To group objects based on a property, we use the Get-ChildItem cmdlet on the files that we created for use in this book.

1. Navigate to the location where you created or downloaded the files.

PS> Set-Location ~/random

2. List out only the files (exclude the directories).

PS> Get-ChildItem -Path . -File

Or use the shorthand version.

PS> gci -File

3. Group the objects based on the extension.

PS> Get-ChildItem . -File | Group-Object Extension

4. The shorthand version of this would be:

PS> gci -File | group Extension

5. Use the Select-Object cmdlet to only show the extension and the number of files in each extension.

PS> Get-ChildItem -Path . -File | Group-Object -Property Extension | Select-Object -Property Name, Count

6. Is there a simpler way to do this?

PS> Get-ChildItem -Path . -File | Group-Object -Property Extension -NoElement

7. Now that we know how to handle grouping and expanded property selection, let us pick only the JPG files from the lot.

PS> Get-ChildItem -Path . -File | Group-Object -Property Extension | Where-Object Name -EQ .jpg | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Group