How do I change a file's attribute using Powershell?

I have a Powershell script that copies files from one location to another. Once the copy is complete I want to clear the Archive attribute on the files in the source location that have been copied.

How do I clear the Archive attribute of a file using Powershell?

From stackoverflow

• You can use the good old dos attrib command like this:

  attrib -a *.*
  

  Or to do it using Powershell you can do something like this:

  $a = get-item myfile.txt
  $a.attributes = 'Normal'
  

• From here:

  function Get-FileAttribute{
      param($file,$attribute)
      $val = [System.IO.FileAttributes]$attribute;
      if((gci $file -force).Attributes -band $val -eq $val){$true;} else { $false; }
  } 
  
  
  function Set-FileAttribute{
      param($file,$attribute)
      $file =(gci $file -force);
      $file.Attributes = $file.Attributes -bor ([System.IO.FileAttributes]$attribute).value__;
      if($?){$true;} else {$false;}
  }
  

• As the Attributes is basically a bitmask field, you need to be sure clear the archive field while leaving the rest alone:

  PS C:\> $f = get-item C:\Archives.pst
  PS C:\> $f.Attributes
  Archive, NotContentIndexed
  PS C:\> $f.Attributes = $f.Attributes -band (-bnot [System.IO.FileAttributes]::Archive)
  PS C:\> $f.Attributes
  NotContentIndexed
  PS H:\>
  

• This might also help: http://cmschill.net/stringtheory/2008/04/bitwise-operators/

• you may use the following command to toggel the behaviour

  PS E:\temp> $file = (gci e:\temp\test.txt) PS E:\temp> $file.attributes Archive PS E:\temp> $file.attributes = $file.Attributes -bxor ([System.IO.FileAttributes]::Archive) PS E:\temp> $file.attributes Normal PS E:\temp> $file.attributes = $file.Attributes -bxor ([System.IO.FileAttributes]::Archive) PS E:\temp> $file.attributes Archive