How to Find File and Folder Path Lengths Recursively using PowerShell (Get-LongPaths)
- Chris Keim
- May 9, 2022
- 1 min read
Sometimes users like to get wordy with file paths. This is usually no problem especially if you enable long file path support. But, what if you are using a program that doesn't support long file path names? Easy, just find the long file paths and shorten them. Easier said then done when working with a file server. This script recursively finds paths over a specific length recursively.
Syntax
Get-LongPaths -Path <string> -Length <integer>
Description
The Get-LongPaths cmdlet finds all paths recursively over a specified length and outputs to a grid view.
Examples
Example 1: Find all paths over 256 characters recursively starting with the root directory D:\Shares.
Example 2: Find all paths over 100 characters recursively starting with the root directory D:\Departments
Parameters
-Path (Mandatory)
Specifies the root path to search recursively.
-Length (Optional)
Specifies the path character limit before the path is reported by the function.
🛠 PowerShell Script: Get-LongPaths
This script scans a directory recursively and lists files or folders where the full path length exceeds a specified limit (default is 260).
powershell
CopyEdit
function Get-LongPaths { param ( [string]$StartPath = "C:\Your\Directory\Here", [int]$MaxLength = 260 ) Write-Host "Scanning paths under: $StartPath" -ForegroundColor Cyan Write-Host "Checking for paths longer than $MaxLength characters..." -ForegroundColor Cyan $items = Get-ChildItem -Path $StartPath -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue $longPaths = $items | Where-Object { $_.FullName.Length -gt $MaxLength } foreach ($item in $longPaths) { $length = $item.FullName.Length Write-Host "$length characters: $($item.FullName)" -ForegroundColor Yellow } Write-Host "`nTotal long paths found: $($longPaths.Count)" -ForegroundColor Green return $longPaths