Powershell - Correct Way of Checking if a directory is empty

Question

What is the correct way of determining if a file or folder is empty in powershell? I came across this post and tried the example that the second user gave, and it worked.

Now, I've been checking if a directory is empty by using the length property, like this:

(Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Users\someUser\Downloads\" -Recurse).Length)

However, that only returns the number of bytes that the file/folder has. I tested the length property and found that if you were to have a blank text file/folder placed in the downloads then the length property wouldn't return the correct value.

Can you use the length property to correctly determine the number of files/folders that a directory has?

Why don't you use `Test-Path "C:\Users\someUser\Downloads\*"` as suggested in [another](http://stackoverflow.com/a/10550670/608772) answer of the same [post](http://stackoverflow.com/q/10550128/608772). — JPBlanc, Feb 10 '15 at 04:43
Possible duplicate of [Powershell test if folder empty](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10550128/powershell-test-if-folder-empty) — jpmc26, Mar 29 '17 at 21:45

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 07 '15 at 20:43

3

Try this, it will count the number of items:

Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Users\someUser\Downloads\" -Recurse | Measure-Object

answered Feb 07 '15 at 20:43

campbell.rw

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Thanks, it worked, however, why does the length property give the value that it does? Why doesn't it give the number of files/folders in a directory? – Feb 07 '15 at 20:47
1

Because when you do a get-childitem call, then length property respresents the file size. My example doesn't format well in this comment, but just do a get-childitem call by itself and you will see the length column. For example: PS>get-childitem Directory: C:\Users\Foo\Desktop Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- d---- 2013-04-20 9:51 PM 2013-01-22-antlrworks-2.0 – campbell.rw Feb 07 '15 at 20:49
Thanks again, I just tested your answer, but I had to modify it like this: (Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Users\somerUser\Downloads\" -Recurse | Measure-Object) I had to place brackets around the command for it to return the proper value. Why? – Feb 07 '15 at 20:53
You dont need any brackets at all, I didn't use them when I ran it. – campbell.rw Feb 07 '15 at 21:52

Sagiv b.g · Answer 2 · 2015-02-08T04:38:36.990

2

if you want to be sure a file or folder is empty you can use the following:

for a file:

If ((Get-Content C:\YouFile.txt) -eq $Null) {
    "The file is empty"
}

if the file contains white space it wont return as null, so if you want to check even white space you can use the following:

If ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace((Get-Content C:\YourFile.txt))) {
    "The file is empty"
}

for a folder:

If ((Get-ChildItem -Force C:\SomeFolder) -eq $Null) {
    "the Folder is empty"
}

edited Feb 08 '15 at 04:38

answered Feb 07 '15 at 21:02

Sagiv b.g

30,379
9
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Your folder example does not considered items with the hidden attribute. – jscott Feb 08 '15 at 02:29

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 08 '15 at 02:05

The other way to handle this is just to use the base static method in System.Io.Directory -- Directory.EnumerationFileSystemInfos() and see how many objects, if any, are returned. Note that a FileSystemInfo can be either a directory or file, so it'll work in your case.

[system.io.directory]::EnumerateFileSystemEntries("C:\temp")

Powershell - Correct Way of Checking if a directory is empty

3 Answers3