GeezerVison is showing github.com — Honor `-Recurse` when `Get-ChildItem` uses `-Name` by daxian-dbw · Pull Request #28078 · PowerShell/PowerShell
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PR Summary
Fix Get-ChildItem -Name so recursive searches with a wildcard or exact leaf path enumerate matching files in subdirectories. The name-only path now reuses the recursive path normalization already used by regular item enumeration.
Add regression coverage for wildcard and exact leaf paths, including searches relative to the current directory and -Depth 0 behavior.
PR Context
Get-ChildItem *.md -Recurse -File -Name previously expanded *.md only in the starting directory. The resolved files are not containers, so recursive name enumeration never received a directory root and did not visit subdirectories.
Validation:
- Debug build with regenerated resources
Get-ChildItem.Tests.ps1: 31 passed
FileSystemProviderExtended.Tests.ps1: 78 passed
Before the fix:
## PWD is Q:\yard
PS:35> dir *.md -Recurse -File
Directory: Q:\yard\delme
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a--- 9/23/2026 12:47 PM 0 delme.md
Directory: Q:\yard
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a--- 9/21/2026 11:57 AM 1402 note.md
PS:36> dir *.md -Recurse -File -Name
note.md
After the fix:
PS Q:\yard> dir *.md -Recurse -File -Name
note.md
delme\delme.md
PR Checklist
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{
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// If we're recursing, do some path fixups to match user
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// expectations, but only if the last part is a file and not a directory:
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if (recurse && !path.EndsWith(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar) && !path.EndsWith(Path.AltDirectorySeparatorChar))
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The removed code here was actually moved to the NormalizePathForChildItemRecursion method below, with no change at all.
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Is your description in "Before the fix:" correct? It seems #9014 is not fixed jet. Also PowerShell Committee conclusion was to reject the change.
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This PR will fix #9014:
PS Q:\yard> Get-ChildItem -Path *.md -Recurse -Name
note.md
.abc\abc.md
delme\delme.md
tmp\hello\world\world.md
PS Q:\> Get-ChildItem -Path Q:\yard\*.md -Recurse -Name
note.md
.abc\abc.md
delme\delme.md
tmp\hello\world\world.md
I didn't know that issue and thanks for pointing me to it.
I disagree with the WG conclusion. It's hard to imagine someone would depend on this breaking behavior -- they specify -Recurse but Get-ChildItem doesn't traverse the directories. I think if there is anyone who is doing that today, it's very likely they didn't know it's broken and assumed it works the way they expected (same as dir -path ... -Recursive but just output the names).
Note that Get-ChildItem -Path . -Include *.md -Recurse -Name works today, and that makes it hard to justify the -Name behavior except for accepting that it's broken. This kind of inconsistency impacts how AI can write high-quality PowerShell commands when using PowerShell as the shell-invocation tool on Windows.
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MartinGC94 reacted with thumbs up emoji
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This pull request has been automatically marked as Review Needed because it has been there has not been any activity for 7 days.
Maintainer, please provide feedback and/or mark it as Waiting on Author
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This is a breaking change but is not marked as such. It will break patterns i use like renaming a directory to "directory.old", "directory.old.old" etc. It should at least be documented as a breaking change in the release notes.
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