Check if a file exists or not in Windows PowerShell?

Question

I have this script which compares files in two areas of the disk and copies the latest file over the one with the older modified date.

$filestowatch=get-con         


        

Answer 1

You want to use Test-Path:

Test-Path <path to file> -PathType Leaf

Answer 2

Test-Path may give odd answer. E.g. "Test-Path c:\temp\ -PathType leaf" gives false, but "Test-Path c:\temp* -PathType leaf" gives true. Sad :(

Answer 3

cls

$exactadminfile = "C:\temp\files\admin" #First folder to check the file

$userfile = "C:\temp\files\user" #Second folder to check the file

$filenames=Get-Content "C:\temp\files\files-to-watch.txt" #Reading the names of the files to test the existance in one of the above locations

foreach ($filename in $filenames) {
  if (!(Test-Path $exactadminfile\$filename) -and !(Test-Path $userfile\$filename)) { #if the file is not there in either of the folder
    Write-Warning "$filename absent from both locations"
  } else {
    Write-Host " $filename  File is there in one or both Locations" #if file exists there at both locations or at least in one location
  }
}

Answer 4

The standard way to see if a file exists is with the Test-Path cmdlet.

Test-Path -path $filename

Answer 5

Just to offer the alternative to the Test-Path cmdlet (since nobody mentioned it):

[System.IO.File]::Exists($path)

Does (almost) the same thing as

Test-Path $path -PathType Leaf

except no support for wildcard characters

Answer 6

Use Test-Path:

if (!(Test-Path $exactadminfile) -and !(Test-Path $userfile)) {
  Write-Warning "$userFile absent from both locations"
}

Placing the above code in your ForEach loop should do what you want