Get-FileAndFolderPermissions.ps1
Description
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@BanterBoy: - Explain what the script does and why it is useful.
@GitHub Copilot - This PowerShell script is designed to retrieve the permissions for files and folders. The script takes two parameters, $FileFolder
and $SourcePath
. The $FileFolder
parameter specifies whether the $SourcePath
is a file or a folder. If $FileFolder
is set to “File”, the script retrieves the permissions for the specified file. If $FileFolder
is set to “Folder”, the script retrieves the permissions for the specified folder and, if the $Recurse
parameter is set to $true
, retrieves the permissions for all subfolders as well.
The script begins by checking whether $FileFolder
is set to “File” or “Folder”. If $FileFolder
is set to “File”, the script checks whether the specified file exists. If the file exists, the script retrieves the permissions for the file using the Get-Acl
cmdlet. The script then loops through each access rule in the file’s access control list (ACL) and creates a custom object that includes the file’s path, the identity reference for the user or group that the access rule applies to, and the file system rights granted by the access rule.
If $FileFolder
is set to “Folder”, the script checks whether the specified folder exists. If the folder exists, the script retrieves the permissions for the folder using the Get-Acl
cmdlet. The script then loops through each access rule in the folder’s ACL and creates a custom object that includes the folder’s path, the identity reference for the user or group that the access rule applies to, and the file system rights granted by the access rule. If $Recurse
is set to $true
, the script retrieves the permissions for all subfolders of the specified folder by using the Get-ChildItem
cmdlet to retrieve a list of all subfolders, and then looping through each subfolder and retrieving its permissions in the same way as the parent folder.
Finally, the script includes a try
/catch
block to handle any errors that may occur during execution. If an error occurs, the script writes the error message to the console using the Write-Error
cmdlet.
To improve the readability of the code, the script could benefit from additional comments to explain the purpose of each section of code. Additionally, the script could be optimized for performance by using the -Filter
parameter of the Get-ChildItem
cmdlet to retrieve only the subfolders that match a specific pattern, rather than retrieving all subfolders and then filtering them in the script.
@BanterBoy: - Explain how to use the script and provide examples.
@GitHub Copilot - Certainly! Here are a few examples of how to use the script:
To retrieve the permissions for a file:
Get-FileAndFolderPermissions -FileFolder "File" -SourcePath "C:\Temp\example.txt"
To retrieve the permissions for a folder:
Get-FileAndFolderPermissions -FileFolder "Folder" -SourcePath "C:\Temp" -Recurse $false
To retrieve the permissions for a folder and all subfolders:
Get-FileAndFolderPermissions -FileFolder "Folder" -SourcePath "C:\Temp" -Recurse $true
In each of these examples, replace the SourcePath
parameter with the path to the file or folder for which you want to retrieve permissions. The Recurse
parameter is optional and determines whether the script should retrieve permissions for all subfolders of the specified folder. Set Recurse
to $true
to retrieve permissions for all subfolders, or $false
to retrieve permissions only for the specified folder.
Script
function Get-FileAndFolderPermissions {
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Retrieves the permissions for files or folders at a specified path.
.DESCRIPTION
The Get-FileAndFolderPermissions function retrieves the permissions for files or folders at a specified path. It can retrieve permissions for a single file or folder, or for all files or folders in a directory and its subdirectories.
.PARAMETER SourcePath
The path to the file or folder for which to retrieve permissions.
.PARAMETER FileFolder
Specifies whether to retrieve permissions for a file or a folder. Valid values are "File" and "Folder".
.PARAMETER Extension
Specifies a file extension to filter by when retrieving permissions for files.
.PARAMETER Recurse
Indicates whether to retrieve permissions for files or folders in subdirectories.
.EXAMPLE
Get-FileAndFolderPermissions -SourcePath "C:\Temp\MyFile.txt" -FileFolder "File"
Retrieves the permissions for the file "MyFile.txt" located in the "C:\Temp" directory.
.EXAMPLE
Get-FileAndFolderPermissions -SourcePath "C:\Temp" -FileFolder "Folder" -Recurse
Retrieves the permissions for all folders in the "C:\Temp" directory and its subdirectories.
.NOTES
Author: GitHub Copilot
#>
[CmdletBinding()]
param (
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
[string]$SourcePath,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
[ValidateSet("File", "Folder")]
[string]$FileFolder,
[string]$Extension,
[switch]$Recurse
)
try {
if ($FileFolder -eq "File") {
if (-not (Test-Path $SourcePath)) {
throw "File does not exist: $SourcePath"
}
if ($Extension) {
$files = Get-ChildItem $SourcePath -Filter "*$Extension" -File -Recurse:$Recurse
}
else {
$files = Get-ChildItem $SourcePath -File -Recurse:$Recurse
}
foreach ($file in $files) {
$acl = Get-Acl $file.FullName
foreach ($access in $acl.Access) {
[PSCustomObject]@{
Path = $file.FullName
IdentityReference = $access.IdentityReference
FileSystemRights = $access.FileSystemRights
}
}
}
}
elseif ($FileFolder -eq "Folder") {
if (-not (Test-Path $SourcePath)) {
throw "Folder does not exist: $SourcePath"
}
$acl = Get-Acl $SourcePath
foreach ($access in $acl.Access) {
[PSCustomObject]@{
Path = $SourcePath
IdentityReference = $access.IdentityReference
FileSystemRights = $access.FileSystemRights
}
}
if ($Recurse) {
$folders = Get-ChildItem $SourcePath -Directory -Recurse
foreach ($folder in $folders) {
$acl = Get-Acl $folder.FullName
foreach ($access in $acl.Access) {
[PSCustomObject]@{
Path = $folder.FullName
IdentityReference = $access.IdentityReference
FileSystemRights = $access.FileSystemRights
}
}
}
}
}
}
catch {
Write-Error $_.Exception.Message
}
}
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