How do I change a file's attribute using Powershell?

Question

I have a Powershell script that copies files from one location to another. Once the copy is complete I want to clear the Archive attribute on the files in the source location that have been copied.

How do I clear the Archive attribute of a file using Powershell?

Answer 1

You can use the good old dos attrib command like this:

attrib -a *.* 

Or to do it using Powershell you can do something like this:

$a = get-item myfile.txt $a.attributes = 'Normal' 

Answer 2

As the Attributes is basically a bitmask field, you need to be sure clear the archive field while leaving the rest alone:

 PS C:\> $f = get-item C:\Archives.pst PS C:\> $f.Attributes Archive, NotContentIndexed PS C:\> $f.Attributes = $f.Attributes -band (-bnot [System.IO.FileAttributes]::Archive) PS C:\> $f.Attributes NotContentIndexed PS H:\>