dir *. has no output

dir *.exe or dir *.* works as intended. However, the expected output of dir *. (displaying all folders in the current working directory) is not functioning. Instead, a workaround is to type cmd /c "dir *."

Steps to reproduce

In pwsh, go to a folder with subfolders. enter command dir *.

Expected behavior

displays all subfolders in cwd (and no other file types)

Actual behavior

No output, no errors

Environment data

PSVersion = 7.1.3 PSEdition = Core GitCommitId = 7.1.3 OS = Microsoft Windows 10.0.19042 Platform = Win32NT PSCompatibleVersions = {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0…} PSRemotingProtocolVersion = 2.3 SerializationVersion = 1.1.0.1 WSManStackVersion = 3.0

[vexx32]

I can see the logic here, but I think the dir *. behaviour in cmd.exe is more of a workaround for not having an explicit directory filter than anything else.

For the same in PowerShell, use the -Directory flag; Get-ChildItem -Directory / dir -d

[mklement0]

Good point, @vexx32, but note that alias -d for -Directory doesn’t actually work and will be removed - see #14700; prefix matching with -di works, however.

@UnkleUnkle, for listing directories, @vexx32’s solution is the best approach (your command would also include files that happen to have no filename extension), but just to explain your symptom:

The fundamental problem is that in cmd.exe and in the WinAPI file-enumeration APIs wildcard expressions have special behavior built in that PowerShell’s wildcard expressions do not.

If you want to get the same behavior as in cmd.exe, use the -Filter parameter rather than the (positionally implied) -Path parameter (the latter uses only PowerShell’s wildcards):

gci -Filter *.  # by contrast `dir *.` is the same as  `gci -Path *.` and therefore `Get-ChildItem -Path *.`

(I’ve used alias gci for Get-ChildItem, because using the alias dir can cause confusion, notably the expectation that everything works as in cmd.exe You can shorten -Filter to -fi, which is the shortest prefix that unambiguously identifies the -Filter parameter; generally, aliases and parameter-name prefixes should only be used interactively, not in scripts).

---

As for why PowerShell’s wildcard expressions behave differently: they are not specific to matching file names, but are used pervasively throughout PowerShell and therefore match any input string as-is, without making assumptions about a . being special, for instance.

Therefore, wildcard *. matches any string that ends in a verbatim ., which file names generally don’t do. E.g., 'foo' -like '*.' is $false, whereas 'foo.' -like '*.' and '.' -like '*.' are $true.