How do I get only directories using Get-ChildItem?

I'm using PowerShell 2.0 and I want to pipe out all the subdirectories of a certain path. The following command outputs all files and directories, but I can't figure out how to filter out the files.

Get-ChildItem c:\mypath -Recurse

I've tried using $_.Attributes to get the attributes but then I don't know how to construct a literal instance of System.IO.FileAttributes to compare it to. In cmd.exe it would be

dir /b /ad /s

Solution 1:

For PowerShell 3.0 and greater:

Get-ChildItem -Directory

You can also use the aliases dir, ls, and gci

For PowerShell versions less than 3.0:

The FileInfo object returned by Get-ChildItem has a "base" property, PSIsContainer. You want to select only those items.

Get-ChildItem -Recurse | ?{ $_.PSIsContainer }

If you want the raw string names of the directories, you can do

Get-ChildItem -Recurse | ?{ $_.PSIsContainer } | Select-Object FullName

Solution 2:

In PowerShell 3.0, it is simpler:

Get-ChildItem -Directory #List only directories
Get-ChildItem -File #List only files

Solution 3:

Use

Get-ChildItem -dir #lists only directories
Get-ChildItem -file #lists only files

If you prefer aliases, use

ls -dir #lists only directories
ls -file #lists only files

or

dir -dir #lists only directories
dir -file #lists only files

To recurse subdirectories as well, add -r option.

ls -dir -r #lists only directories recursively
ls -file -r #lists only files recursively 

Tested on PowerShell 4.0, PowerShell 5.0 (Windows 10), PowerShell Core 6.0 (Windows 10, Mac, and Linux), and PowerShell 7.0 (Windows 10, Mac, and Linux).

Note: On PowerShell Core, symlinks are not followed when you specify the -r switch. To follow symlinks, specify the -FollowSymlink switch with -r.

Note 2: PowerShell is now cross-platform, since version 6.0. The cross-platform version was originally called PowerShell Core, but the the word "Core" has been dropped since PowerShell 7.0+.

Get-ChildItem documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.management/get-childitem

Solution 4:

A cleaner approach:

Get-ChildItem "<name_of_directory>" | where {$_.Attributes -match'Directory'}

I wonder if PowerShell 3.0 has a switch that only returns directories; it seems like a logical thing to add.