powershell - how to check existence of one file

Question

I have folders with different count of files. How to check if there are some files and how many? I use this, but when there is only one file, it gives me nothing. Thank you.

$number_of_files = Get-Childitem c:\folder -name -force
$number_of_files.Count

Answer 1

Change it like this:

$number_of_files = @(Get-Childitem c:\folder -name -force)
$number_of_files.Count

This force $number_of_files to be always an Array and have the count property rigth set also for value of 1

Answer 2

The answer from @Marek works, but it perhaps not the most efficient. Rather than doing a .GetType() and doing a regex match, why not just filter based on a property in folder and not in file object. IE:

(Get-ChildItem c:\folder -name -force | where {! $_.PSIsContainer} | measure-object).count.