PowerShell enables you to work with the file system on your machine – one question that often comes up is how to create a directory.
When working interactively you can use md
PS> md c:\testf1 Directory: C:\ Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- d----- 19/08/2017 14:24 testf1
md doesn’t look like a PowerShell command – more like an old style DOS command.
Its actually an alias for mkdir
PS> Get-Command md CommandType Name Version Source ----------- ---- ------- ------ Alias md –> mkdir
Which raises the question – what’s mkdir?
PS> Get-Command mkdir CommandType Name Version Source ----------- ---- ------- ------ Function mkdir
Its a function that PowerShell creates for you
Digging into the function
PS> Get-ChildItem -Path function:\mkdir | select -ExpandProperty Definition
<#
.FORWARDHELPTARGETNAME New-Item
.FORWARDHELPCATEGORY Cmdlet
#>
[CmdletBinding(DefaultParameterSetName='pathSet',
SupportsShouldProcess=$true,
SupportsTransactions=$true,
ConfirmImpact='Medium')]
[OutputType([System.IO.DirectoryInfo])]
param(
[Parameter(ParameterSetName='nameSet', Position=0, ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
[Parameter(ParameterSetName='pathSet', Mandatory=$true, Position=0, ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
[System.String[]]
${Path},
[Parameter(ParameterSetName='nameSet', Mandatory=$true, ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
[AllowNull()]
[AllowEmptyString()]
[System.String]
${Name},
[Parameter(ValueFromPipeline=$true, ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
[System.Object]
${Value},
[Switch]
${Force},
[Parameter(ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
[System.Management.Automation.PSCredential]
${Credential}
)
begin {
try {
$wrappedCmd = $ExecutionContext.InvokeCommand.GetCommand('New-Item', [System.Management.Automation.CommandTypes]
::Cmdlet)
$scriptCmd = {& $wrappedCmd -Type Directory @PSBoundParameters }
$steppablePipeline = $scriptCmd.GetSteppablePipeline()
$steppablePipeline.Begin($PSCmdlet)
} catch {
throw
}
}
shows that its based on New-Item
PS> New-Item -Path c:\ -Name testf2 -ItemType Directory Directory: C:\ Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- d----- 19/08/2017 14:32 testf2
The default for New-Item in the filesystem is to create a file so you need to use –ItemType Directory to create the folder.
If the folder you’re creating is a subfolder of a non-existent folder you can create the hierarchy is one go
PS> New-Item -Path c:\ -Name testf3\tests1 -ItemType Directory Directory: C:\testf3 Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- d----- 19/08/2017 14:33 tests1 PS> Get-ChildItem -Path c:\testf3 -Recurse Directory: C:\testf3 Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- d----- 19/08/2017 14:33 tests1
This can get complicated if you try to nest too many levels so I recommend explicitly creating each level of your folder hierarchy. Its much easier to maintain and modify