How to Find the Most Recent File in a Directory with PowerShell

To find the most recent file in a directory with PowerShell, list the files with Get-ChildItem, sort them by LastWriteTime from newest to oldest, and keep the first one:

Get-ChildItem -Path C:\psfaqs\Backups -File |
    Sort-Object -Property LastWriteTime -Descending |
    Select-Object -First 1 -Property Name, LastWriteTime

Output:

Name       LastWriteTime
----       -------------
backup.log 9/28/2026 2:15:00 AM

LastWriteTime is the date Windows shows as Date modified. I ran every example in PowerShell 7.6 and Windows PowerShell 5.1 against the same sample folder, with the same results.

Get the newest file of one type

Add -Filter to look at one extension only, and save the result in a variable so you can use its name and path:

$newest = Get-ChildItem -Path C:\psfaqs\Backups -Filter *.bak -File |
    Sort-Object -Property LastWriteTime -Descending |
    Select-Object -First 1

"Newest backup: $($newest.Name)"
"Full path:     $($newest.FullName)"
"Modified:      $($newest.LastWriteTime.ToString('yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm'))"

Output:

Newest backup: db-2026-09-28.bak
Full path:     C:\psfaqs\Backups\db-2026-09-28.bak
Modified:      2026-09-28 02:00

-File leaves out folders, which otherwise sort in with the files. Pass $newest.FullName to Copy-Item or Import-Csv to work with the file.

Include subfolders

-Recurse searches every subfolder too, so the newest file can come from anywhere in the tree:

$newest = Get-ChildItem -Path C:\psfaqs\Backups -File -Recurse |
    Sort-Object -Property LastWriteTime -Descending |
    Select-Object -First 1

"Newest anywhere: $($newest.FullName.Replace('C:\psfaqs\Backups\', ''))"

Output:

Newest anywhere: Finance\ledger-2026-09.xlsx

For big folder trees, see the faster method near the end. Listing all files in a folder covers the other Get-ChildItem options.

LastWriteTime or CreationTime?

They can point to different files. Copying a file gives the copy a new CreationTime but keeps the original LastWriteTime:

$files = Get-ChildItem -Path C:\psfaqs\Backups -Filter *.bak -File

"Newest by LastWriteTime: $(($files | Sort-Object -Property LastWriteTime -Descending | Select-Object -First 1).Name)"
"Newest by CreationTime:  $(($files | Sort-Object -Property CreationTime -Descending | Select-Object -First 1).Name)"

Output:

Newest by LastWriteTime: db-2026-09-28.bak
Newest by CreationTime:  db-2026-09-26.bak

Use LastWriteTime for “latest version” questions, like the newest backup or log. Use CreationTime for “what arrived last” in a drop folder.

Get the newest few files

Change -First to the number you need. Formatting the date yourself keeps the output the same on every PC:

Get-ChildItem -Path C:\psfaqs\Backups -File -Recurse |
    Sort-Object -Property LastWriteTime -Descending |
    Select-Object -First 3 |
    ForEach-Object { '{0}  {1}' -f $_.LastWriteTime.ToString('yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm'), $_.Name }

Output:

2026-09-29 09:40  ledger-2026-09.xlsx
2026-09-28 02:15  backup.log
2026-09-28 02:00  db-2026-09-28.bak

Get the oldest file

Drop -Descending and the oldest file comes first instead:

$oldest = Get-ChildItem -Path C:\psfaqs\Backups -Filter *.bak -File |
    Sort-Object -Property LastWriteTime |
    Select-Object -First 1
"Oldest backup: $($oldest.Name)"

Output:

Oldest backup: db-2026-09-26.bak

Deleting files older than 30 days uses the same date filtering to clean up old backups.

Newest file in each subfolder

Group the files by folder with Group-Object, then pick the newest from each group:

Get-ChildItem -Path C:\psfaqs\Backups -File -Recurse |
    Group-Object -Property DirectoryName |
    ForEach-Object {
        $latest = $_.Group | Sort-Object -Property LastWriteTime -Descending | Select-Object -First 1
        '{0,-8} {1}' -f (Split-Path -Path $_.Name -Leaf), $latest.Name
    }

Output:

Backups  backup.log
Finance  ledger-2026-09.xlsx
Sales    forecast.csv

When the folder is empty

If there are no files, the result is $null, and code like $newest.FullName quietly returns nothing. Check the result before using it:

$newest = Get-ChildItem -Path C:\psfaqs\Backups\Empty -File |
    Sort-Object -Property LastWriteTime -Descending |
    Select-Object -First 1

if ($newest) { "Newest: $($newest.Name)" }
else { 'No files found in C:\psfaqs\Backups\Empty' }

Output:

No files found in C:\psfaqs\Backups\Empty

A faster way for large folders

Sort-Object has to collect every file before it can sort. For folders with tens of thousands of files, a single loop that remembers the newest one so far is quicker and uses less memory:

$newest = $null
foreach ($file in [System.IO.Directory]::EnumerateFiles('C:\psfaqs\Backups', '*', 'AllDirectories')) {
    $time = [System.IO.File]::GetLastWriteTime($file)
    if ($null -eq $newest -or $time -gt $newest.Time) {
        $newest = [pscustomobject]@{ Path = $file; Time = $time }
    }
}
"Newest: $(Split-Path -Path $newest.Path -Leaf) at $($newest.Time.ToString('yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm'))"

Output:

Newest: ledger-2026-09.xlsx at 2026-09-29 09:40

EnumerateFiles reads one file at a time instead of building the whole list first. Microsoft covers the usual cmdlets in the Get-ChildItem and Sort-Object references.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related file-finding guides:

• Find files modified after a date
• Get all files in a folder
• Add a date to a file name
• Delete files older than 30 days