Wildcards in variable path with Powershell

Question

I would like in my script to use wildcard in variable like this :

$TARGET = "\\MACHINE1\c$\ProgramData\Test\12.*\Data\"

The problem is $TARGET returns

\\MACHINE1\c$\ProgramData\Test\12.*\Data\

and not

\\MACHINE1\c$\ProgramData\Test\12.1.1.1\Data\

However

Test-Path "\\MACHINE1\c$\ProgramData\Test\12.*\Data\"

=> TRUE

Thanks for your help

Answer 1

The Best in this cases IMO is using Resolve-Path,

$TARGET = Resolve-Path "\\MACHINE1\c$\ProgramData\Test\12.*\Data\" | Select -ExpandProperty Path

Answer 2

You should use Get-ChildItem to retrieve the real path:

$TARGET = "\\MACHINE1\c$\ProgramData\Test\12.*\Data\"
Get-ChildItem $Target


    Directory: \\MACHINE1\c$\ProgramData\Test\12.1.1.1

Mode                LastWriteTime     Length Name
----                -------------     ------ ----
d----        10-10-2014     12:48            data