PSItems — fast filesystem search & content scanning for PowerShell

GitHub Actions	PS Gallery (downloads + version)	License	Issues / PRs

Runtime (pwsh)	Platforms	Quality & Maintenance

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A Linux-style toolkit for PowerShell that’s fast by default. It streams from .NET System.IO.Enumerate* to keep memory low and throughput high.

Features at a glance

• Cross-platform: Windows • Linux • macOS (PowerShell 7+).
• Commands: psfind (find files/dirs), psgrep (search content), pssize (measure sizes).
• Linux-like UX: switches such as -Iname, -Type, -Depth, -MinDepth. -Path wildcards expand to multiple roots.
• Fast: streaming enumeration with minimal allocations.

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Installation

Install-Module -Name PSItems -Scope CurrentUser
Import-Module -Name PSItems

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Aliases at a glance

Aliases	Underlying cmdlet	Linux/Unix analog	Description
psfind, search, ff, fi	Find-Item	find	Find items (files/directories/etc.)
psgrep	Find-ItemContent	grep	Search for text/regex in files
pssize, size	Get-ItemSize	du	Measure size of files/directories

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Quick start

# Find: list everything one level down as fast strings
psfind $HOME -Name '*' -Depth 1

# Find: case-insensitive *.log anywhere
psfind $HOME -Type File -Iname '*.log' -Recurse

# Size: quick size of your home (one level down), in MB (default)
pssize $HOME -Depth 1

# Grep: find 'TODO' in all PowerShell scripts under your home (recursive)
psgrep 'TODO' $HOME -Name '*.ps1' -Recurse

Complete docs for each cmdlet live in docs/en-US/ and via Get-Help <CmdletName> -Full.

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Linux find ↔︎ Find-Item (quick map)

Full guide with more options & examples: res/guides/Linux-find-compatibility.md

Linux find feature	Find-Item equivalent	Example (unescape | when copying)
Wildcard roots (/var/*/log)	-Path expands to multiple roots	psfind -Path '/var/*/log' -Name '*.log' -Recurse
Root /	/ → C:\ on Windows	psfind / -Name '*' -Recurse
-name PATTERN	-Name (platform default casing)	psfind / -Name '*.log' -Recurse
-iname PATTERN	-Iname (always case-insensitive)	psfind / -Iname '*.exe' -Recurse
-type f / -type d	-Type File / -Type Directory	psfind / -Type File -Name '*.txt' -Recurse
-maxdepth N / -mindepth N	-Depth N / -MinDepth N	psfind / -Depth 2 -Name '*.dll'
-ls	-As FileSystemInfo	psfind / -As FileSystemInfo -Recurse
-exec … {}	Pipe to PowerShell	psfind $HOME -Type File -Iname '*.txt' -Recurse | ForEach-Object { Get-Item $_ }

Notes: Use -Iname for portable case-insensitive matching; -Path wildcards expand to multiple roots; filter size/time/perm in the pipeline.

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Testing & Speed

Reproducible, copy‑pasteable benchmarks live here:

• res/benchmarks/Testing-and-Speed.md

Highlights from a sample run (Windows, SSD):

• Names only (strings): PSItems ~3.23 s vs Get-ChildItem ~17.16 s → ~5.3× faster
• Typed output (objects): PSItems ~3.56 s vs Get-ChildItem ~14.19 s → ~4.0× faster
• Depth-limited (Depth = 2): PSItems ~2.14 s vs Get-ChildItem ~11.96 s → ~5.6× faster
• PSItems 0.7.0 vs 0.3.6 (names-only): ~3.37 s vs ~5.70 s → ~1.7× faster

Numbers vary by machine and dataset. The linked doc shows the exact commands you can re-run locally.

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Contributing

PRs that improve performance, reliability, cross‑platform behavior, or docs are welcome.

• Issues: https://github.com/eizedev/PSItems/issues
• Full guide (local dev, platyPS, publishing, DevContainer): CONTRIBUTING.md

Publishing to the PowerShell Gallery is automated via GitHub Actions; tags like v0.7.0 trigger a release.

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