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get-childitem — PowerShell's directory-listing cmdlet — the ls equivalent across all 5 shells

Equivalents in every shell

Bashunix
ls -la

POSIX `ls` — pre-installed everywhere. `-l` is long format; `-a` includes dotfiles; `-h` is human-readable sizes; `-R` recurses. Output is text columns, parsed downstream by `awk` / `cut`. Note that parsing `ls` output is fragile — filenames with spaces/newlines break it; use `find` or `stat` for scripts.

Zshunix
ls -la

Same `/bin/ls` binary. macOS BSD `ls` differs from GNU `ls`: `--color` (long form) works on GNU only; macOS uses `-G` for color. For recursive globs zsh has the elegant `print -l **/*.txt` (no `find` needed) — equivalent of PowerShell's `Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Filter *.txt`.

Fishunix
ls -la

Same external. Fish has no built-in `ls` — uses the system `ls`. For recursive listing fish glob `**/*.txt` works similarly to zsh. Fish ships a slightly nicer default `ls` color scheme but the binary is identical.

PowerShellwindows
Get-ChildItem -Force

PowerShell-native cmdlet (aliases `gci`, `ls`, `dir`). `-Force` includes hidden + system files (PowerShell HIDES them by default, unlike `ls -a`). `-Recurse` walks subdirectories; `-Filter` is provider-level + fast (`Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Filter *.log`); `-Include` is post-filter (works only with `-Recurse` or trailing `\*`). `-File` / `-Directory` filter by type (PS 3.0+, replaces legacy `?{ $_.PSIsContainer }`).

cmd.exewindows
dir /s

`/s` recurses; `/a` includes hidden/system files; `/b` is "bare" mode (just filenames, one per line — parseable). For PowerShell-like attribute filtering use `/ah` (hidden), `/ad` (directories), `/a-d` (files only). cmd `dir` is the legacy ancestor of `Get-ChildItem` — many flags overlap conceptually but not syntactically.

Worked examples

List all files including hidden, recursively

Bash
ls -laR
PowerShell
Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Force
cmd.exe
dir /s /a

List only .log files, recursively

Bash
find . -name "*.log"
PowerShell
Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Filter *.log
cmd.exe
dir /s /b *.log

List only directories (no files)

Bash
ls -d */
Fish
ls -d */
PowerShell
Get-ChildItem -Directory
cmd.exe
dir /ad /b

Gotchas

  • `Get-ChildItem -Recurse` does NOT follow symlinks on PowerShell 6+ (`-FollowSymlink` opt-in) — but DOES follow them on the Windows-bundled PS 5.1, which can cause infinite-loop traversals on cyclic links. Scripts that target both should use `-FollowSymlink` explicitly or fall back to `Get-ChildItem -Attributes !ReparsePoint`.
  • `-Filter` and `-Include` are NOT interchangeable. `-Filter` is passed to the underlying filesystem provider (Win32 `FindFirstFile`), supports `*` and `?` only, and is FAST. `-Include` is PowerShell-side post-walk filtering, supports richer wildcards, and is SLOW on large trees. Use `-Filter` whenever possible.
  • On pwsh Linux/macOS, the `ls` alias for `Get-ChildItem` is REMOVED so the system `/bin/ls` resolves first. Scripts using `ls -la` on pwsh Linux call the real `ls` and get bash-style output, not `Get-ChildItem` objects. On Windows pwsh, `ls` still resolves to the cmdlet — `ls -la` ERRORS because the cmdlet has no `-la` parameter.
  • PowerShell HIDES hidden + system files by default — `Get-ChildItem` without `-Force` does NOT show dotfiles or `$RECYCLE.BIN`. This is the opposite of `ls` (which hides only with `-a`) but matches `cmd.exe dir` (which hides without `/a`).
  • `-LiteralPath` is required for paths containing `[ ] *` (PowerShell wildcard chars). `Get-ChildItem "C:\My [Backup] Folder"` SILENTLY RETURNS NOTHING because `[Backup]` is a character class with no match; use `Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath "C:\My [Backup] Folder"`. Same trap as `Remove-Item`.

WSL & PowerShell Core notes

pwsh`Get-ChildItem` works identically on every pwsh — the cmdlet itself is portable. What changes is the ALIASES: `ls`, `dir`, `gci` are bound on Windows; `ls` is unbound on Linux/macOS pwsh (so the system `ls` wins). Cross-platform scripts should always spell `Get-ChildItem` (or `gci`, which IS preserved on Unix pwsh) to avoid surprises.
WSLFrom Windows pwsh, `Get-ChildItem \\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\user` lists Linux files through the Plan-9 file server — slow on deep trees. From WSL, `ls /mnt/c/Users` lists Windows files through DrvFs — also slow. For sub-second listing of large trees, run the command from the OS that owns the filesystem.

Common tasks using get-childitem

Related commands