| external help file | Locale | Module Name | ms.date | online version | schema | title |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Management.dll-Help.xml |
en-US |
Microsoft.PowerShell.Management |
05/23/2021 |
2.0.0 |
New-Item |
New-Item
SYNOPSIS
Creates a new item.
SYNTAX
pathSet (Default)
New-Item [-Path] <String[]> [-ItemType <String>] [-Value <Object>] [-Force] [-Credential <PSCredential>]
[-WhatIf] [-Confirm] [<CommonParameters>]
nameSet
New-Item [[-Path] <String[]>] -Name <String> [-ItemType <String>] [-Value <Object>] [-Force]
[-Credential <PSCredential>] [-WhatIf] [-Confirm] [<CommonParameters>]
DESCRIPTION
The New-Item cmdlet creates a new item and sets its value. The types of items that can be created
depend on the location of the item. For example, in the file system, New-Item creates files and
folders. In the registry, New-Item creates registry keys and entries.
New-Item can also set the value of the items that it creates. For example, when it creates a new
file, New-Item can add initial content to the file.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Create a file in the current directory
This command creates a text file that is named "testfile1.txt" in the current directory. The dot ('.') in the value of the Path parameter indicates the current directory. The quoted text that follows the Value parameter is added to the file as content.
New-Item -Path . -Name "testfile1.txt" -ItemType "file" -Value "This is a text string."Example 2: Create a directory
This command creates a directory named "Logfiles" in the C: drive. The ItemType parameter
specifies that the new item is a directory, not a file or other file system object.
New-Item -Path "c:\" -Name "logfiles" -ItemType "directory"Example 3: Create a profile
This command creates a PowerShell profile in the path that is specified by the $profile variable.
You can use profiles to customize PowerShell. $profile is an automatic (built-in) variable that
stores the path and file name of the "CurrentUser/CurrentHost" profile. By default, the profile does
not exist, even though PowerShell stores a path and file name for it.
In this command, the $profile variable represents the path of the file. ItemType parameter
specifies that the command creates a file. The Force parameter lets you create a file in the
profile path, even when the directories in the path do not exist.
After you create a profile, you can enter aliases, functions, and scripts in the profile to customize your shell.
For more information, see about_Automatic_Variables and about_Profiles.
New-Item -Path $profile -ItemType "file" -ForceExample 4: Create a directory in a different directory
This example creates a new Scripts directory in the "C:\PS-Test" directory.
The name of the new directory item, "Scripts", is included in the value of Path parameter, instead of being specified in the value of Name. As indicated by the syntax, either command form is valid.
New-Item -ItemType "directory" -Path "c:\ps-test\scripts"Example 5: Create multiple files
This example creates files in two different directories. Because Path takes multiple strings, you can use it to create multiple items.
New-Item -ItemType "file" -Path "c:\ps-test\test.txt", "c:\ps-test\Logs\test.log"Example 6: Use wildcards to create files in multiple directories
The New-Item cmdlet supports wildcards in the Path parameter. The following command creates a
temp.txt file in all of the directories specified by the wildcards in the Path parameter.
Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Temp\ Directory: C:\Temp
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
d----- 5/15/2019 6:45 AM 1 One
d----- 5/15/2019 6:45 AM 1 Two
d----- 5/15/2019 6:45 AM 1 Three
New-Item -Path C:\Temp\* -Name temp.txt -ItemType File | Select-Object FullNameFullName
--------
C:\Temp\One\temp.txt
C:\Temp\Three\temp.txt
C:\Temp\Two\temp.txt
The Get-ChildItem cmdlet shows three directories under the C:\Temp directory. Using wildcards
the New-Item cmdlet creates a temp.txt file in all of the directories under the current
directory. The New-Item cmdlet outputs the items you created, which is piped to Select-Object
to verify the paths of the newly created files.
Example 7: Create a symbolic link to a file or folder
This example creates a symbolic link to the Notice.txt file in the current folder.
$link = New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path .\link -Target .\Notice.txt
$link | Select-Object LinkType, TargetLinkType Target
-------- ------
SymbolicLink {.\Notice.txt}
In this example, Target is an alias for the Value parameter. The target of the symbolic link can be a relative path. Prior to PowerShell v6.2, the target must be a fully-qualified path.
Beginning in PowerShell 7.1, you can now create to a SymbolicLink to a folder on Windows using a relative path.
Example 8: Use the -Force parameter to attempt to recreate folders
This example creates a folder with a file inside. Then, attempts to create the same folder using
-Force. It will not overwrite the folder but simply return the existing folder object with the
file created intact.
PS> New-Item -Path .\TestFolder -ItemType Directory
PS> New-Item -Path .\TestFolder\TestFile.txt -ItemType File
PS> New-Item -Path .\TestFolder -ItemType Directory -Force
Directory: C:\
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
d----- 5/1/2020 8:03 AM TestFolder
PS> Get-ChildItem .\TestFolder\
Directory: C:\TestFolder
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a---- 5/1/2020 8:03 AM 0 TestFile.txtExample 9: Use the -Force parameter to overwrite existing files
This example creates a file with a value and then recreates the file using -Force. This overwrites
The existing file and it will lose it's content as you can see by the length property
PS> New-Item ./TestFile.txt -ItemType File -Value 'This is just a test file'
Directory: C:\Source\Test
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a---- 5/1/2020 8:32 AM 24 TestFile.txt
New-Item ./TestFile.txt -ItemType File -Force
Directory: C:\Source\Test
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a---- 5/1/2020 8:32 AM 0 TestFile.txt[!NOTE] When using
New-Itemwith the-Forceswitch to create registry keys, the command will behave the same as when overwriting a file. If the registry key already exists, the key and all properties and values will be overwritten with an empty registry key.
PARAMETERS
-Credential
[!NOTE] This parameter is not supported by any providers installed with PowerShell. To impersonate another user or elevate your credentials when running this cmdlet, use
Invoke-Command.
Type: System.Management.Automation.PSCredential
Parameter Sets: (All)
Aliases:
Required: False
Position: Named
Default value: Current user
Accept pipeline input: True (ByPropertyName)
Accept wildcard characters: False-Force
Forces this cmdlet to create an item that writes over an existing read-only item. Implementation varies from provider to provider. Even using the Force parameter, the cmdlet cannot override security restrictions.
Type: System.Management.Automation.SwitchParameter
Parameter Sets: (All)
Aliases:
Required: False
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False-ItemType
Specifies the provider-specified type of the new item. The available values of this parameter depend on the current provider you are using.
If your location is in a FileSystem drive, the following values are allowed:
- File
- Directory
- SymbolicLink
- Junction
- HardLink
[!NOTE] Creating a
SymbolicLinktype on Windows requires elevation as administrator. However, Windows 10 (build 14972 or newer) with Developer Mode enabled no longer requires elevation creating symbolic links.
In a Certificate drive, these are the values you can specify:
- Certificate Provider
- Certificate
- Store
- StoreLocation
For more information see about_Providers.
Type: System.String
Parameter Sets: (All)
Aliases: Type
Required: False
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: True (ByPropertyName)
Accept wildcard characters: False-Name
Specifies the name of the new item. You can specify the name of the new item in the Name or Path parameter value, and you can specify the path of the new item in Name or Path value. Items names passed using the Name parameter are created relative to the value of the Path parameter.
Type: System.String
Parameter Sets: nameSet
Aliases:
Required: True
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: True (ByPropertyName)
Accept wildcard characters: False-Path
Specifies the path of the location of the new item. The default is the current location when Path is omitted. You can specify the name of the new item in Name, or include it in Path. Items names passed using the Name parameter are created relative to the value of the Path parameter.
For this cmdlet, the Path parameter works like the LiteralPath parameter of other cmdlets.
Wildcard characters are not interpreted. All characters are passed to the location's provider. The
provider may not support all characters. For example, you cannot create a filename that contains an
asterisk (*) character.
Type: System.String[]
Parameter Sets: pathSet
Aliases:
Required: True (pathSet), False (nameSet)
Position: 0
Default value: Current location
Accept pipeline input: True (ByPropertyName)
Accept wildcard characters: False-Value
Specifies the value of the new item. You can also pipe a value to New-Item.
Type: System.Object
Parameter Sets: (All)
Aliases: Target
Required: False
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: True (ByPropertyName, ByValue)
Accept wildcard characters: False-Confirm
Prompts you for confirmation before running the cmdlet.
Type: System.Management.Automation.SwitchParameter
Parameter Sets: (All)
Aliases: cf
Required: False
Position: Named
Default value: False
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False-WhatIf
Shows what would happen if the cmdlet runs. The cmdlet is not run.
Type: System.Management.Automation.SwitchParameter
Parameter Sets: (All)
Aliases: wi
Required: False
Position: Named
Default value: False
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: FalseCommonParameters
This cmdlet supports the common parameters: -Debug, -ErrorAction, -ErrorVariable,
-InformationAction, -InformationVariable, -OutVariable, -OutBuffer, -PipelineVariable,
-Verbose, -WarningAction, and -WarningVariable. For more information, see
about_CommonParameters.
INPUTS
System.Object
You can pipe a value for the new item to this cmdlet.
OUTPUTS
System.Object
This cmdlet returns the item that it creates.
NOTES
New-Item is designed to work with the data exposed by any provider. To list the providers
available in your session, type Get-PsProvider. For more information, see about_Providers.