TopolearnMost automation reads or writes files, and providers let the same cmdlets reach other data stores.
File work uses a small, consistent set of cmdlets: Get-ChildItem (list), Set-Location (cd), New-Item, Copy-Item, Move-Item, Rename-Item, Remove-Item, Test-Path. Their -Path parameter accepts wildcards; use -LiteralPath for names that contain [ or ]. -Recurse walks subdirectories, and -Force includes hidden items or overwrites.
Reading and writing text:
Get-Content filereturns an array of lines; add-Rawfor a single string.Set-Contentreplaces a file,Add-Contentappends,Out-Filewrites formatted output.- In PowerShell 7 the default encoding is UTF-8 without a BOM; specify
-Encodingwhen a tool expects something else.
Build paths with Join-Path and Split-Path instead of string concatenation; on Linux the separator is /, and both cmdlets handle it.
Destructive cmdlets support -WhatIf (show what would happen) and -Confirm (ask first): run Remove-Item -Recurse -WhatIf before the real thing.
The same cmdlets work on other providers, exposed as drives: Env: (environment variables), Variable:, Function:, Alias:, and on Windows HKLM: (the registry) and Cert: (certificates). Get-PSDrive lists them, so Get-ChildItem Env: lists environment variables just like files.
Example
$dir = Join-Path ([IO.Path]::GetTempPath()) 'ps-demo'
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $dir -Force | Out-Null
Set-Location $dir
Set-Content -Path notes.txt -Value 'first line'
Add-Content -Path notes.txt -Value 'second line'
Get-Content notes.txt # first line / second line
(Get-Content notes.txt).Count # 2 (an array of lines)
Copy-Item notes.txt backup.txt
Test-Path backup.txt # True
Get-ChildItem -Filter *.txt | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name # backup.txt notes.txt
Remove-Item backup.txt -WhatIf # What if: Performing the operation "Remove File" ...
Split-Path (Join-Path $dir 'notes.txt') -Leaf # notes.txt
Get-ChildItem Env: | Select-Object -First 2 Name # environment as a driveRemember
- Get-ChildItem, Copy-Item, Remove-Item and friends work on any provider
- Get-Content returns lines; -Raw returns one string
- Join-Path for paths, -WhatIf before destructive commands
Watch out for
- Concatenating paths with '\' in scripts that must also run on Linux or macOS.