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Search filenames with pattern using PowerShell




How to find files in directories with PowerShell?

Using PowerShell get-childitem or gci for short searching for filename with specific pattern is quite an easy task.
 
In combination with regex search can be accurate or complex.

PowerShell code below will search recursively on the path specified and will return the file name that matches the pattern.

If the path has multiple subfolders, the subfolder along with the filename will be shown if it matches the pattern.

Get-ChildItem –Path "C:\Users\" -name -Recurse | Select-String -Pattern "7"

or

gci -path "C:\Users\" -name -recurse | Select-String -Pattern "7"

-pattern can be replaced with regex pattern

Sample output:
Win 7 VM.xlsm 

New folder\win 7.txt

Win 7 VM.xlsm -no folder on the path which means file is located under c:\Users\
New folder\win 7.txt - located on a subfolder complete path is c:\Users\New folder\

Here's another example to search for a specific file name that matches with a specific pattern.

(gci -path "d:\txt notes\" -name -recurse  ) -like 'email*' | Select-String -Pattern "7"

Sample Output:
email about 7th grade.txt
email 7 pcs. apple.txt

It will output any file name that starts with email and has the letter 7 as part of the file name.



Cheers.. hope it helps..

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