Check if a path is a folder or a file in PowerShell

Question

I'm trying to write a PowerShell script which goes through a list of values which are folder or file paths, and delete the files first, then remove the empty folders.

My script so far:

[xml]$XmlDocument = Get-Content -Path h:\List_Files.resp.xml $Files =  XmlDocument.OUTPUT.databrowse_BrowseResponse.browseResult.dataResultSet.Path 

Now I'm trying to test each line in the variable to see if it's a file and delete it first, and then go through and remove subfolders and folders. This is just so that it's a clean process.

I can't quite get this next bit to work, but I think I need something like:

foreach ($file in $Files) {     if (! $_.PSIsContainer)     {         Remove-Item $_.FullName}     } } 

The next section can clean up the subfolders and folders.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I found a workaround for this question: use Test-Path cmdlet with the parameter -FileType equal to Leaf for checking if it is a file or Container for checking if it is a folder:

# Check if file (works with files with and without extension) Test-Path -Path 'C:\Demo\FileWithExtension.txt' -PathType Leaf Test-Path -Path 'C:\Demo\FileWithoutExtension' -PathType Leaf  # Check if folder Test-Path -Path 'C:\Demo' -PathType Container 

I originally found the solution here. And the official reference is here.