Get-ExtendedAttributes is a Powershell module for accessing the extended attributes of files.
This module provides functionality similar to the Get-ChildItem cmdlet. Instead of basic file attributes, however, gea enumerates and returns attributes not easily exposed to Powershell.
These attributes include:
-
Video (image/sound/combined bitrates, length, resolution, encoding, etc)
-
Music (bitrate, length, artist, album, title, track, etc)
-
Image/EXIF (resolution, camera information, focal length, ISO, orientation, etc)
-
Contacts (Name, address, street, phone number, email address, etc)
-
Email (To, From, Attachments, CC, BCC, send/received dates, subject, etc)
-
Documents (Due date, word count, last-printed, last-saved, classification, pages, etc)
Get-ExtendedAttributes has the following dependencies:
- Microsoft Windows OS (Windows 7 or greater, Windows Server 2008 or greater)
- Windows Powershell (5.1+ recommended)
Save the Get-ExtendedAttributes folder to any one of these three folders:
C:\Users\<username>\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules
C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules
C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules
Import the module using the following command:
Import-Module Get-ExtendedAttributes
Note: The module exports the path of a "Helper File" as variable $HelperFile. This is used to greatly improve the speed and efficiency. Details on how to use the helper file are explained in the Helper File below.
- Running the function is simple:
Get-ExtendedAttributes
Alternatively, you can use the alias:
gea
gea contains many parameters to enhance its functionality and applicability.
The directory or file you wish to retrieve extended attributes from.
This parameter is positional (position 0), and can be used without being named.
If unspecified, -Path uses the present working directory.
In cases where -Path is a directory, -Recurse will enumerate all subfolders and files within the provided path.
If -Path specifies a filename, -Recurse is ignored.
Displays a progress bar to support your mental health and welfare.
The progress bar reports which file it's enumerating attributes for, and displays the overall file progress.
Provides the function with the path of the Helper File to use.
Details about what a Helper File is and how to use it are written in the Helper File section below.
Applies an exclusionary ("where not match") filter on subfolders and files. If -Path is a file, -Exclude is ignored.
To specify more than one filter, comma-separate the strings you'd like to exclude.
This example excludes all files and folders containing ".png" or ".ps1" anywhere in the filename:
$N = Get-ExtendedAttributes -Exclude .png,.ps1
Note: -Exclude does not respect asterisks. If there's a desire to use asterisks for filtering, ask and I'll write the feature in. (Or do it yourself, it's open source!)
Applies an inclusionary ("where match") filter for files only. If -Path is a file, -Include is ignored.
As with -Exclude, you can comma-separate multiple strings you'd like to include.
Also as with -Exclude, -Include does not respect asterisks.
Instructs the function to remove all columns in the resultant data which do not contain any values. -Clean is an alias of -OmitEmptyFields.
For example, a set of values that looks like this:
| Name | Address | Street | Phone Number | Email Address |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John | 123 st | |||
| Jake | no@ip.org | |||
| 3rd ave. | yep@nope.com |
Would be reduced to these fields:
| Name | Address | Email Address |
|---|---|---|
| John | 123 st | |
| Jake | no@ip.org | |
| 3rd ave. | yep@nope.com |
This operation can take a lot of time, depending on how many files and specified attributes reside in the dataset.
As with attribute lookups, the Helper File also reduces the number of possible empty fields. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that a Helper File be used when using -OmitEmptyFields.
Reports all "Access Denied" errors to the console after the resultant data has been processed. Error reporting does not impact enumeration against files that were accessible.
Instructs the function to send errors to a designated text file instead of to the console.
Skips filtering/replacing Unicode character 8206 (Left-Right Mark) from the dataset.
This parameter is recommended when not anticipating media files and executables, and will slightly improve run-time.
If media files or executables are* anticipated, don't specify this parameter to ensure the resultant data is plainly readable and exportable.
gea is very quick when run without additional parameters for one or a small number of files.
In cases where there are a large number of files, the time it takes to query 500 attributes can cause gea to take a very long time to complete.
Thankfully, there's a clever solution to this problem.
The Helper File is simply a JSON file called exthelper.json. It contains Keys (file extensions) and Values (applicable attributes for each file extension).
gea uses this file to limit the attribute retrievals to only attributes that are used by specific file types.
Instead of querying 500 attributes, when using the Helper File it will only query 30-40 (depending on the file type). This improves gea's performance substantially.
I have included a Helper File with the module that contains 315 extensions. This was generated from files on my systems and storage, and works perfectly (for me).
- If present when importing the module, the path to the Helper File is automatically assigned to the variable $HelperFile:
- When running gea, use the following parameters to use the Helper File:
Get-ExtendedAttributes -HelperFile $HelperFile
That's a fair question. Here's a test against 410 files:
| Without Helper | With Helper |
|---|---|
| 83 seconds | 10 seconds |
| 4.94 files/sec | 41 files/sec |
That's a difference of 8 times faster when using the Helper File!
If you have a unique or specific set of file types that aren't included in the provided set, I have included a function to create your own Helper File (New-AttrsHelperFile)
Details on how to use this tool are outlined in the Other Functions section below.
If gea is the star of the show, then there's also a supporting cast. Without them, the show wouldn't be possible.
This section covers the other functions included and available for use in this Powershell module.
Analyzes CSV files with contents created by gea to generate a new Helper File.
You may want to create a new helper file if your use-case for this module applies to files whose extensions aren't included in the provided extHelper.json file.
These are some notes and recommendations for using New-AttrsHelperFile:
- When running gea to generate the initial data, it's best to specify -OmitEmptyFields up-front (alternatively, -Clean). This will save a lot of time when re-analyzing the data.
- When saving the gea output as a CSV, make sure you specify the Export-Csv cmdlet's -NoTypeInformation parameter.
- You don't need a huge dataset of files in each CSV to generate a perfect exthelper.json file.
- Consider hand-picking a small quantity of each file type that you think will have the desired properties.
- You can use the existing exthelper.json file when running gea to generate a new Helper File.
- Eligible extension-attributes will transfer over after the new analysis is complete, saving you time on "known attributes".
- However, if any attributes were missed, those missed attributes will also be missing from the new file.
- Expect the function's run-time to take 1-2 minutes per 1MB of CSVs, depending on your CPU's single-core performance.
- Suppose you've created a folder of representative files for the purpose of generating a new exthelper file, and a location for your resultant CSV file:
D:\RepFiles
D:\AttrsFiles
- Import the Get-ExtendedAttributes module:
Import-Module Get-ExtendedAttributes
- Use gea to analyze your files:
$AttrData = gea -Path D:\RepFiles -Recurse -Write-Progress -Clean
- Save the file attribute data as a CSV:
$AttrData | Export-Csv D:\AttrsFiles\RepFiles.csv -NoTypeInformation
- Run New-AttrsHelperFile to generate the new exthelper.json
New-AttrsHelperFile -Folder D:\AttrsFiles -SaveAs D:\AttrsFiles\exthelper.json -WriteProgress
With the above parameters-set, New-AttrsHelperFile will display a progress bar. There is no console output after completion.
New-AttrsHelperFile has a small number of parameters:
The path of the directory containing relevant CSV files. There is no default, and this parameter should be explicitly defined.
The full file path to save the resultant .json as. There is no default, and this parameter should also be explicitly defined.
To support your mental health and welfare.
Reports on the overall progress, the extension it's analyzing, the extension progress, and the file whose attributes its analyzing.
When considering how to enumerate files and folders, I started with these three requirements.
- Faster enumeration and simple/flat output of files and folders
- Avoid enumerating attributes for the sake of efficiency
- Maintain all code within native Powershell/.NET Framework
The first two requirements rule out Get-ChildItem, because gci is notoriously slow and enumerates attributes, which I was explicitly trying to avoid. The last requirement rules out the cmd.exe "dir.exe" command, which is very fast but would require a wrapper function.
This left no "off-the-shelf" options (that I'm aware of), and I didn't want to borrow someone else's code. So I wrote Get-Folders and Get-Files.
Enumerates directories in a provided path, and can do so recursively.
- Running the function is simple:
Get-Folders
Alternatively, you can use the alias:
gfo
gfo contains a few parameters to enhance its functionality.
The path of the directory you wish to enumerate directories within.
If -Directory is not specified, gfo uses the present working directory.
Suppresses access errors without any output. This parameter can be useful when working with directory structures containing folders you know you don't have access to.
Instructs the function to recursively enumerate all subdirectories within the specified path.
Instructs the function to bypass alphabetical/hierarchical sorting of the enumerated directories, and returns the directories in the order they were discovered.
By default, gfo filters out directory paths matching the following strings:
- "filehistory"
- "windows"
- "recycle"
- "@"
Specifying -IgnoreExclusions will include directory paths with the strings listed above.
Adds the "root" (-Directory) directory to the returned list of discovered directories/subdirectories.
Enumerates files in a specified path.
Note: Get-Files does not operate recursively.
- Running this function is also very simple:
Get-Files
Alternatively, you can use the alias:
gfi
gfi contains a handful of parameters to enhance its functionality.
The path of the directory you wish to enumerate the files within.
If not specified, gfi uses the present working directory.
By default, gfi provides the full directory path of every file it discovers. When specifying -ExcludeFullPath, only the file names are returned.
Applies an inclusional ("matches") filter to the output. -Filter is a positional parameter (last position), and doesn't require being named.
Note: -Filter only allows a single filter to be specified. If you'd like the multi-filter functionality (like gea provides), let me know and I'll include it.
Here's an example of how to only show files of type ".txt" using the -Filter parameter:
gfi -Filter *.txt
Returns the file extension of a given file.
- Running this function requires specifying the filename:
Get-FileExtension -FilePath D:\somefile.txt
.txt
However, the actual path (or the file's existence) doesn't matter. You can pass the function nonsense, and it will return the perceived file extension:
Get-FileExtension asdfq234r3e2f.sql
.sql
Get-FileExtension has a single parameter:
The name or path of the file.
Notes and comments regarding all things involving the word "help"
Every function in this module has a full-featured Comment-Based Help (CBH) header.
You can run the Get-Help command to see more information about parameters, aliases, examples, etc.
To view the full help manifest for Get-ExtendedAttributes, for example:
Get-Help Get-ExtendedAttributes -Full
With the size and complexity of this module, there are undoubtedly bugs and problems in the code. I try to fix things as soon as I identify a problem, but that's often easier said than done.
If you encounter a bug, please report it. Let me know exactly how you encountered it, including relevant conditions, parameter input and console output.
- Strange/faulty behavior when working with files in UserProfile directories (caused by NTUSER.DAT)
Some file attribute values obtained from downloaded or non-Windows sources contain LRM (Left-to-Right Mark, Unicode 8206)(06/06/2022)This is easy to sanitize, but the simplest way (ConvertTo-Csv => -replace [char]int | ConvertFrom-Csv) may add significant overheadMay add a [switch]$PreserveLRM switch to disable LRM sanitization
Fix gfo "trailing-slash" bug(06/06/2022)This doesn't effect the module functionality, but it's an easy bug to squash
This is a list of enhancements and improvements on my agenda:
Reduce gea "Helper File" parameters to a single parameter(06/06/2022)- Optimize/rewrite the supporting code behind the -OmitEmptyFields parameter
- Figure out the fastest way to isolate unique, unused properties
- Write some "example scripts" to demo the module
Create a .psd1 for version tracking and Powershell/.NET CLR version enforcement(06/06/2022)- Apply Powershell 7.1 foreach -parallel functionality
- This code is badly bottlenecked by single-threaded performance
- Parallelizing it would add a tremendous performance enhancement
I am the author. If you would like to contact me for any reason, you can reach me at this email address.
- 1.0 - Initial public version.
- Pretty Spiffy
This project is licensed under the GNUv3 License - see the LICENSE.md file for details.