Exclude directors when using -LiteralPath object in get-Childitem in powershell

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1

-Exclude directories not working when using -LiteralPath in get-Childitem

Basically I want to exclude one directory from $directory.

@Anil_G Any thoughts :thinking:

$directory = “C:\Users\Desktop\powershell”
$searchpattern = “.”
$oldstring1 = ‘runAs=“India”’
$newstring1 = ‘runAs=“America”’
$oldstring2 = ‘runAsGuid=“India”’
$newstring2 = ‘runAsGuid=“America”’
$modifiedfiles = @()

Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $directory -Include $searchpattern -Exclude *.atr -Recurse | ForEach-Object {
if($.GetType().Name -eq “FileInfo”) {
$content = Get-Content -LiteralPath $.FullName
if($content -match $oldstring1 -or $content -match $oldstring2) {
$modifiedcontent = $content -replace [regex]::Escape($oldstring1), $newstring1 -replace [regex]::Escape($oldstring2), $newstring2
Set-Content -LiteralPath $.FullName $modifiedcontent
$modifiedfiles += $.FullName
}
}
}

$modifiedfiles | Out-String -Stream

2

@Navya_Budagam

I believe the issue is that the exclude is not going with get child …i hope the below helps…I have chnaged a bit to remove include and use filter instead

$directory = "C:\Users\Desktop\powershell"
$searchpattern = "*.*"
$oldstring1 = 'runAs="India"'
$newstring1 = 'runAs="America"'
$oldstring2 = 'runAsGuid="India"'
$newstring2 = 'runAsGuid="America"'
$modifiedfiles = @()

Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $directory -Filter $searchpattern -Recurse | ForEach-Object {
    if ($_.GetType().Name -eq "FileInfo" -and $_.Extension -ne ".atr") {
        $content = Get-Content -LiteralPath $_.FullName
        if ($content -match $oldstring1 -or $content -match $oldstring2) {
            $modifiedcontent = $content -replace [regex]::Escape($oldstring1), $newstring1 -replace [regex]::Escape($oldstring2), $newstring2
            Set-Content -LiteralPath $_.FullName -Value $modifiedcontent
            $modifiedfiles += $_.FullName
        }
    }
}

$modifiedfiles | Out-String -Stream
3

Hi @Anil_G

Let me rephrase my question…

The code provided by you is working fine. I’m just making an enhancement to the code, i.e. I have multiple sub folders in $directory and I want to exclude one sub folder from $directory with the existing script.

Hope you understand…

4

@Navya_Budagam

Go you…

Would this work

$directory = "C:\Users\Desktop\powershell"
$searchpattern = "*.*"
$oldstring1 = 'runAs="India"'
$newstring1 = 'runAs="America"'
$oldstring2 = 'runAsGuid="India"'
$newstring2 = 'runAsGuid="America"'
$modifiedfiles = @()

Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $directory -Filter $searchpattern -Recurse | ForEach-Object {
    if ($_.GetType().Name -eq "FileInfo" -and $_.Extension -ne ".atr" -and $_.DirectoryName -notin @("C:\Users\Desktop\powershell\exclude-folder1", "C:\Users\Desktop\powershell\exclude-folder2")) {
        $content = Get-Content -LiteralPath $_.FullName
        if ($content -match $oldstring1 -or $content -match $oldstring2) {
            $modifiedcontent = $content -replace [regex]::Escape($oldstring1), $newstring1 -replace [regex]::Escape($oldstring2), $newstring2
            Set-Content -LiteralPath $_.FullName -Value $modifiedcontent
            $modifiedfiles += $_.FullName
        }
    }
}

$modifiedfiles | Out-String -Stream

Cheers

1 Like
5

Hi @Navya_Budagam

To exclude a specific subfolder from a directory using PowerShell, you can utilize the -Exclude parameter of the Get-ChildItem cmdlet. Here’s an example of how you can modify the code to exclude a subfolder:-

$directory = “C:\Your\Directory”
$excludeFolder = “SubfolderToExclude”

$files = Get-ChildItem -Path $directory -File -Recurse -Exclude $excludeFolder

Thanks!!!

6

Hi @Nitya1

-path and -exclude operators works fine but -LiteralPath and -Exclude are not working in my case

7

Hi @Anil_G

Since we have very long paths in $directory (file lengths greater than 260 chars), I have created SUBST variable to assign $directory.
Since I’m using “Z:” next to -LiteralPath it is not excluding the directories. But if I use $directory in place of “Z:” the it is excluding the subdirectories

Below is the updated script.

Any thoughts?

$directory = “C:\Users\Desktop\powershell”
$searchpattern = “.”
$oldstring1 = ‘runAs=“India”’
$newstring1 = ‘runAs=“America”’
$oldstring2 = ‘runAsGuid=“India”’
$newstring2 = ‘runAsGuid=“America”’
$modifiedfiles = @()

$SUBST Z: $directory

Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath “Z:” -Filter $searchpattern -Recurse | ForEach-Object {
if ($.GetType().Name -eq “FileInfo” -and $.Extension -ne “.atr” -and $.DirectoryName -notin @(“C:\Users\Desktop\powershell\exclude-folder1”, “C:\Users\Desktop\powershell\exclude-folder2”)) {
$content = Get-Content -LiteralPath $.FullName
if ($content -match $oldstring1 -or $content -match $oldstring2) {
$modifiedcontent = $content -replace [regex]::Escape($oldstring1), $newstring1 -replace [regex]::Escape($oldstring2), $newstring2
Set-Content -LiteralPath $.FullName -Value $modifiedcontent
$modifiedfiles += $.FullName
}
}
}

$modifiedfiles | Out-String -Stream

8

@Anil_G & @Nitya1

Below worked for me…

Thank you @Anil_G

$directory = “C:\Users\Desktop\powershell”
$searchpattern = “.”
$oldstring1 = ‘runAs=“India”’
$newstring1 = ‘runAs=“America”’
$oldstring2 = ‘runAsGuid=“India”’
$newstring2 = ‘runAsGuid=“America”’
$modifiedfiles = @()

$SUBST Z: $directory

Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath “Z:” -Filter $searchpattern -Recurse | ForEach-Object {
if ($.GetType().Name -eq “FileInfo” -and $.Extension -ne “.atr” -and $_.DirectoryName -notin @(“Z:\exclude-folder1”, “Z:\exclude-folder2”)) {
$content = Get-Content -LiteralPath $.FullName
if ($content -match $oldstring1 -or $content -match $oldstring2) {
$modifiedcontent = $content -replace [regex]::Escape($oldstring1), $newstring1 -replace [regex]::Escape($oldstring2), $newstring2
Set-Content -LiteralPath $.FullName -Value $modifiedcontent
$modifiedfiles += $.FullName
}
}
}

$modifiedfiles | Out-String -Stream

1 Like