How do I change a file's attribute using Powershell?

Question

I have a Powershell script that copies files from one location to another. Once the copy is complete I want to clear the Archive attribute on the files in the source location t

Answer 1

You can use the good old dos attrib command like this:

attrib -a *.*

Or to do it using Powershell you can do something like this:

$a = get-item myfile.txt
$a.attributes = 'Normal'

Answer 2

As the Attributes is basically a bitmask field, you need to be sure clear the archive field while leaving the rest alone:

PS C:\> $f = get-item C:\Archives.pst
PS C:\> $f.Attributes
Archive, NotContentIndexed
PS C:\> $f.Attributes = $f.Attributes -band (-bnot [System.IO.FileAttributes]::Archive)
PS C:\> $f.Attributes
NotContentIndexed
PS H:\>

Answer 3

$attr = [System.IO.FileAttributes]$attrString
$prop = Get-ItemProperty -Path $pathString
# SetAttr
$prop.Attributes = $prop.Attributes -bor $attr
# ToggleAttr
$prop.Attributes = $prop.Attributes -bxor $attr
# HasAttr
$hasAttr = ($prop.Attributes -band $attr) -eq $attr
# ClearAttr
if ($hasAttr) { $prop.Attributes -bxor $attr }

Answer 4

Mitch's answer works well for most attributes, but will not work for "Compressed." If you want to set the compressed attribute on a folder using PowerShell you have to use the command-line tool compact

compact /C /S c:\MyDirectory

Answer 5

From here:

function Get-FileAttribute{
    param($file,$attribute)
    $val = [System.IO.FileAttributes]$attribute;
    if((gci $file -force).Attributes -band $val -eq $val){$true;} else { $false; }
} 


function Set-FileAttribute{
    param($file,$attribute)
    $file =(gci $file -force);
    $file.Attributes = $file.Attributes -bor ([System.IO.FileAttributes]$attribute).value__;
    if($?){$true;} else {$false;}
} 

Answer 6

You may use the following command to toggle the behaviour

$file = (gci e:\temp\test.txt)
$file.attributes
Archive

$file.attributes = $file.Attributes -bxor ([System.IO.FileAttributes]::Archive)
$file.attributes
Normal

$file.attributes = $file.Attributes -bxor ([System.IO.FileAttributes]::Archive)
$file.attributes
Archive