Create a Clickable Folder Link in Powershell

Question

I have a script that searches for a file name in a folder and gives a folder path. Does Powershell have a way to make these folder paths a clickable link? I want to bring up a list of file directory paths that I can click on.

Here is what the code looks like.

#Declare Variables. 
$Software = @()

#Delcares Directories to search. 
$Directories = @(
    '\\Software\Unlicensed Software'
    '\\Software\Licensed Software')

#Gets folder contents of directories at a depth of three. 
Foreach($Directory in $Directories)
{ 
    $Path = Get-ChildItem $Directory -Recurse -Depth 3| ?{ $_.PSIsContainer } | Select-Object FullName;
    $Software += $Path
}

#Gets user string. 
$target = Read-Host -Prompt 'Input a software name or part of a name. ("Exit" to quit)';

#Finds matches and adds them to Links. 
while ($target -ne "exit")
{
   $count = 0;
   $Links = New-Object Collections.Generic.List[string];
    Foreach ($line in $Software)
    {   
        if($line -like "*$target*")
            {
                $Links.Add($line.FullName);
                $count += 1;
            }

#Stops code when results are greater than 100 entries. 
        if($count -gt 99)
            {
                Write-Output "Your search result yielded more than 100 entries. Try narrowing down your search."
                Break
            }
    }

#Prints links. 
    ForEach($Link in $Links)
    {
        Write-Output $Link;
    }
   Write-Host `n$count" entries found`n";

#Asks users if they would like to continue. 
   $target = Read-Host -Prompt 'Input a software name or part of a name ("Exit" to quit)';
}

#Exits Program
Write-Host "Press any key to continue ...";
$x = $host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey("NoEcho,IncludeKeyDown");

There may be an easy way using `Out-GridView -PassThru`, tho you would need to share with us an example of your code. — Santiago Squarzon, Aug 06 '21 at 19:22
Example code. Lets say that I have a folder path called: $FilePath ='\\Software\Licensed Software" I would like to click on a link called FilePath and be taken to the folder path. — PCTech, Aug 06 '21 at 20:32

Santiago Squarzon · Answer 1 · 2021-08-06T21:21:18.427

This is a quite simple way you could use to select a folder an open it, it will display an Out-GridView until you cancel or close the grid and open the folder once you make a selection. If you're looking for something better looking and more complex you would have to code your own WinForm app.

$directories = Get-ChildItem $env:USERPROFILE -Directory |
               Select-Object Name, FullName

do
{
    $selection = $directories |
    Out-GridView -PassThru -Title 'Choose a Folder'

    if($selection){ Invoke-Item $selection.FullName }

} while($selection)

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 09 '21 at 09:30

You could make a HTML File:

Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Web
[System.Web.HttpUtility]::HtmlDecode((gci | select Name,@{n='Fullpath'; e={(("<a href='file://" +$_.fullname+"'>"+$_.Fullname+'</a>' ))}} | ConvertTo-Html)) | out-file c:\file.html
iex  c:\file.html

Create a Clickable Folder Link in Powershell

2 Answers2