.Net Attribute Flags

Attributes are bitwise combination of the following [System.IO.FileAttributes] fields:

Value	Name	Targets	The target…
`0x000001` = 1	ReadOnly	file	…is read-only.
`0x000002` = 2	Hidden	both	…is hidden, and thus is not included in an ordinary directory listing.
`0x000004` = 4	System	both	…is a system file. That is, the file is part of the operating system or is used exclusively by the operating system.
`0x000010` = 16	Directory	directory	…is a directory.
`0x000020` = 32	Archive	both	…is marked to be included in incremental backup operation. Windows sets this attribute whenever the file is modified, and backup software should clear it when processing the file during incremental backup.
`0x000040` = 64	Device	reserved	Reserved for future use.
`0x000080` = 128	Normal	file	…is a standard file that has no special attributes. This attribute is valid only if it is used alone.
`0x000100` = 256	Temporary	file	…is temporary. A temporary file contains data that is needed while an application is executing but is not needed after the application is finished. File systems try to keep all the data in memory for quicker access rather than flushing the data back to mass storage. A temporary file should be deleted by the application as soon as it is no longer needed.
`0x000200` = 512	SparseFile	file	…is a sparse file. Sparse files are typically large files whose data consists of mostly zeros.
`0x000400` = 1024	ReparsePoint	both	…contains a reparse point, which is a block of user-defined data associated with a file or a directory.
`0x000800` = 2048	Compressed	both	…is compressed.
`0x001000` = 4096	Offline	file	…is offline. The data of the file is not immediately available.
`0x002000` = 8192	NotContentIndexed	both	…will not be indexed by the operating system’s content indexing service.
`0x004000` = 16384	Encrypted	both	…is encrypted. For a file, this means that all data in the file is encrypted. For a directory, this means that encryption is the default for newly created files and directories.
`0x008000` = 32768	IntegrityStream	directory	…includes data integrity support. When this value is applied to a file, all data streams in the file have integrity support. When this value is applied to a directory, all new files and subdirectories within that directory, by default, include integrity support.
`0x010000` = 65536	Virtual ¹⁾	reserved
`0x020000` = 131072	NoScrubData	both	…is excluded from the data integrity scan. When this value is applied to a directory, by default, all new files and subdirectories within that directory are excluded from data integrity.
`0x040000` = 262144	EA ¹⁾	internal	…with extended attributes.
`0x040000` = 262144	Recall On Open ¹⁾	internal	…has no physical representation on the local system
`0x080000` = 524288	Pinned ¹⁾	both	…should be kept fully present locally even when not being actively accessed. Always keep on this device enables this attribute.
`0x100000` = 1048576	Unpinned ¹⁾	both	…should not be kept fully present locally except when being actively accessed. Free up space enables this attribute.
`0x400000` = 4194304	Recall On Data Access ¹⁾	both	…is not fully present locally.

¹⁾ Not recognized by Dotnet’s [IO.FileAttributes] but official Win32 file attribute

Example: combine read only and temporary

$flags = [IO.FileAttributes]::ReadOnly + [IO.FileAttributes]::Temporary

Modify Attributes

$info = Get-Item -Path ".\example.txt"
$info = New-TemporaryFile

Get attributes of a file

foreach ($n in 0..30) {
    [int]$value = [Math]::Pow(2, $n)
    if ([bool]($info.Attributes -band $value)) {
        [Enum]::Parse([IO.FileAttributes], $value) `
            -replace 524288, "Pinned" -replace 1048576, "Unpinned" `
            -replace 4194304, "RecallOnDataAccess"
    }
}

Test an attribute

[bool]($info.Attributes -band [IO.FileAttributes]::ReadOnly) # is read only?
[bool]($info.Attributes -band 0x080000) # is always available on this device?

Pin a file to keep it fully present locally

enable Pinned and disable Unpinned

$info.Attributes = $info.Attributes -bor 0x080000 -band (-bnot 0x100000)

Enable an attribute

$info.Attributes = $info.Attributes -bor [IO.FileAttributes]::Hidden

Disable an attribute

$info.Attributes = $info.Attributes -band (-bnot [IO.FileAttributes]::Hidden)

Toggle an attribute

$info.Attributes = $info.Attributes -bxor [IO.FileAttributes]::Hidden

Examples

Pin a folder and all its subfolders recursively to keep them fully present locally

$items = ".\mods\", ".\saves\"
@(
    Get-Item $items | where PSIsContainer | Get-ChildItem -Recurse
    Get-Item $items
) | foreach { 
    $info.Attributes = $info.Attributes -bor 0x080000 -band (-bnot 0x100000)
}

Display all attributes in a folder:

(Get-ChildItem).Attributes doesn’t work with ¹⁾ attributes

Get-ChildItem | foreach { 
    $value = [int]$_.Attributes
    [PSCustomObject]@{ Name = $_.Name; Value = $value; Attributes = $(
        0..30 | foreach { [Math]::Pow(2, $_) } | where {
            [bool]($_ -band $value) 
        } | foreach { 
            [Enum]::Parse([IO.FileAttributes], $_) `
                -replace 524288, "Pinned" -replace 1048576, "Unpinned" `
                -replace 4194304, "RecallOnDataAccess"
        }
    )
}}

Other

List all valid attributes:

0..30 | foreach { [Math]::Pow(2, $_) } | where {
    $_ -in [Enum]::GetValues([IO.FileAttributes])
} | foreach { [PSCustomObject]@{ 
    Decimal = $_
    Hexadecimal = $("0x" + [String]::Format("{0:X6}",[int]$_))
    Name = [Enum]::Parse([IO.FileAttributes], $_)
}}

Sources:

Tags:
File System - Use paths, get meta data, link, download, and encrypt files and folders

Anton's Digital Garden

Table of Contents

File Attributes - Set file system attributes like read only, hidden, always keep on this device

.Net Attribute Flags

Modify Attributes

Examples

Other

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