New-Item

Syntax

New-Item
   [-Path] <String[]>
   [-ItemType <String>]
   [-Value <Object>]
   [-Force]
   [-Credential <PSCredential>]
   [-WhatIf]
   [-Confirm]
   [<CommonParameters>]

New-Item
   [[-Path] <String[]>]
   -Name <String>
   [-ItemType <String>]
   [-Value <Object>]
   [-Force]
   [-Credential <PSCredential>]
   [-WhatIf]
   [-Confirm]
   [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The New-Item cmdlet creates a new item and sets its value. The types of items that can be created depend on the location of the item. For example, in the file system, New-Item creates files and folders. In the registry, New-Item creates registry keys and entries.

New-Item can also set the value of the items that it creates. For example, when it creates a new file, New-Item can add initial content to the file.

Examples

Example 1: Create a file in the current directory

This command creates a text file that is named "testfile1.txt" in the current directory. The dot ('.') in the value of the Path parameter indicates the current directory. The quoted text that follows the Value parameter is added to the file as content.

New-Item -Path . -Name "testfile1.txt" -ItemType "file" -Value "This is a text string."

Example 2: Create a directory

This command creates a directory named "Logfiles" in the C: drive. The ItemType parameter specifies that the new item is a directory, not a file or other file system object.

New-Item -Path "c:\" -Name "logfiles" -ItemType "directory"

Example 3: Create a profile

This command creates a PowerShell profile in the path that is specified by the $profile variable.

You can use profiles to customize PowerShell. $profile is an automatic (built-in) variable that stores the path and file name of the "CurrentUser/CurrentHost" profile. By default, the profile does not exist, even though PowerShell stores a path and file name for it.

In this command, the $profile variable represents the path of the file. ItemType parameter specifies that the command creates a file. The Force parameter lets you create a file in the profile path, even when the directories in the path do not exist.

After you create a profile, you can enter aliases, functions, and scripts in the profile to customize your shell.

For more information, see about_Automatic_Variables and about_Profiles.

New-Item -Path $profile -ItemType "file" -Force

Example 4: Create a directory in a different directory

This example creates a new Scripts directory in the "C:\PS-Test" directory.

The name of the new directory item, "Scripts", is included in the value of Path parameter, instead of being specified in the value of Name. As indicated by the syntax, either command form is valid.

New-Item -ItemType "directory" -Path "c:\ps-test\scripts"

Example 5: Create multiple files

This example creates files in two different directories. Because Path takes multiple strings, you can use it to create multiple items.

New-Item -ItemType "file" -Path "c:\ps-test\test.txt", "c:\ps-test\Logs\test.log"

Example 6: Use wildcards to create files in multiple directories

The New-Item cmdlet supports wildcards in the Path parameter. The following command creates a temp.txt file in all of the directories specified by the wildcards in the Path parameter.

Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Temp\

Directory:  C:\Temp

Mode                LastWriteTime     Length Name
----                -------------     ------ ----
d-----        5/15/2019   6:45 AM        1   One
d-----        5/15/2019   6:45 AM        1   Two
d-----        5/15/2019   6:45 AM        1   Three

New-Item -Path C:\Temp\* -Name temp.txt -ItemType File | Select-Object FullName

FullName
--------
C:\Temp\One\temp.txt
C:\Temp\Three\temp.txt
C:\Temp\Two\temp.txt

The Get-ChildItem cmdlet shows three directories under the C:\Temp directory. Using wildcards the New-Item cmdlet creates a temp.txt file in all of the directories under the current directory. The New-Item cmdlet outputs the items you created, which is piped to Select-Object to verify the paths of the newly created files.

Example 7: Create a symbolic link to a file or folder

This example creates a symbolic link to the Notice.txt file in the current folder.

$link = New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path .\link -Target .\Notice.txt
$link | Select-Object LinkType, Target

LinkType     Target
--------     ------
SymbolicLink {.\Notice.txt}

In this example, Target is an alias for the Value parameter. The target of the symbolic link can be a relative path. Prior to PowerShell v6.2, the target must be a fully-qualified path.

Beginning in PowerShell 7.1, you can now create to a SymbolicLink to a folder on Windows using a relative path.

Example 8: Use the -Force parameter to attempt to recreate folders

This example creates a folder with a file inside. Then, attempts to create the same folder using -Force. It will not overwrite the folder but simply return the existing folder object with the file created intact.

PS> New-Item -Path .\TestFolder -ItemType Directory
PS> New-Item -Path .\TestFolder\TestFile.txt -ItemType File

PS> New-Item -Path .\TestFolder -ItemType Directory -Force

    Directory: C:\
Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
d-----         5/1/2020   8:03 AM                TestFolder

PS> Get-ChildItem .\TestFolder\

    Directory: C:\TestFolder
Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
-a----         5/1/2020   8:03 AM              0 TestFile.txt

Example 9: Use the -Force parameter to overwrite existing files

This example creates a file with a value and then recreates the file using -Force. This overwrites The existing file and it will lose it's content as you can see by the length property

PS> New-Item ./TestFile.txt -ItemType File -Value 'This is just a test file'

    Directory: C:\Source\Test
Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
-a----         5/1/2020   8:32 AM             24 TestFile.txt

New-Item ./TestFile.txt -ItemType File -Force

    Directory: C:\Source\Test
Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
-a----         5/1/2020   8:32 AM              0 TestFile.txt

Parameters

-Confirm

-Credential

-Force

-ItemType

-Name

-Path

-Value

-WhatIf

Inputs

Object

You can pipe a value for the new item to this cmdlet.

Outputs

Object

This cmdlet returns the item that it creates.

Notes

New-Item is designed to work with the data exposed by any provider. To list the providers available in your session, type Get-PsProvider. For more information, see about_Providers.

Related Links

• Clear-Item
• Copy-Item
• Get-Item
• Invoke-Item
• Move-Item
• Remove-Item
• Rename-Item
• Set-Item
• about_Providers