Recently, I was approached by a co-worker to solve an issue they were having in PowerShell. They wanted to get the full-path of all of the directories in a folder using Get-ChildItem. By default, Get-ChildItem will display the permissions (Mode), LastWriteTime, Length, and Name columns. However, the name column only displays the name. So they asked me if I knew a good way to get the full path.
As administrators and engineers that have been in the industry for 15-20 years, it’s often hard for us to remember that PowerShell isn’t the WYSIWYG (‘What You See Is What You Get’ for you younger engineers. 🙂 ); that we’re moving .NET objects through the pipeline, and while PowerShell displays the most commonly pertinent data in a given command, it’s not everything. Get-Member is a good way to give us a list of all of the data that’s passed down the pipe from one object to the next, and get the bits that we really need.
So let’s explore!
Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Windows" -Directory | Get-Member
When you run a command against an object in the pipe, and pipe that to Get-Member, PowerShell looks at the object and displays the properties and methods associated with that object. For example:
PS C:\> Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Windows" -Directory | Get-Member
TypeName: System.IO.DirectoryInfo
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
Mode CodeProperty System.String Mode{get=Mode;}
Create Method void Create(), void Create(System.Security.AccessControl.DirectorySecurity directorySecurity)
CreateObjRef Method System.Runtime.Remoting.ObjRef CreateObjRef(type requestedType)
CreateSubdirectory Method System.IO.DirectoryInfo CreateSubdirectory(string path), System.IO.DirectoryInfo CreateSubdirector...
Delete Method void Delete(), void Delete(bool recursive)
EnumerateDirectories Method System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable[System.IO.DirectoryInfo] EnumerateDirectories(), System.Col...
EnumerateFiles Method System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable[System.IO.FileInfo] EnumerateFiles(), System.Collections.Ge...
EnumerateFileSystemInfos Method System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable[System.IO.FileSystemInfo] EnumerateFileSystemInfos(), Syste...
Equals Method bool Equals(System.Object obj)
GetAccessControl Method System.Security.AccessControl.DirectorySecurity GetAccessControl(), System.Security.AccessControl....
GetDirectories Method System.IO.DirectoryInfo[] GetDirectories(), System.IO.DirectoryInfo[] GetDirectories(string search...
GetFiles Method System.IO.FileInfo[] GetFiles(string searchPattern), System.IO.FileInfo[] GetFiles(string searchPa...
GetFileSystemInfos Method System.IO.FileSystemInfo[] GetFileSystemInfos(string searchPattern), System.IO.FileSystemInfo[] Ge...
GetHashCode Method int GetHashCode()
GetLifetimeService Method System.Object GetLifetimeService()
GetObjectData Method void GetObjectData(System.Runtime.Serialization.SerializationInfo info, System.Runtime.Serializati...
GetType Method type GetType()
InitializeLifetimeService Method System.Object InitializeLifetimeService()
MoveTo Method void MoveTo(string destDirName)
Refresh Method void Refresh()
SetAccessControl Method void SetAccessControl(System.Security.AccessControl.DirectorySecurity directorySecurity)
ToString Method string ToString()
PSChildName NoteProperty System.String PSChildName=addins
PSDrive NoteProperty System.Management.Automation.PSDriveInfo PSDrive=C
PSIsContainer NoteProperty System.Boolean PSIsContainer=True
PSParentPath NoteProperty System.String PSParentPath=Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\Windows
PSPath NoteProperty System.String PSPath=Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\Windows\addins
PSProvider NoteProperty System.Management.Automation.ProviderInfo PSProvider=Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem
Attributes Property System.IO.FileAttributes Attributes {get;set;}
CreationTime Property datetime CreationTime {get;set;}
CreationTimeUtc Property datetime CreationTimeUtc {get;set;}
Exists Property bool Exists {get;}
Extension Property string Extension {get;}
FullName Property string FullName {get;}
LastAccessTime Property datetime LastAccessTime {get;set;}
LastAccessTimeUtc Property datetime LastAccessTimeUtc {get;set;}
LastWriteTime Property datetime LastWriteTime {get;set;}
LastWriteTimeUtc Property datetime LastWriteTimeUtc {get;set;}
Name Property string Name {get;}
Parent Property System.IO.DirectoryInfo Parent {get;}
Root Property System.IO.DirectoryInfo Root {get;}
BaseName ScriptProperty System.Object BaseName {get=$this.Name;}
That’s a lot of information, and something very promising:
PSPath NoteProperty System.String PSPath=Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\Windows\addins
So let’s take a look at this:
PS C:\>Get-ChildItem-Path"C:\Windows"-Directory|Select-ObjectPSPath PSPath ------ Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\Windows\addins Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\Windows\AppCompat Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\Windows\apppatch Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\Windows\assembly Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\Windows\AUInstallAgent Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\Windows\Boot Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\Windows\CbsTemp Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\Windows\CCM
Well, that’s not quite what I was looking for. Let’s look at some of the other properties. FullName looks promising.
PS C:\>Get-ChildItem-Path"C:\Windows"-Directory|Select-ObjectFullName FullName -------- C:\Windows\addins C:\Windows\AppCompat C:\Windows\apppatch C:\Windows\assembly C:\Windows\AUInstallAgent C:\Windows\Boot C:\Windows\CbsTemp C:\Windows\CCM C:\Windows\ccmcache
Well now. That looks a lot better!
Let’s try another.
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration
Returns
ServiceName DHCPEnabled Index Description ----------- ----------- ----- ----------- Rasl2tp False 0 WAN Miniport (L2TP) RasSstp False 1 WAN Miniport (SSTP) RasAgileVpn False 2 WAN Miniport (IKEv2) PptpMiniport False 3 WAN Miniport (PPTP) RasPppoe False 4 WAN Miniport (PPPOE) NdisWan False 5 WAN Miniport (IP) NdisWan False 6 WAN Miniport (IPv6) NdisWan False 7 WAN Miniport (Network Monitor) kdnic True 8 Microsoft Kernel Debug Network Adapter AsyncMac False 9 RAS Async Adapter NETwNe64 True 10 Intel(R) Centrino(R) Ultimate-N 6300 AGN e1iexpress True 11 Intel(R) 82579LM Gigabit Network Conne... BthPan True 14 Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network) vwifimp True 15 Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter tunnel False 16 Microsoft ISATAP Adapter tunnel False 17 Microsoft ISATAP Adapter tunnel False 18 Microsoft Teredo Tunneling Adapter tunnel False 19 Microsoft ISATAP Adapter tunnel False 20 Microsoft ISATAP Adapter tunnel False 21 Microsoft ISATAP Adapter tunnel False 22 Microsoft ISATAP Adapter tunnel False 23 Microsoft ISATAP Adapter tunnel False 24 Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Good information, sure enough. But it’s lacking in some key information that you might want to see, such as the IP Address. So let’s take a look with the following command.
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration | Get-Member
The results of this are pretty long, so I’m not going to post it here. But you’ll find a ton of information regarding the adapter configuration including the IP Address, IP Subnet, MAC Address, DNS information, and more. So with a quick review, you can quickly craft a command to pull some real, pertinent data. While we’re at it, I only want to see the adapters that have an actual IP Address as well.
PS C:\> Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration | Where-Object IPAddress -NE $null | Select-Object Description,ServiceName,IPAddress,DNSServerSearchOrder
Description ServiceName IPAddress DNSServerSearchOrder
----------- ----------- --------- --------------------
Intel(R) Centrino(R) Ultimate-N ... NETwNe64 {192.168.0.51} {192.168.0.2, 192.168.0.3}
And there you have it! Just remember, if you ever feel like you’re looking in the right place, but just can’t seem to find what you’re looking for, Get-Member should be the next place you visit.