powershell - How does .Name work for variables? -

param(   [parameter(mandatory=$true,position=1)]   [string]$filename )  #$filename doesn't include directory or extension  $dir = "c:\users\pb\desktop\source" $latest = get-childitem -path $dir |           where-object {$_.name -like "*$filename*"} |           sort-object lastwritetime -descending |           select-object -first 1 -exclude "*import*"  $filename = $latest.name $source = "c:\users\pb\desktop\source\${filename}" 

basically, using .name on $latest make $latest include directory name or include name of file, e.g. $filename equal c:\users\pb\desktop\source\"filename" or "filename"?

in powershell, many other languages, dot-notation used accessing properties of object. in case $latest contains fileinfo object (or directoryinfo object if *$filename* matches folder), has number of properties, instance name, fullname, lastwritetime, attributes, etc.

you can display properties of object , respective values piping object format-list cmdlet, while type can inspected instance via gettype() method each object has:

ps c:\> get-item 'c:\temp\test.txt' ps c:\> $f.gettype().fullname system.io.fileinfo ps c:\> $f | format-list *  pspath            : microsoft.powershell.core\filesystem::c:\temp\test.txt psparentpath      : microsoft.powershell.core\filesystem::c:\temp pschildname       : test.txt psdrive           : c psprovider        : microsoft.powershell.core\filesystem psiscontainer     : false versioninfo       : file:             c:\temp\test.txt                     internalname:                     originalfilename:                     fileversion:                     filedescription:                     product:                     productversion:                     debug:            false                     patched:          false                     prerelease:       false                     privatebuild:     false                     specialbuild:     false                     language:  basename          : test mode              : -a--- name              : test.txt length            : 8 directoryname     : c:\temp directory         : c:\temp isreadonly        : false exists            : true fullname          : c:\temp\test.txt extension         : .txt creationtime      : 03.06.2015 00:11:07 creationtimeutc   : 02.06.2015 22:11:07 lastaccesstime    : 03.06.2015 00:11:07 lastaccesstimeutc : 02.06.2015 22:11:07 lastwritetime     : 03.06.2015 00:11:17 lastwritetimeutc  : 02.06.2015 22:11:17 attributes        : archive

the properties , methods object has can inspected get-member cmdlet:

ps c:> $f | get-member
    typename: system.io.fileinfo
 name                      membertype     definition ----                      ----------     ---------- mode                      codeproperty   system.string mode{get=mode;} appendtext                method         system.io.streamwriter append... copyto                    method         system.io.fileinfo copyto(str... create                    method         system.io.filestream create() createobjref              method         system.runtime.remoting.objre... ... psiscontainer             noteproperty   system.boolean psiscontainer=... psparentpath              noteproperty   system.string psparentpath=mi... pspath                    noteproperty   system.string pspath=microsof... psprovider                noteproperty   system.management.automation.... attributes                property       system.io.fileattributes attr... creationtime              property       datetime creationtime {get;set;} creationtimeutc           property       datetime creationtimeutc {get... directory                 property       system.io.directoryinfo direc... ... basename                  scriptproperty system.object basename {get=i... versioninfo               scriptproperty system.object versioninfo {ge...

in example, $latest.name returns value of property name, which, can see above, filename without path. $filename contain value filename, not c:\users\pb\desktop\source\filename.