Automatically Generate List Files with Filename and Folder Names using Windows CMD or PowerShell

Automatically Generate List of File Names Inside Folders and Save as Text File with Windows CMD or PowerShell

In this article, we will cover how to automatically generate a list of file names inside folders and save them as a text file using Windows Command Prompt (CMD) or PowerShell. This can be a useful technique for inventorying files in a directory, backing up files, or preparing to transfer files to another location.

Using Windows Command Prompt (CMD)

To generate a list of file names inside a folder using Windows Command Prompt (CMD), follow these steps:

1. Open the Command Prompt by typing CMD in the Windows Explorer address bar and hitting Enter.
2. Navigate to the folder where you want to generate the list of file names by using the cd command.
3. Type the following command to generate a list of file names inside the current folder:

This command uses the dir command to list the files in the current directory, with the following options:

• /b: Uses bare format (no heading information or summary)
• /a-d: Displays files only (does not display directories)
• > file\_list.txt: Redirects the output to a file named file\_list.txt

This will create a text file named file\_list.txt in the current folder, containing a list of file names.

Using PowerShell

To generate a list of file names inside a folder using PowerShell, follow these steps:

1. Open PowerShell by typing powershell in the Windows Explorer address bar and hitting Enter.
2. Navigate to the folder where you want to generate the list of file names by using the cd command.
3. Type the following command to generate a list of file names inside the current folder:

This command uses the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to list the files in the current directory, and then pipes the output to the Out-File cmdlet to save the list as a text file named file\_list.txt.

In this article, we covered how to automatically generate a list of file names inside folders and save them as a text file using Windows Command Prompt (CMD) or PowerShell. This can be a useful technique for inventorying files in a directory, backing up files, or preparing to transfer files to another location.

References

• dir command
• Get-ChildItem cmdlet
• Out-File cmdlet