This is the built-in help made by Microsoft for the command 'Remove-Item', in PowerShell version 3 - as retrieved from
Windows version 'Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Standard' PowerShell help files on 2016-06-23.
For PowerShell version 3 and up, where you have Update-Help, this command was run just before creating the web pages from the help files.
Deletes files and folders.
Remove-Item [-Path] <String[]> [-Credential <PSCredential>] [-Exclude <String[]>] [-Filter <String>] [-Force] [-Include <String[]>] [-Recurse]
[-Confirm] [-WhatIf] [-UseTransaction [<SwitchParameter>]] [<CommonParameters>]
Remove-Item [-Credential <PSCredential>] [-Exclude <String[]>] [-Filter <String>] [-Force] [-Include <String[]>] [-Recurse] -LiteralPath
<String[]> [-Confirm] [-WhatIf] [-UseTransaction [<SwitchParameter>]] [<CommonParameters>]
Remove-Item [-Stream <string>] [<CommonParameters>]
The Remove-Item cmdlet deletes one or more items. Because it is supported by many providers, it can delete many different types of items,
including files, directories, registry keys, variables, aliases, and functions.
In file system drives, the Remove-Item cmdlet deletes files and folders.
If you use the Stream dynamic parameter, it deletes the specified alternate data stream, but does not delete the file.
Note: This custom cmdlet help file explains how the Remove-Item cmdlet works in a file system drive. For information about the Remove-Item
cmdlet in all drives, type "Get-Help Remove-Item -Path $null" or see Remove-Item at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113373.
<
Online version: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=271999
Remove-Item
(generic); http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113373
FileSystem Provider
Clear-Content
Get-Content
Get-ChildItem
Get-Content
Get-Item
Remove-Item
Set-Content
Test-Path
<
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 1 --------------------------
C:\PS>Get-Item C:\Test\Copy-Script.ps1 -Stream Zone.Identifier
FileName: \\C:\Test\Copy-Script.ps1
Stream Length
------ ------
Zone.Identifier 26
C:\PS>Remove-Item C:\Test\Copy-Script.ps1 -Stream Zone.Identifier
C:\PS>Get-Item C:\Test\Copy-Script.ps1 -Stream Zone.Identifier
get-item : Could not open alternate data stream 'Zone.Identifier' of file 'C:\Test\Copy-Script.ps1'.
At line:1 char:1
+ get-item 'C:\Test\Copy-Script.ps1' -Stream Zone.Identifier
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Test\Copy-Script.ps1:String) [Get-Item], FileNotFoundE
xception
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : AlternateDataStreamNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetItemCommand
C:\PS>Get-Item C:\Test\Copy-Script.ps1
Directory: C:\Test
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a--- 8/4/2011 11:15 AM 9436 Copy-Script.ps1
Description
-----------
This example shows how to use the Stream dynamic parameter of the Remove-Item cmdlet to delete an alternate data stream. The stream parameter
is introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.
The first command uses the Stream dynamic parameter of the Get-Item cmdlet to get the Zone.Identifier stream of the Copy-Script.ps1 file.
The second command uses the Stream dynamic parameter of the Remove-Item cmdlet to remove the Zone.Identifier stream of the file.
The third command uses the Stream dynamic parameter of the Get-Item cmdlet to verify that the Zone.Identifier stream is deleted.
The fourth command Get-Item cmdlet without the Stream parameter to verify that the file is not deleted.
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 2 --------------------------
C:\PS>Remove-Item C:\Test\*.*
Description
-----------
This command deletes all of the files with names that include a dot (.) from the C:\Test directory. Because the command specifies a dot, the
command does not delete directories or files with no file name extension.
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 3 --------------------------
C:\PS>Remove-Item * -Include *.doc -Exclude *1*
Description
-----------
This command deletes from the current directory all files with a .doc file name extension and a name that does not include "1". It uses the
wildcard character (*) to specify the contents of the current directory. It uses the Include and Exclude parameters to specify the files to
delete.
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 4 --------------------------
C:\PS>Remove-Item -Path C:\Test\hidden-RO-file.txt -Force
Description
-----------
This command deletes a file that is both hidden and read-only. It uses the Path parameter to specify the file. It uses the Force parameter to
give permission to delete it. Without Force, you cannot delete read-only or hidden files.
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 5 --------------------------
C:\PS>Get-ChildItem * -Include *.csv -Recurse | Remove-Item
Description
-----------
This command deletes all of the CSV files in the current directory and all subdirectories recursively.
Because the Recurse parameter in this cmdlet is faulty, the command uses the Get-Childitem cmdlet to get the desired files, and it uses the
pipeline operator to pass them to the Remove-Item cmdlet.
In the Get-ChildItem command, the Path parameter has a value of *, which represents the contents of the current directory. It uses the Include
parameter to specify the CSV file type, and it uses the Recurse parameter to make the retrieval recursive.
If you try to specify the file type in the path, such as "-path *.csv", the cmdlet interprets the subject of the search to be a file that has
no child items, and Recurse fails.