CODEWITHSUNDEEP
powershell
Mark Capaldi
Mark Capaldi

Reputation: 404

How do I change a file's attribute using Powershell?

I have a Powershell script that copies files from one location to another. Once the copy is complete I want to clear the Archive attribute on the files in the source location that have been copied.

How do I clear the Archive attribute of a file using Powershell?

Upvotes: 30

Views: 57631

Answers (8)

W1M0R
W1M0R

Reputation: 3626

$attr = [System.IO.FileAttributes]$attrString
$prop = Get-ItemProperty -Path $pathString
# SetAttr
$prop.Attributes = $prop.Attributes -bor $attr
# ToggleAttr
$prop.Attributes = $prop.Attributes -bxor $attr
# HasAttr
$hasAttr = ($prop.Attributes -band $attr) -eq $attr
# ClearAttr
if ($hasAttr) {$prop.Attributes = $prop.Attributes -bxor $attr }

Upvotes: 4

Mehrdad Mirreza
Mehrdad Mirreza

Reputation: 1082

# Show attributes
$file.Attributes

# Set (overwriting existing) attributes:
$file.Attributes = 'Archive, Readonly'

# Add (retaining existing) attributes:
$file.Attributes += 'Archive, Readonly'

# Remove specific attributes:
$file.Attributes -= 'Archive, Readonly'

# Check for specific attributes:
$file.Attributes.hasflag([IO.FileAttributes]'Archive, Readonly')

# Forget about bitwise operators ;-)

Upvotes: 2

mm079
mm079

Reputation: 9

I found Simon Steele's answer to be helpful, though I needed to modify more than just one file so I changed it to the following:


$BadAttributes = Get-ChildItem "C:\PATH" -Recurse -Force

foreach($File in $BadAttributes) {

if (Test-Path -Path $File -IsValid)
{

$File.attributes = 'Normal'

}

}

# Check file attributes
Get-ItemProperty -Path "C:\PATH" | Format-list -Property Attributes -Force

Upvotes: -1

Micah Hunsberger
Micah Hunsberger

Reputation: 246

Mitch's answer works well for most attributes, but will not work for "Compressed." If you want to set the compressed attribute on a folder using PowerShell you have to use the command-line tool compact

compact /C /S c:\MyDirectory

Upvotes: 2

pankaj
pankaj

Reputation: 31

You may use the following command to toggle the behaviour 

$file = (gci e:\temp\test.txt)
$file.attributes
Archive

$file.attributes = $file.Attributes -bxor ([System.IO.FileAttributes]::Archive)
$file.attributes
Normal

$file.attributes = $file.Attributes -bxor ([System.IO.FileAttributes]::Archive)
$file.attributes
Archive

Upvotes: 3

Goyuix
Goyuix

Reputation: 24370

As the Attributes is basically a bitmask field, you need to be sure clear the archive field while leaving the rest alone:

PS C:\> $f = get-item C:\Archives.pst
PS C:\> $f.Attributes
Archive, NotContentIndexed
PS C:\> $f.Attributes = $f.Attributes -band (-bnot [System.IO.FileAttributes]::Archive)
PS C:\> $f.Attributes
NotContentIndexed
PS H:\>

Upvotes: 18

Mitch Wheat
Mitch Wheat

Reputation: 300719

From here:

function Get-FileAttribute{
    param($file,$attribute)
    $val = [System.IO.FileAttributes]$attribute;
    if((gci $file -force).Attributes -band $val -eq $val){$true;} else { $false; }
} 


function Set-FileAttribute{
    param($file,$attribute)
    $file =(gci $file -force);
    $file.Attributes = $file.Attributes -bor ([System.IO.FileAttributes]$attribute).value__;
    if($?){$true;} else {$false;}
}

Upvotes: 13

Simon Steele
Simon Steele

Reputation: 11608

You can use the good old dos attrib command like this:

attrib -a *.*

Or to do it using Powershell you can do something like this:

$a = get-item myfile.txt
$a.attributes = 'Normal'

Upvotes: 26

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