How to split paths in PowerShell

Overview

In PowerShell, we use the Split-Path cmdlet to get any part of the path, like the parent folder, child folder, or files.

Syntax

Split-Path -Path "provide path here"

Parameters

  • Path: It accepts a path to split.
  • Leaf: It returns the last part of the given path.
  • Resolve: This parameter references the files that the split path leads to.

Return value

This returns a part of the path as a string.

Let's look at an example.

Example

In the example below, we'll create a test folder and some files in it and display them using the split path.

#!/usr/bin/pwsh -Command
#returns parent folder
Split-Path -Path "/usr/bin/pwsh"
#Creates test folder and some test files in it
New-Item -Path './test' -ItemType Directory >$null
New-Item -Path './test/test1.txt' >$null
New-Item -Path './test/test2.txt' >$null
New-Item -Path './test/test3.txt' >$null
Write-Host "-------Files in test folder-------"
#returns files in test folder
Split-Path -Path "./test/*.txt" -Leaf -Resolve

Explanation

In the above code snippet:

  • Line 4: We get the parent container of the given path using the cmdlet Split-Path.
  • Line 7–10: We create a folder test in the current directory and create some test files in it using the cmdlet New-Item.
  • Line 15: We display the files for the given path using the cmdlet Split-Path and the parameters Leaf and Resolve. The Leaf points to the last part of the path and Resolve displays the file names instead of the Path.
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