Partying with Join-Path

Steve Lee

Did you realize that you can Join-Path can work on multiple items? PS> Get-Help Join-Path -parameter *path

-path Specifies the main path (or paths) to which the child-path is appended. Wildcards are permitted.

The value of Path determines which provider joins the paths and adds th e path delimiters. The Path parameter is required, although the paramet er name (-path) is optional.

Required? true Position? 1 Default value N/A – The path must be specified Accept pipeline input? true (ByValue, ByPropertyName) Accept wildcard characters? true

-childPath Specifies the elements to append to the value of Path. Wildcards are pe rmitted. The ChildPath parameter is required, although the parameter na me (-ChildPath) is optional.

Required? true Position? 2 Default value N/A – The ChildPath must be specified Accept pipeline input? true (ByPropertyName) Accept wildcard characters? True Let’s get crazy! Notice that PATH accepts an array of STRINGS. This is what that allows you to do: PS> Join-Path C:\hello world C:\hello\world PS> Join-Path C:\hello,d:\goodbye,e:\hola,f:\adios world C:\hello\world d:\goodbye\world e:\hola\world f:\adios\world Next, notice that PATH can be pipelined BYVALUE. That allows you to do: PS> Get-Content t1.txt c:\hello d:\Goodbye e:\hola f:\adios PS> Get-Content t1.txt | Join-Path -ChildPath world c:\hello\world d:\Goodbye\world e:\hola\world f:\adios\world Next, notice that ChildPath can be pipelined BYPROPERTYNAME. That allows you to do: PS> Get-Content t.csv Childpath World Jeffrey Microsoft

PS> Import-Csv t.csv |Join-Path c:\hello c:\hello\World c:\hello\Jeffrey c:\hello\Microsoft c:\hello\ Next, remember that Path accepts an ARRAY of strings. This allows you to do: PS> Import-Csv t.csv |Join-Path c:\hello,d:\Good-Bye c:\hello\World d:\Good-Bye\World c:\hello\Jeffrey d:\Good-Bye\Jeffrey c:\hello\Microsoft d:\Good-Bye\Microsoft c:\hello\ d:\Good-Bye\ Lastly, notice that both PATH and CHILDPATH can be pipelined BYPROPERTYNAME. That allows you to do: PS> Get-Content t2.csv Path,Childpath c:\Hello,World d:\Good-Bye,Jeffrey e:\PowerShell-Rocks,Microsoft PS> Import-Csv t2.csv |Join-Path c:\Hello\World d:\Good-Bye\Jeffrey e:\PowerShell-Rocks\Microsoft So now what you’ll want to do is to a bunch of Get-Help –FULL and example the parameters and look for those that accept arrays of elements and those that accept pipeline input – then experiment. Enjoy! Jeffrey Snover [MSFT] Windows Management Partner Architect Visit the Windows PowerShell Team blog at: http://blogs.msdn.com/PowerShell Visit the Windows PowerShell ScriptCenter at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/hubs/msh.mspx

Steve Lee Principal Software Engineer Manager, PowerShell

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