What are the possible 'Mode' values returned by PowerShell's Get-ChildItem cmdlet?

Question

When I run PowerShell\'s Get-ChildItem on a directory (or any cmdlet that returns file system items), it shows a column called Mode, like this:

Answer 1

These are all the file attribute names and there meanings can be found here:

PS C:\> [enum]::GetNames("system.io.fileattributes")
ReadOnly
Hidden
System
Directory
Archive
Device
Normal
Temporary
SparseFile
ReparsePoint
Compressed
Offline
NotContentIndexed
Encrypted

Answer 2

Note that the mode you see is just a string representation of a bitfield enum that hides in the Attributes property. You can figure out what the individual letters mean by simply showing both side by side:

PS> gci|select mode,attributes -u

Mode                Attributes
----                ----------
d-----               Directory
d-r---     ReadOnly, Directory
d----l Directory, ReparsePoint
-a----                 Archive

In any case, the full list is:

d - Directory
a - Archive
r - Read-only
h - Hidden
s - System
l - Reparse point, symlink, etc.

Answer 3

IMHO, the most explanatory is the code itself:

if (instance == null)
{
    return string.Empty;
}
FileSystemInfo baseObject = (FileSystemInfo) instance.BaseObject;
if (baseObject == null)
{
    return string.Empty;
}
string str = "";
if ((baseObject.Attributes & FileAttributes.Directory) == FileAttributes.Directory)
{
    str = str + "d";
}
else
{
    str = str + "-";
}
if ((baseObject.Attributes & FileAttributes.Archive) == FileAttributes.Archive)
{
    str = str + "a";
}
else
{
    str = str + "-";
}
if ((baseObject.Attributes & FileAttributes.ReadOnly) == FileAttributes.ReadOnly)
{
    str = str + "r";
}
else
{
    str = str + "-";
}
if ((baseObject.Attributes & FileAttributes.Hidden) == FileAttributes.Hidden)
{
    str = str + "h";
}
else
{
    str = str + "-";
}
if ((baseObject.Attributes & FileAttributes.System) == FileAttributes.System)
{
    return (str + "s");
}
return (str + "-");

Answer 4

Calling these "attributes" is a Windows-specific name and breaks from *nix tradition of calling this "mode". I.e. man chmod for "change mode".

It looks like Windows API design is bending (or acquiescing) toward the more popular term in the wider industry: "Mode".

+1 from me.