# Wildcards and Filters

The wildcards \*, ? and \[ \] match many names with one pattern, so one Move-Item carries every photo at once, and Get-ChildItem's -Filter, -Include and -Exclude choose which names to list, -Filter the fastest of the three.

Apprentice · PowerShell · Operating System · Updated November 10, 2026

## After this lesson you can

- Match many names at once with the wildcards \*, ? and \[ \], and check the matches with Get-ChildItem or -WhatIf before moving them
- Choose -Filter, -Include or -Exclude to narrow Get-ChildItem's list, and say which is fastest

## Key takeaways

- `*` (read "star") matches any letters or none, `?` exactly one character, and `[ ]` one character from the list inside the brackets.
- One command with a wildcard works on every match: `Move-Item *.jpg, *.png photos` moves every photo at once.
- A pattern can match more than you meant, folders included. List the matches with Get-ChildItem, or add -WhatIf, before you move them.
- `-Filter` takes one pattern and is the fastest. `-Include` keeps the names that match any of several patterns, and `-Exclude` leaves them out.

Your phone has backed up six hundred photos into one folder, mixed in with videos and screenshots, and you want every photo in a folder of its own. With a mouse that's Ctrl+click, six hundred times, or sorting by type and hoping you dragged the right block. In PowerShell you describe the names once (every name that ends in `.jpg`) and one command moves them all. People do this every day: a photographer sorting a shoot, an office assistant filing a month of scanned invoices, a developer copying every `.css` file of a website.

This lesson finishes sorting the `downloads` folder from *Copy and Move: Copy-Item and Move-Item*. Go there first with `Set-Location ~\terminal-practice\downloads`.

## One pattern, many names: \*, ? and \[ \]

A **wildcard** is a character that stands for others in a name, like a blank on a crossword. You met `*` (read "star") in *Finding a Command: Get-Command*: it matches any letters, or none. So `*.pdf`, read "star dot pdf", means "any name that ends in `.pdf`":

```powershell
Get-ChildItem *.pdf -Name
```

```text
bike-shop-receipt.pdf
class-schedule-old.pdf
class-schedule.pdf
scan-1.pdf
scan-10.pdf
scan-2.pdf
```

![The pattern *.pdf held against six names from the downloads folder: bike-shop-receipt.pdf, class-schedule.pdf and scan-10.pdf fit it, because the star stands for any letters before .pdf, while resume-2026.docx, game-setup.exe and road-trip-playlist.mp3 don't](https://fsdtrainingmedia.blob.core.windows.net/public/images/2026/11/ee2a9039743748c49045e3e0f6f41256.webp)

Two more wildcards match exactly one character each. `?` (read "question mark") matches any one character, and `[ ]` (read "brackets") one character from the list inside:

```powershell
Get-ChildItem scan-?.pdf -Name
Get-ChildItem scan-[12].pdf -Name
```

```text
scan-1.pdf
scan-2.pdf
scan-1.pdf
scan-2.pdf
```

Both find the same two files, and neither finds `scan-10.pdf`: it has two characters where the pattern has room for one. On Windows, capital letters don't matter, so `*.PDF` finds the same six files. A name that really has square brackets in it, such as `concert[1].pdf`, is read as a pattern and matches nothing; `-LiteralPath` takes a name exactly as written.

## Look first, then move them all

Move-Item and Copy-Item take wildcards too, so one command moves every match. Rehearse first with `-WhatIf`, then run it for real:

```powershell
Move-Item *.jpg, *.png photos -WhatIf
```

```text
What if: Performing the operation "Move File" on target "Item: C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\downloads\beach-volleyball.jpg Destination: C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\downloads\photos\beach-volleyball.jpg".
What if: Performing the operation "Move File" on target "Item: C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\downloads\birthday-cake.png Destination: C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\downloads\photos\birthday-cake.png".
```

```powershell
Move-Item *.jpg, *.png photos
Get-ChildItem photos -Name
```

```text
beach-sunset.jpg
beach-volleyball.jpg
birthday-cake.png
```

Two patterns, with a comma between them, and every photo is in one folder. With six hundred photos, the command is the same.

Looking first matters, because a pattern matches everything that fits, not only what you had in mind. The receipts are next:

```powershell
Get-ChildItem *receipt* -Name
```

```text
receipts
bike-shop-receipt.pdf
```

The `receipts` folder matches too. `Move-Item *receipt* receipts` moves the PDF and then stops with an error, because it can't move a folder into itself. A tighter pattern names only what you mean:

```powershell
Move-Item *receipt*.pdf receipts
Get-ChildItem receipts -Name
```

```text
bike-shop-receipt.pdf
groceries-august.pdf
```

## Choosing the list: -Filter, -Include and -Exclude

`Get-ChildItem` has three parameters that choose which names to list:

```powershell
Get-ChildItem -Filter *.pdf -Name
Get-ChildItem -Include *.docx, *.mp3 -Name
Get-ChildItem -File -Exclude *.pdf, *.tmp -Name
```

```text
class-schedule-old.pdf
class-schedule.pdf
scan-1.pdf
scan-10.pdf
scan-2.pdf
resume-2026.docx
road-trip-playlist.mp3
game-setup.exe
resume-2026.docx
road-trip-playlist.mp3
```

- **`-Filter`** takes one pattern, with `*` and `?` only (`[ ]` finds nothing there). Windows' file system does the matching before PowerShell sees a single name, so it's the fastest.
- **`-Include`** keeps every name that matches any of several patterns.
- **`-Exclude`** leaves out every name that matches. Here `-File` leaves out the folders too.

In a folder of fourteen files you won't feel the difference. On a test folder of 20,000 files, searched with `-Recurse` (every folder inside, as with Copy-Item), `-Filter *.jpg` found the 5,000 photos in under a tenth of a second, and `-Include *.jpg` took about two seconds. So: one pattern, use `-Filter`; several patterns, or names to leave out, use `-Include` or `-Exclude`.

Windows PowerShell 5.1 runs everything in this lesson the same way. On a Mac or Linux, write paths with `/`.

**Try it.** List every file in `downloads` except the PDFs. Then rehearse moving the two scans whose number is a single digit into a new `scans` folder, with `-WhatIf` first.

## Try it in the terminal

[Terminal Quest: Moving Day, goals 3 to 4](https://www.ask-codey.com/games/terminal-quest/new-place/powershell/step): played right on the lesson page.

The bookshelf is up. Put every book on it, then unpack the kitchen box: one Move-Item each, with a wildcard doing the work.

## Check yourself

2 questions to try on the lesson page.

## So what

A wildcard turns "every photo" into a few characters. Look at what it matches first, and one command does the work of six hundred clicks.

## Key terms

- [Wildcard](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/wildcard-powershell)
- [Get-ChildItem](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/get-childitem)
- [-WhatIf and -Confirm](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/whatif-and-confirm)

## Cheat sheets

- [Wildcards and Filters](https://www.ask-codey.com/cheat-sheets/powershell-wildcards-and-filters-cheat-sheet)

## Related

- [Copy and Move: Copy-Item and Move-Item](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-copy-and-move)
- [Renaming: Rename-Item](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-rename-item)
- [Looking Around: Get-ChildItem](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-looking-around)

Source: https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-wildcards-and-filters