Win Files

win-files

Search, browse, and manage files and folders on Windows. File search by name or content, recent files, folder operations, disk info. Zero external dependencies — uses built-in PowerShell cmdlets.

Works on Windows 10/11 with PowerShell 5.1+.

Search Files by Name

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
Get-ChildItem -Path 'SEARCH_PATH' -Recurse -Filter 'PATTERN' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
  Select-Object FullName, @{N='SizeMB';E={[math]::Round($_.Length/1MB,2)}}, LastWriteTime |
  Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending |
  Format-Table -AutoSize
"

• SEARCH_PATH: directory to search (e.g., C:\Users\me\Documents)
• PATTERN: wildcard pattern (e.g., *.pdf, report*, *.txt)

With size and date filters

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
Get-ChildItem -Path 'SEARCH_PATH' -Recurse -Filter 'PATTERN' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
  Where-Object { $_.Length -gt MIN_BYTES -and $_.LastWriteTime -gt (Get-Date).AddDays(-DAYS) } |
  Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending |
  Select-Object FullName, @{N='SizeMB';E={[math]::Round($_.Length/1MB,2)}}, LastWriteTime |
  Format-Table -AutoSize
"

• MIN_BYTES: minimum file size in bytes (e.g., 1048576 for 1 MB)
• DAYS: files modified within the last N days

Search File Contents

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
Get-ChildItem -Path 'SEARCH_PATH' -Recurse -Include '*.txt','*.md','*.log','*.csv','*.json','*.xml','*.ps1','*.py','*.js' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
  Select-String -Pattern 'SEARCH_TEXT' -SimpleMatch |
  Select-Object Path, LineNumber, Line -First 50 |
  Format-Table -AutoSize
"

• SEARCH_TEXT: text to search for (literal match)
• For regex, remove -SimpleMatch
• Adjust -Include to target specific file types

List Recent Files

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
$recent = [Environment]::GetFolderPath('Recent')
Get-ChildItem -Path $recent -Filter '*.lnk' |
  Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending |
  Select-Object -First COUNT |
  ForEach-Object {
    $shell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
    $target = $shell.CreateShortcut($_.FullName).TargetPath
    [PSCustomObject]@{
      Name = $_.BaseName
      Target = $target
      Accessed = $_.LastWriteTime.ToString('yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm')
    }
  } | Format-Table -AutoSize
"

Replace COUNT with the number of recent files to show (e.g., 20).

Get File Info

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
$f = Get-Item -LiteralPath 'FILE_PATH'
[PSCustomObject]@{
  Name = $f.Name
  FullPath = $f.FullName
  SizeBytes = $f.Length
  SizeMB = [math]::Round($f.Length / 1MB, 2)
  Created = $f.CreationTime
  Modified = $f.LastWriteTime
  ReadOnly = $f.IsReadOnly
  Extension = $f.Extension
  Attributes = $f.Attributes.ToString()
} | Format-List
"

Get Folder Size

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
$path = 'FOLDER_PATH'
$result = Get-ChildItem -Path $path -Recurse -File -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
  Measure-Object -Property Length -Sum
Write-Host ('Path: {0}' -f $path)
Write-Host ('Files: {0}' -f $result.Count)
Write-Host ('Size: {0:N2} MB ({1:N2} GB)' -f ($result.Sum / 1MB), ($result.Sum / 1GB))
"

Folder size breakdown (top-level subdirectories)

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
Get-ChildItem -Path 'FOLDER_PATH' -Directory | ForEach-Object {
  $size = (Get-ChildItem -Path $_.FullName -Recurse -File -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
    Measure-Object -Property Length -Sum).Sum
  [PSCustomObject]@{
    Folder = $_.Name
    SizeMB = [math]::Round(($size / 1MB), 2)
  }
} | Sort-Object SizeMB -Descending | Format-Table -AutoSize
"

List Drives

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_LogicalDisk |
  Select-Object DeviceID,
    @{N='Label';E={$_.VolumeName}},
    @{N='FileSystem';E={$_.FileSystem}},
    @{N='SizeGB';E={[math]::Round($_.Size/1GB,1)}},
    @{N='FreeGB';E={[math]::Round($_.FreeSpace/1GB,1)}},
    @{N='UsedPct';E={if($_.Size){[math]::Round(($_.Size-$_.FreeSpace)/$_.Size*100,1)}else{'N/A'}}} |
  Format-Table -AutoSize
"

List Folder Contents

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
Get-ChildItem -Path 'FOLDER_PATH' |
  Select-Object Mode,
    @{N='Size';E={if($_.PSIsContainer){'<DIR>'}else{'{0:N0}' -f $_.Length}}},
    LastWriteTime,
    Name |
  Format-Table -AutoSize
"

Create Folder

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
New-Item -Path 'FOLDER_PATH' -ItemType Directory -Force | Out-Null
Write-Host 'Created: FOLDER_PATH'
"

Copy File or Folder

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
Copy-Item -Path 'SOURCE' -Destination 'DEST' -Recurse -Force
Write-Host 'Copied: SOURCE -> DEST'
"

Move / Rename

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
Move-Item -Path 'SOURCE' -Destination 'DEST' -Force
Write-Host 'Moved: SOURCE -> DEST'
"

Delete File or Folder

Preview first (dry run):

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
Remove-Item -Path 'TARGET_PATH' -Recurse -WhatIf
"

Then delete:

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
Remove-Item -Path 'TARGET_PATH' -Recurse -Force
Write-Host 'Deleted: TARGET_PATH'
"

Open in File Explorer

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
Start-Process explorer.exe 'FOLDER_PATH'
"

Open and select a specific file

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
Start-Process explorer.exe '/select,FILE_PATH'
"

Read File

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
Get-Content -Path 'FILE_PATH' -Encoding UTF8
"

First or last N lines

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
Get-Content -Path 'FILE_PATH' -TotalCount N -Encoding UTF8
"

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
Get-Content -Path 'FILE_PATH' -Tail N -Encoding UTF8
"

Write Text to File

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "
Set-Content -Path 'FILE_PATH' -Value 'TEXT_CONTENT' -Encoding UTF8
Write-Host 'Written to FILE_PATH'
"

Common Workflows

Find large files eating disk space

1. win-files: list drives to find low-space disks
2. win-files: folder size breakdown on the target drive
3. win-files: search for large files (filter by MIN_BYTES)
4. Delete or move unnecessary files

Organize downloads folder

1. win-files: list recent files in Downloads
2. win-files: create categorized subfolders
3. win-files: move files to appropriate folders

Search and open

1. win-files: search for a file by name
2. win-files: open the containing folder in Explorer

Backup before editing

1. win-files: copy file to a backup location
2. Edit the original file
3. If something goes wrong, restore from backup

Notes

• Fully offline — no API keys, no network, no external dependencies.
• Uses built-in PowerShell cmdlets (Get-ChildItem, Copy-Item, etc.).
• Path separators: use backslashes (C:\Users\...) for Windows paths.
• For WSL paths, convert with: wslpath -w '/mnt/c/...' to get C:\...
• Large recursive searches on C:\ may be slow — narrow the search path when possible.
• Get-ChildItem -Recurse skips folders it can't access (with -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).
• File content search is limited to text files — binary files produce garbled output.
• Delete operations are permanent — always use -WhatIf to preview first.
• Combine with win-clipboard to copy file paths or contents to the clipboard.