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Linux-find-compatibility.md

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Linux-find-compatibility.md

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Linux find ↔ PowerShell Find-Item Compatibility

This guide maps common Linux find features to Find-Item in the PSItems module.

Copy note: In the tables below, the pipeline character is escaped as \| to render correctly. When copying commands to a shell, remove the backslashes before |.

Quick mapping table

Linux find feature Meaning Find-Item equivalent Example (remember to unescape |)
Multiple start paths / wildcard-expanded roots Shell expands to multiple roots Supported: the provider expands -Path wildcards Windows: psfind -Path 'C:\Users\*\Documents' -Name *.log -Recurse | POSIX: psfind -Path '/var/*/log' -Name '*.log' -Recurse
/ Root directory On Windows, / resolves to C:\ psfind / -Name '*' -Recurse
-name PATTERN Case-sensitive (Linux) -Name PATTERN uses platform default casing psfind / -Name '*.log' -Recurse
-iname PATTERN Case-insensitive -Iname PATTERN (always case-insensitive) psfind / -Iname '*.exe' -Recurse
Casing behavior Varies by OS Windows: -Name is case-insensitive; Linux/macOS: case-sensitive —
-type f Files only -Type File psfind / -Type File -Name '*.txt' -Recurse
-type d Directories only -Type Directory psfind / -Type Directory -Name 'Pro*' -Recurse
-maxdepth N Limit recursion depth -Depth N (also implies recurse) psfind / -Depth 2 -Name '*.dll'
-mindepth N Minimum depth before matching -MinDepth N psfind / -MinDepth 3 -Iname '*temp*' -Recurse
-ls Detailed listing -As FileSystemInfo psfind / -As FileSystemInfo -Recurse
-exec … {} Run command per match Pipe to PowerShell psfind $HOME -Type File -Iname '*.txt' -Recurse | ForEach-Object { (Get-Content $_ | Measure-Object -Line).Lines }
-perm, -size, -mtime Permission/size/time filtering Not built-in → filter in pipeline Typed: psfind $HOME -Type File -As FileSystemInfo -Recurse | Where-Object Length -gt 1MB — or — String: psfind $HOME -Type File -Recurse | Get-Item | ? Length -gt 1MB
-prune Exclude directories from traversal Not built-in → pattern/pipeline filtering psfind $HOME -Recurse | Where-Object { $_ -notlike '*\node_modules\*' }

Notes

  • -Path wildcards expand to multiple roots (Linux-like behavior). Each root is searched independently, and -MinDepth applies per root.
  • Casing: Use -Iname for consistent case-insensitive pattern matching across platforms.
  • Output modes: -As String (fastest), -As FileSystemInfo (recommended typed output), -As FileInfo retained for backward compatibility (directories still return DirectoryInfo).

Cheat‑sheet conversions

  • find / -name '*.log' → psfind / -Name '*.log'
  • find / -iname '*.log' → psfind / -Iname '*.log'
  • find / -type f -maxdepth 2 → psfind / -Type File -Depth 2
  • find / -type d -name 'Pro*' → psfind / -Type Directory -Name 'Pro*'
  • find / -mindepth 3 -maxdepth 5 -name '*.tmp' → psfind / -MinDepth 3 -Depth 5 -Name '*.tmp'
  • find /var -name '*.log' -exec wc -l {} \; → psfind /var -Name '*.log' \| ForEach-Object { wc -l $_ } (or a PowerShell-native equivalent)

Examples

1) Search multiple home profiles for logs (Windows)

# Expands to multiple roots (one per matching profile):
psfind -Path 'C:\Users\*\Documents' -Iname '*.log' -Recurse

2) Case-insensitive search under /var (Linux/macOS)

psfind /var -Iname 'readme*' -Recurse

3) Typed output for size filtering

psfind / -Type File -As FileSystemInfo -Recurse |
  Where-Object Length -gt 10MB

4) Exclude node_modules with pipeline filtering

psfind $HOME -Recurse |
  Where-Object { $_ -notlike '*\node_modules\*' }

Troubleshooting

  • If your shell treats * or ? differently, quote patterns: -Name '*.log'.
  • On Windows, / resolves to the system drive root (typically C:\) when used as the start path.
  • For consistent case-insensitive matching across platforms, prefer -Iname.