How to add checksum to Get-ChildItem -Recurse?

Question

I've been using a very simple Get-ChildItem -Recurse command to generate a CSV inventory of a file directory for appraising said files for retention/deletion. I'm very new to PowerShell and I'm trying to keep the code as simple as possible, here is what I've been successfully using:

Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Select-Object FullName, Name, Extension, Length, CreationTime, LastAccessTime, LastWriteTime | Export-Csv "C:\file\path\file_list.csv"

But I would like to add a checksum to the Select-Object, I tried the following code but it created a CSV with only the checksum and no other file data. The checksum should be a column in the CSV next to the other Select-Object parameters.

Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Get-FileHash -Algorithm MD5 | Select-Object FullName, Name, Extension, Length, CreationTime, LastAccessTime, LastWriteTime, Hash | Export-Csv "C:\file\path\file_list.csv"

Any help is greatly appreciated, I'm VERY new to PowerShell, thanks!

Doug's answer works well; in case you're curious about the underlying feature: he used a [calculated property](https://stackoverflow.com/a/39861920/45375), which is a hashtable-based way (`@{ ... }`) to define properties dynamically. — mklement0, Oct 13 '20 at 17:30

Doug Maurer · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-13T20:28:10.363

1

Since you want to add it as an additional property, you can use a calculated property like this.

Get-ChildItem -Recurse |
    Select-Object FullName, Name, Extension, Length, CreationTime, LastAccessTime, LastWriteTime, @{n="Hash";e={(Get-FileHash $_.FullName -Algorithm MD5).hash}} |
        Export-Csv "C:\file\path\file_list.csv"

To make it easier to read and maintain, you could use a variable to hold the desired properties like this.

$props = "FullName",
         "Name",
         "Extension",
         "Length",
         "CreationTime",
         "LastAccessTime",
         "LastWriteTime",
         @{n="Hash";e={(Get-FileHash $_.FullName -Algorithm MD5).hash}}

Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Select-Object $props | Export-Csv "C:\file\path\file_list.csv"

edited Oct 13 '20 at 20:28

answered Oct 13 '20 at 15:45

Doug Maurer

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Thank you Doug! I modified your code a little because some of the files weren't generating a hash, this forces a hash for every file: `Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Force | Select-Object FullName, Name, Extension, Length, LastWriteTime, CreationTime, LastAccessTime, @{n='Hash SHA256';e={(Get-FileHash $_.FullName -Algorithm SHA256).hash}} | Export-Csv “C:\file\path\filelist.csv”` – uraniumcores Oct 13 '20 at 19:11
Did you change it to `$_.fullname`? I can edit the post for future readers if you want to tell me what to change. – Doug Maurer Oct 13 '20 at 19:13
1

Yes, also `-Force` parameter which I think reveals hidden files – uraniumcores Oct 13 '20 at 19:22

How to add checksum to Get-ChildItem -Recurse?

1 Answers1