Distinguish a file from a directory.
PowerShell: Test-Path can constrain the kind of item that is accepted.
$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
Set-StrictMode -Version Latest
Test-Path -LiteralPath 'note.txt' -PathType Leaf
Test-Path -LiteralPath 'folder' -PathType ContainerExpected output EXAMPLE
True True
Details
Requires PowerShell 7. Save as snippet.ps1 and run pwsh -NoProfile -File snippet.ps1. Tested on Linux; these examples use portable paths and cmdlets. Test-Path can constrain the kind of item that is accepted.
Tested on Ubuntu 24.04.5 LTS · · PowerShell 7.6.6 · powershell 7.6.6-1.deb
Test inputs, results and environment
The exact published code ran in a dedicated Linux test container with prepared inputs. Snippet process uid 65534 with a read-only root filesystem and temporary working files. Networking disabled. Fixtures and output records are isolated from the application database. Testing covers this example and its stated checks, not every input, operating system, or runtime version. The Linux container shares its host's kernel; this is not a native Windows test.
- Architecture / host kernel
- x86_64 / 6.18.54.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2
- Snippet identity / locale
- uid=65534, gid=65534 (unprivileged process) / C.UTF-8
- Interpreter invocation
pwsh -NoLogo -NoProfile -NonInteractive -File snippet.ps1- Container image ID
sha256:ec91410a8f6ec3e985830b5e3a0560306d36f8c1c5ccd91a6699abe707123fa3- Code SHA-256
23a2a2c5d2492442456f3b3e7f1e527b6fc71bdcbb4e4ef9c8244599f5f5728d- Dependencies
- powershell 7.6.6-1.deb
Test input setup
These are the prepared inputs used by the test harness. See Details above for the prerequisites and how to run this example.
touch note.txt; mkdir folder
Observed standard output
True True
Exit code: 0. Standard error: empty. Validation: Exact stdout comparison. System-dependent values above are one recorded run.