Get-childitem attribute shorthand syntax options

Question

Starting with Powershell v3.0, the following syntax is possible for Get-ChildItem:

dir -af

Which applies certain attribute selection criteria. By experiment, I found that it means:

dir -File

Which is the same as this:

dir -Attributes !Directory

Is there any official reference on attribute shorthand syntax?

Answer 1

It's specified on MSDN:

• Get-ChildItem for FileSystem (PowerShell 3.0)

Search for af on the page, second match:

Directory d, ad
File af
Hidden h, ah
ReadOnly ar
System as

Can also get it via Get-Help dir -full, see Notes section, before Example 1.

Answer 2

I have PowerShell v4 and these Parameter aliases are listed in the built-in help file, this is how I saw them

Help Get-ChildItem -full

Scroll down...

Notes .....

 Get-ChildItem Alias Reference:
        ---------------------------------
        Get-ChildItem     dir
        Directory         d, ad
        File              af
        Hidden            h, ah
        ReadOnly          ar
        System            as

Being aliases, you need to introduce them with the - (minus sign)

Get-ChildItem c:\ -ad -Force

Note 1: I found that 'ad' lists only the directories, whereas 'd' would also list files.

Note 2: I find that -force is useful especially when looking for hidden files or folders.