Function Zip
{
Param
(
[string]$zipFile
,
[string[]]$toBeZipped
)
$CurDir = Get-Location
Set-Location "C:\Program Files\7-Zip"
.\7z.exe A -tzip $zipFile $toBeZipped | Out-Null
Set-Location $CurDir
}
$Now = Get-Date
$Days = "60"
$TargetFolder = "C:\users\Admin\Downloads\*.*"
$LastWrite = $Now.AddDays(-$Days)
$Files = Get-Childitem $TargetFolder -Recurse | Where {$_.LastWriteTime -le "$LastWrite"}
$Files
Zip C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\TEST.zip $Files
I am testing out this script I found online. My problem is that instead of zipping the files in the target folder, it is copying and zipping the contents of the 7-zip program file folder. What could cause this? Thanks in advance
Pass the files as full paths to the
Zip
function, using their.FullName
property (PSv3+ syntax):The problem is that the
[System.IO.FileInfo]
instances returned byGet-ChildItem
situationally[1] stringify to their file names only, which is what happened in your case, so yourZip
function then interpreted the$toBeZipped
values as relative to the current location, which isC:\Program Files\7-Zip
at that point.That said, it's better not to use
Set-Location
in your function altogether, so that in the event that you do want to pass actual relative paths, they are correctly interpreted as relative to the current location:[1] When
Get-ChildItem
output stringifies to file names only:Note:
Get-Item
output always stringifies to the full path, fortunately.Get-ChildItem
too always stringifies to the full path, fortunately.The following therefore only applies to
Get-ChildItem
in Windows PowerShell:The problem is twofold:
Even PowerShell's built-in cmdlets bind file / directory arguments (parameter values - as opposed to input via the pipeline) not as objects, but as strings (changing this behavior is being discussed in this GitHub issue).
Therefore, for robust argument-passing, you need to ensure that your
Get-ChildItem
output consistently stringifies to full paths, whichGet-ChildItem
does not guarantee - and it's easy to forget when name-only stringification occurs of even that you need to pay attention to it at all.Always passing the
.FullName
property values instead is the simplest workaround or, for reliable operation with any PowerShell provider, not just the filesystem,.PSPath
.[System.IO.FileInfo]
and[System.IO.DirectoryInfo]
instances output by aGet-ChildItem
command stringify to their file names only, if and only if:If one or more literal directory paths are passed to
-LiteralPath
or-Path
(possibly as the 1st positional argument) or no path at all is passed (target the current location); that is, if the contents of directories are enumerated.and does not also use the
-Include
/-Exclude
parameters (whether-Filter
is used makes no difference).By contrast, whether or not the following are also present makes no difference:
-Filter
(optionally as the 2nd positional argument, but note that specifying a wildcard expression such as*.txt
as the 1st (and possibly only) positional argument binds to the-Path
parameter)-Recurse
(by itself, but note that it is often combined with-Include
/-Exclude
)Example commands:
If you (temporarily) disable the
|Out-Null
you'll see what error msg pass along.$Files contains objects not just an array of file names.
By default powershell tries to stringify this using the
Name
property which doesn't contain the path - so 7zip can't find the files as you also change the path to the 7zip folder (and -recurse collecting $files)So change the line
and append
A slightly reformatted verson ofyour source: