Get the content of the item at the specified location (cat / type).
Syntax
Get-Content [[[-path]| [-literalPath] ]string[]]
[-totalCount long] [-readCount long]
[-include string[]] [-exclude string[]] [-filter string]
[-force] [-credential PSCredential]
[-encoding {fsCmdEncoding}] [CommonParameters]
key
-path string
The paths to the items from which content is to be retrieved.
Wildcards are permitted.
-literalPath string
Like Path above, only the value is used exactly as typed.
No characters are interpreted as wildcards. If the path includes any
escape characters then enclose the path in single quotation marks.
-totalCount long
Number of lines of content are retrieved. The default is -1 (a
ll lines).
-readCount long
Send n lines of content through the pipeline at a time.
The default 0, sends all of the content at once.
A low value for ReadCount will return the first line quickly,
to minimise the total time for the operation choose a high value.
-include string
Retrieve only the specified items from the Path.
Wildcards are permitted. e.g. "*.txt"
-exclude string
Omit the specified items from the Path
Wildcards are permitted. e.g. "*.log"
-filter string
A filter in the provider's format or language.
The exact syntax of the filter (wildcard support etc) depends on the provider.
Filters are more efficient than -include/-exclude, because the provider
applies the filter when retrieving the objects, rather than having
PowerShell filter the objects after they are retrieved.
-force
Override restrictions that prevent the command from succeeding, apart
from security settings. e.g. Force will create file path directories
or override a files read-only attribute, but will not change file permissions.
-credential PSCredential
Present a user/password credential to validate access to the file.
This is not yet supported in any Windows PowerShell core commands.
-encoding fsCmdEncoding
The character encoding for this content(PowerShell FileSystem provider only.)
Values: Unknown, string, Unicode, Byte, BigEndianUnicode, UTF8, UTF7, Ascii.
CommonParameters:
-Verbose, -Debug, -ErrorAction, -ErrorVariable, -OutVariable.
Examples
Display the content of a file on the console (via the pipeline):
PS C:\>get-content -Path C:\myFile.txt
Get the first 50 lines from one file and write into another file:
PS C:\>get-content c:\Logs\BigLogfile.txt -totalcount 50 | set-content c:\Logs\top50.txt
"It is impossible to write ancient history because we do not have enough sources, and impossible to write modern history because we have far too many" - Charles Peguy
Related:
Add-Content - Add to the content of the item
Set-Content - Set content in the item (specific location)
Clear-Content - Remove content from a file /item.
Get-Item
get-help - about_namespace
