PowerShell Create Folder If Not Exists

Do you have a bunch of folders and want to create a new one, but don’t know whether that already folder exists or not? This process can take a lot of time because first, you will search for that folder, whether it exists or not, and then create it if it does not exist.

Surprisingly, PowerShell can save you a lot of time and effort if you know a little bit of scripting.

Hold on! You don’t need to learn the whole scripting thing for that task. Because I have provided five methods to create a folder if not exist with a proper explanation of every command used in it.

Quick Outline:

• Check if the Folder Already Exists in PowerShell
• Create a New Folder in PowerShell
• Create a Folder If Not Exists in PowerShell
• Using Test-Path
• Using Get-Item
• Using Get-ChildItem
• Using Test-Path and Mkdir
• Using [System.IO.File]::Exists()
• Bonus Tip: Create a Folder if it Already Exists in PowerShell
• Conclusion

Before moving towards scripts let’s learn how to check whether a folder exists or not and then to a method to create a folder in PowerShell.

Check if the Folder Already Exists in PowerShell

The Test-Path command is used to check if the folder already exists in PowerShell. To check whether the folder exists, the folder path is specified to the Test-Path command, using the -Path parameter. In return, the Test-Path command returns True value if it exists, and False if it does not exist.

For instance, let’s check if the specified folder exists or not using the Test-Path command:

To check the existence of the folder, first, specify the Test-Path command and provide the folder path using the -Path parameter:

The output is False because the specified folder does not exist.

Create a New Folder in PowerShell

The New-Item command creates a new folder in PowerShell. To create a directory, provide the directory path to the New-Item command using the -Path parameter. Most importantly, use the -ItemType parameter to create a folder and specify the Directory value. If you don’t specify the -ItemType parameter and the Directory value, then the New-Item command will create a file instead of a folder.

For instance, let’s create a new folder using the New-Item command in PowerShell:

To create a new folder:

• First, use the New-Item command and specify the folder path to be created to the -Path parameter.
• After that, specify the Directory value to the -ItemType parameter to tell the console to create a folder instead of a file:

The new folder has been created and its creation time is also visible in the above output.

Create a Folder If Not Exists in PowerShell

From the query, it can be observed that it is going to be an if-else scenario, which states that if the folder does not exist then create a new folder. There are five methods to create a folder if not exist in PowerShell, and each method involves the if-else condition scenario.

Quick Solution

Here is the quick solution to create a folder if not exist in the PowerShell console:

The specified directory does not exist and hence it is created.

1. Create Folder If Not Exists in PowerShell Using Test-Path

The Test-Path command checks the existence of the folder and tells the console if it does exist or not. The Test-Path and New-Item command along with the If-Else condition help create a folder if it does not exist in PowerShell.

For instance, let’s observe this code to create a folder if not exist using the Test-Path command:

To create a folder using the Test-Path and New-Item command:

• First, we created an If condition, where we used the Test-Path command and specified the folder using the -Path to check folders existence.
• If the specified folder exists, then the message will be displayed using the Write-Host command stating that the folder already exists, and the script will end here.
• Else the program will move to the next section.
• In the else condition, we used the New-item command and specified the folder path to be created.
• To more clearly explain the console that creates a folder, we used the -ItemType property and specified the value Directory:

Output: The folder does not exist and hence new folder is created in the specified directory.

2. Create Folder If Not Exists in PowerShell Using Get-Item

The Get-Item command gets the file or folder from the specified location. The Get-Item command can also check the existence of the folder using the if condition.

This is how you can create a folder if not exist in PowerShell using the Get-Item command:

To create a folder if it does not exist use the Get-Item command:

• First, create an If condition, where use the Get-Item command and specify the folder path using the -Path parameter to check if it already exists or not.
• Also, use the -ErrorAction parameter and specify the Ignore value to ignore errors that may occur during the code execution.
• If the folder already exists the console will display the message saying that the folder already exists using the Write-Host command.
• If the folder does not exist the program will move to the else condition where the new folder will be created.
• In the else condition, use the New-Item command, specify the folder path to be created, and use the -ItemType parameter having the value Directory specified to it.
• Alongside it, specify the -verbose parameter to get more detailed output:

The screenshot confirms that the specified folder does not exist and hence new folder was created.

3. Create Folder If Not Exists in PowerShell Using Get-ChildItem

The Get-ChildItem command gets the files or folders from the given directory. It can be used with the New-Item command and If-else condition to create a folder if not exist in PowerShell.

Here is the example code to create a folder if not exists with the aid of Get-ChildItem command:

Note: The code explanation for the above snippet is the same as for the Get-Item command except for the Get-ChildItem command:

The specified folder does not exist and hence new folder was created.

4. Create a Folder If Not Exists in PowerShell Using Test-Path and Mkdir

The mkdir command creates a folder in PowerShell. It has an alias md, which also functions the same as the Mkdir command does. This command can also create a folder if not exist with the combination of the Test-Path command and if-else condition.

Here is the example of creating a folder if not exist in PowerShell using md and Test-Path command:

To create a folder if it does not exist:

• First, create the If condition and specify the Test-Path command along with the folder to check whether it exists or not.
• If the folder exists, end the code here and print the folder that already exists.
• Else, create a folder using the md command by specifying the folder name and path:

The output shows that the folder does not exist and hence new folder was created.

5. Create Folder If Not Exists in PowerShell Using [System.IO.File]::Exists()

The [System.IO.File]::Exists() command checks whether the specified folder exists or not. It can create the folder in PowerShell if not exist with the combination of the if-else condition and New-Item command.

This is how you can create a folder if not exist in PowerShell using [System.IO.File]::Exists() command:

In the above code:

• First, create an If condition and specify the [System.IO.Directory]::Exists(Folder-Path) command inside it to check if that folder exists or not.
• If the directory is found, then the console will print that the folder exists.
• Else, it will create that folder using the New-Item command:

The specified folder does not exist and then a new folder is created using the New-Item command.

Bonus Tip: Create a Folder if it Already Exists in PowerShell

The -Force parameter with the New-Item command is used to overwrite an existing folder in PowerShell. The -Force parameter overwrites an existing item in the specified path in PowerShell. To create a folder if it already exists, simply add the -Force parameter along with the New-Item command.

This is how you can overwrite an existing folder:

To create a folder if it already exists in PowerShell:

• First, use the New-Item command and specify the folder to be created using the -path parameter.
• Then, use the -ItemType parameter and specify the value to tell the console to create a folder.
• Lastly, to overwrite an existing folder use the -Force parameter:

The folder is successfully overwritten in the specified path.

Conclusion

To create a folder if not exist, first, check the folder’s existence using the Test-Path command. Then, use the New-Item command to create a folder, if it does not exist. To perform this operation in one go then you need to use the if-else condition along with the Test-Path command and New-Item command, which I already demonstrated in Method 1 in this article.