Csdrhrt

I'm moving a group of files from a directory and I'm using the -exclude modifier to exclude files with a .gpg extension:

Move-Item -path $encrypted_folder*.* -EXCLUDE *.gpg -destination $final_dir

And while this works fine by moving every non-.gpg file, I get the following error every time Move-Item encounters a .gpg file:

Move-Item : Cannot move item because the item at 'C:UsersThisUserDocumentsPGP Encryption testUUIDxxxx.gpg' does not exist.

At C:UsersThisUserDocumentsPGP Encryption testyyyy.ps1:41 char:1

+ Move-Item -path $encrypted_folder*.* -EXCLUDE *.gpg -destination $final_dir

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [Move-Item], PSInvalidOperationException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperation,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.MoveItemCommand

Why is it complaining that it can't move a .gpg item because it doesn't exist, when I've set the command to exclude .gpg items? (which definitely exist). The exclusion is occurring, and a subsequent command to -include .gpg files works fine, but I'm not happy with the errors on my -exclude command.

I would rewrite the expression as follows:

gci $encrypted_folder*.* -exclude *.gpg | move-item -destination $final_dir  

You may also build more sophisticated filters using where-object and -match/notmatch, for example exclude only those with 4 or more chars before extension:

gci |? name -notmatch '^.{4,}.gpg$' | [rest of processing here]

Explanation

As noted in comments, this error is reported here: https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/issues/2385. I can replicate it in PS 4 as well:

$psversiontable



Name                           Value

----                           -----

PSVersion                      4.0

WSManStackVersion              3.0

SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1

CLRVersion                     4.0.30319.42000

BuildVersion                   6.3.9600.18728

PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0}

PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.2



New-Item -Name "foo.txt" -ItemType File

New-Item -Name "bar.txt" -ItemType File

Move-Item -Path ".*" -Destination "move.txt" -Exclude "bar*"



Move-Item : Cannot move item because the item at 'C:temptestbar.txt' does not exist.

At line:1 char:1

+ Move-Item -Path ".*" -Destination "move.txt" -Exclude "bar*"

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [Move-Item], PSInvalidOperationException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperation,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.MoveItemCommand

The fix for this is in the not-yet-released version 6 (https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/tree/v6.0.0-beta.5).