Limit Get-ChildItem recursion depth

I can get all sub-items recursively using this command:

Get-ChildItem -recurse

But is there a way to limit the depth? If I only want to recurse one or two levels down for example?

Solution 1:

Use this to limit the depth to 2:

Get-ChildItem \*\*\*,\*\*,\*

The way it works is that it returns the children at each depth 2,1 and 0.

Explanation:

This command

Get-ChildItem \*\*\*

returns all items with a depth of two subfolders. Adding \* adds an additional subfolder to search in.

In line with the OP question, to limit a recursive search using get-childitem you are required to specify all the depths that can be searched.

Solution 2:

As of powershell 5.0, you can now use the -Depth parameter in Get-ChildItem!

You combine it with -Recurse to limit the recursion.

Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Depth 2

Solution 3:

Try this function:

Function Get-ChildItemToDepth {
    Param(
        [String]$Path = $PWD,
        [String]$Filter = "*",
        [Byte]$ToDepth = 255,
        [Byte]$CurrentDepth = 0,
        [Switch]$DebugMode
    )

    $CurrentDepth++
    If ($DebugMode) {
        $DebugPreference = "Continue"
    }

    Get-ChildItem $Path | %{
        $_ | ?{ $_.Name -Like $Filter }

        If ($_.PsIsContainer) {
            If ($CurrentDepth -le $ToDepth) {

                # Callback to this function
                Get-ChildItemToDepth -Path $_.FullName -Filter $Filter `
                  -ToDepth $ToDepth -CurrentDepth $CurrentDepth
            }
            Else {
                Write-Debug $("Skipping GCI for Folder: $($_.FullName) " + `
                  "(Why: Current depth $CurrentDepth vs limit depth $ToDepth)")
            }
        }
    }
}

source

Solution 4:

I tried to limit Get-ChildItem recursion depth using Resolve-Path

$PATH = "."
$folder = get-item $PATH 
$FolderFullName = $Folder.FullName
$PATHs = Resolve-Path $FolderFullName\*\*\*\
$Folders = $PATHs | get-item | where {$_.PsIsContainer}

But this works fine :

gci "$PATH\*\*\*\*"

Solution 5:

This is a function that outputs one line per item, with indentation according to depth level. It is probably much more readable.

function GetDirs($path = $pwd, [Byte]$ToDepth = 255, [Byte]$CurrentDepth = 0)
{
    $CurrentDepth++
    If ($CurrentDepth -le $ToDepth) {
        foreach ($item in Get-ChildItem $path)
        {
            if (Test-Path $item.FullName -PathType Container)
            {
                "." * $CurrentDepth + $item.FullName
                GetDirs $item.FullName -ToDepth $ToDepth -CurrentDepth $CurrentDepth
            }
        }
    }
}

It is based on a blog post, Practical PowerShell: Pruning File Trees and Extending Cmdlets.