Powershell: Get the default directory from inside a cmdlet

Question

I'm writing a powershell cmdlet. From inside of my cmdlet BeginProcessing() method, I want to be able to retrieve the the directory that was the default directory at the time the cmdlet was invoked.

Example: If the user does this:

cd \myDirectory
invoke-mycmdlet

I want for my code to know that the default shell directory was c:\myDirectory. When I access Environment.CurrentDirectory, it's always c:\windows\system32

I've seen a similar post on SO where the poster needed to set Environment::Current directory from inside the shell using get-location. That won't work for me.

Basically, my cmdlet does some file system stuff, and I want the user to be able to just cd\ into a directory, and execute my cmdlet, with it operating on the directory that they switched into -- just like you would expect it to work from the old Command Console.

Answer 1

You might want to try this instead, CurrentLocation.Path could also point to other provider paths, such as the registery.

this.SessionState.Path.CurrentFileSystemLocation.Path

Answer 2

You know, I always seem to find it right after I post -- regardless of how long I spent looking before reaching for SO!

So, my cmdlet inherits from PsCmdlet. I found that I could get the path I wanted from

this.SessionState.Path.CurrentLocation.Path

(where "this" is a cmdlet class that inherits from PsCmdlet)

Answer 3

Try the Get-Location cmdlet. It should be the script's current executing location, rather than the powershell host startup folder.