\Test | Where-Object { $_. The filenames and subdirectory names are displayed. The cmdlet gets data from event logs that are generated by the Windows Event Log technology introduced in Windows Vista and events in log files generated by Event Tracing for Windows (ETW). Requirement: I need to return the most recent (newest) file from a directory. Get-ChildItem displays the files and directories in the PowerShell console. *|^AllokeringBogNycklar. Jun 23, 2025 · Learn how to perform exact string matching in PowerShell using Select-String with word boundaries, SimpleMatch parameter, and regex patterns and examples. The Where-Object command uses the regex pattern to filter the result based on the specified search criteria where the file name should start with syslog_ and contain numbers in it. Beginning in PowerShell 3. Name -Match "<RegEx Pattern>"}). 0 11/10/2020 2:56 PM 1. Oct 28, 2024 · First we need to find all the files. bak is latest backup file which I would like to copy and rename as Fin. SAMPLE Data: Date Document Type Find this 01 To find all items in the current directory that match a PowerShell wildcard, supply that wildcard to the Get-ChildItem cmdlet: Get-ChildItem *. So I want to find 1234567L67 with this regex ^\\d*[A-Z-[ILS]]* and then replace it with 1234567. Aug 14, 2020 · PowerShell commands We’re going to use the following: Get-Content to grab the text from the source file Select-String to regex match the content we want ForEach-Object to iterate matches Out-File to chuck it into a new file … and most importantly, lots of | to pipe everything along the conveyor belt Comparison operators let you compare values or finding values that match specified patterns. Dec 11, 2020 · It is working now, I had wrong file name at my end. I need to copy the whole folder structure from source to destination with filenames matching a pattern. When I get a match using Select-String I do not want the entire line, I just want the part that matched. We can give a file extension filter too as needed like *. This guide simplifies commands for effortless file management. Find Jan 5, 2022 · Get newest files from directory (with Child-Items) using PowerShell Ask Question Asked 3 years, 10 months ago Modified 3 years, 10 months ago Get-ChildItem -Filter *~2* To find all items in the current directory that do not match a PowerShell wildcard, supply that wildcard to the -Exclude parameter: Get-ChildItem -Exclude *. bak. It Includes code examples and practical use cases. Feb 22, 2022 · Use the Get-ChildItem LastWriteTime attribute to find the list of files with lastwritetime. Jan 22, 2023 · Use the Get-ChildItem or ls command in PowerShell to get a list of files and sort them by file attributes like creationtime or lastwritetime. Method 1: Sort the files using Sort-Object and use -Bottom attributes to fetch the Newest file. Only files starting with Fin and having the latest creation date. Sep 9, 2017 · I'm trying to use powershell to look through a log file for a particular string, and only return the last instance of it into a variable for later use. Now if I want to read those CSV files from Junk folder, what variables i need to use for to get content of file name and Name attribute? Apr 15, 2014 · In Powershell, how do I list all files in a directory (recursively) that contain text that matches a given regex? The files in question contain really long lines of incomprehensible text, so I don't want to see the matching line -- just the filename. By default, Get-WinEvent returns . If filename matches, Rename it as $(Get-Date -Format Jun 24, 2025 · Learn how to use PowerShell's Select-String to show the next line after matches. txt | Select-String -pattern "H|159" -notma Jul 18, 2018 · Preface: PowerShell string- comparison operators are case-insensitive by default (unlike the string operators, which use the invariant culture, the regex operators seem to use the current culture, though that difference rarely matters in regex operations). I am pretty new to using regex in powershell so bare with me on my issue. Discover powerful techniques for your scripting toolkit. 8. This guide offers concise insights and practical examples for mastering your scripts. count The Name attribute will match the name of the file or folder, along with a file's extension,and the RegEx Patter can handle the matching to your liking. But it just copies the content in the root Oct 13, 2017 · I just want to know, how are the activities on certain directories by listing all the new files. Name -match '^RR_Prognos. txt Test-20120626-1142. 0, Get-Content can also get a specified number of lines from the beginning I am trying to remove all the lines from a text file that contains a partial string using the below PowerShell code: Get-Content C:\new\temp_*. Jun 12, 2025 · Learn 4 powerful PowerShell methods to find files modified in the last 24 hours. Nov 21, 2022 · I want to get the latest file in a directory and use its filename without the (Count) to check if it has same names with the rest of the files. txt To find all items in subdirectories that match a PowerShell wildcard, use the -Include and -Recurse parameters, or use the wildcard as part of the -Path Jun 29, 2017 · Assuming that you need to match only the file name part of each file's path and that your pattern can be expressed as a wildcard expression, you do not need Select-String at all and can instead use Get-ChildItem with -Filter, as in Matt's answer, or the slower, but slightly more powerful -Include. You can use Select-String similar to grep in Unix or findstr. Feb 25, 2021 · Hello experts, I have a folder that has several other folders with same name but different dates How can get folder with latest dates ? Regards Example: test (main folder) 1. Sep 3, 2000 · How can I change the following code to look at all the . Starting in Windows PowerShell 3. In the above files, Fin125. The same goes for the file name and file extension. txt As you can see, each file name contains the time of creation which is in a sortable format. log files in the directory and not just the one file? I need to loop through all the files and delete all lines that do not contain "step4" This example gets the child items from a file system directory. PowerShell includes the following comparison operators: Equality -eq, -ieq, -ceq - equals -ne, -ine, -cne - not equals -gt, -igt, -cgt - greater than -ge, -ige, -cge - greater than or equal -lt, -ilt, -clt - less than -le, -ile, -cle - less than or equal Matching -like, -ilike, -clike - string matches May 28, 2025 · Master the PowerShell Get-ChildItem cmdlet with step-by-step examples to list files, filter by extension, use wildcards, show hidden items, and more. Unlock the secrets of PowerShell find files matching pattern. Jan 3, 2013 · How to get the latest created folder from a path using Windows PowerShell? I have the path C:\\temp and I want to find the most recently created folder in this path. txt or Get-ChildItem or gci : Gets list of files ONLY in current directory. Is there a parameter I can use to do this? For ex Jan 18, 2019 · This is the first post in a three part series. Perfect for file management. You can opt into case-sensitive matching by using prefix c; e. In this article, we will discuss how to use the Get-ChildItem to get lastwritetime for files, sort files by lastwritetime, and get child items where lastwritetime is greater than the specified date. In PowerShell, the tail parameter of Get-Content cmdlet specifies the number of lines from the end of the file. Currently using this code in PowerShell code, but I am not getting any So if you have a folder named FolderFoo and FolderBar PowerShell will show results from both of those folders. txt. txt To find all items in the current directory that match a provider-specific filter, supply that filter to the -Filter parameter: Get-ChildItem -Filter *~2* The Where-Object cmdlet selects objects that have particular property values from the collection of objects that are passed to it. I can use the following powershell script to extract the lines I'm interested in: Jun 24, 2023 · The code uses the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to retrieve a list of files and directories within a specified directory, which is C:\Test. For files, the content is read one line at a time and returns a collection of objects, each representing a line of content. The Get-WinEvent cmdlet gets events from event logs, including classic logs, such as the System and Application logs. g. After the first step, we can procced forward in three different ways. Apr 19, 2016 · 3 I am trying to watch a log file for occurrences of a word ("Purge"). Next, the result of the Get-ChildItem cmdlet is passed to the Sort-Object cmdlet via the pipe symbol (|). 1. Example of the log: 09/07/17 13:27:19. Master text processing in PowerShell. 0, there are two different ways to Oct 3, 2024 · What is Get-Content? “The Get-Content cmdlet gets the content of the item at the location specified by the path, such as the text in a file or the content of a function. with a list of files from which I want get the most recent file. -Filter can already get this for you. Mar 17, 2014 · I would like to get the latest file (by creation date) and then copy and rename the file like Fin. Nov 16, 2011 · Get-ChildItem -recurse | Get-Content | Select-String -pattern "dummy" The problem is, I can see the occurences of the text I am looking for, but I don't know how to tell PS to return the path and the name for every matching files as well. Feb 24, 2023 · Hello All, I"m completely new to Powershell. This operator uses a regular expression (regex) on the left side to match the text you want to replace and the replacement text on the right I am new to powershell. 4 days ago · Learn how to use PowerShell Get-WindowsAutoPilotInfo to collect device details, generate CSVs, and streamline Windows Autopilot deployment setup. We then use the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to retrieve all files from the specified folder and pipe them to the Where-Object cmdlet. The file names are all YYYYmmddHHmmSS. Dec 9, 2016 · I am trying to extract each line starting with "%%" in all files in a folder and then copy those lines to a separate text file. How can I get the name and location of the files that contains the expression I am looking for? Jun 24, 2025 · Discover 10 practical PowerShell Select-String examples to efficiently search text patterns in files and strings. I am attempting to find the bold numbers and letter below. NET to match various files with the same partial names, extensions, or segments. Get-ChildItem -File -Path . So far, I got something working with PowerShell: Jun 21, 2022 · To get the latest file in the directory using PowerShell, use the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to get files from the specified folder and use the CreationTime property to get the most recent file created in the directory. Sep 8, 2023 · I hope you find the above article on using the PowerShell Get-ChildItem cmdlet to find files that match search patterns or find files by extension, or name helpful. Sep 22, 2022 · Hi everyone, I am having some issue in trying to use Get-Content with regex and maybe there is a better way, easier way. Jun 4, 2012 · You can pipe a Get-ChildItem command into a Where-Object filter that accepts a RegEx pattern, and then count the Outputs. Discover how to efficiently retrieve file timestamps with PowerShell LastWriteTime. May 27, 2024 · This PowerShell tutorial explains how to Get Newest File In Directory In PowerShell using various methods like using Get-ChildItem and Sort-Object. Jun 24, 2025 · Learn how to use file globbing in . Jan 21, 2023 · Here's a PowerShell approach using where-object, -match, -notmatch, and split(). To handle all with files, two of the PowerShell CmdLets are Get-Item and . txt) and store it in variable? Note: The directory path is also stored in a variable if it makes any Oct 1, 2005 · Navigating through PowerShell drives and manipulating the items on them is similar to manipulating files and folders on Windows disk drives. Name. ifjli kvgic toixse mnfl kiqfb lghv pclmlm aoy yggms jwvm cfe uwhdm ludoprvv evni xepwf