Clear-Content

Clear-Content
    [-Path] <String[]>
    [-Filter <String>]
    [-Include <String[]>]
    [-Exclude <String[]>]
    [-Force]
    [-Credential <PSCredential>]
    [-WhatIf]
    [-Confirm]
    [-Stream <String>]
    [<CommonParameters>]

Clear-Content
    -LiteralPath <String[]>
    [-Filter <String>]
    [-Include <String[]>]
    [-Exclude <String[]>]
    [-Force]
    [-Credential <PSCredential>]
    [-WhatIf]
    [-Confirm]
    [-Stream <String>]
    [<CommonParameters>]

Clear-Content
    [-Path] <String[]>
    [-Filter <String>]
    [-Include <String[]>]
    [-Exclude <String[]>]
    [-Force]
    [-Credential <PSCredential>]
    [-WhatIf]
    [-Confirm]
    [<CommonParameters>]

Clear-Content
    -LiteralPath <String[]>
    [-Filter <String>]
    [-Include <String[]>]
    [-Exclude <String[]>]
    [-Force]
    [-Credential <PSCredential>]
    [-WhatIf]
    [-Confirm]
    [<CommonParameters>]

The Clear-Content cmdlet deletes the contents of an item, such as deleting the text from a file, but it does not delete the item. As a result, the item exists, but it is empty. Clear-Content is similar to Clear-Item, but it works on items with contents, instead of items with values.

Clear-Content "..\SmpUsers\*\init.txt"

This command deletes all of the content from the init.txt files in all subdirectories of the SmpUsers directory. The files are not deleted, but they are empty.

Clear-Content -Path "*" -Filter "*.log" -Force

This command deletes the contents of all files in the current directory with the .log file name extension, including files with the read-only attribute. The asterisk (*) in the path represents all items in the current directory. The Force parameter makes the command effective on read-only files. Using a filter to restrict the command to files with the .log file name extension instead of specifying *.log in the path makes the operation faster.

This example shows how the Clear-Content cmdlet clears the content from an alternate data stream while leaving the stream intact.

The first command uses the Get-Content cmdlet to get the content of the Zone.Identifier stream in the Copy-Script.ps1 file, which was downloaded from the internet.

The second command uses the Clear-Content cmdlet to clear the content.

The third command repeats the first command. It verifies that the content is cleared, but the stream remains. If the stream were deleted, the command would generate an error.

You can use a method like this one to clear the content of an alternate data stream. However, it is not the recommended way to eliminate security checks that block files that are downloaded from the Internet. If you verify that a downloaded file is safe, use the Unblock-File cmdlet.

Get-Content C:\Test\Copy-Script.ps1 -Stream Zone.Identifier

[ZoneTransfer]
ZoneId=3

Clear-Content C:\Test\Copy-Script.ps1 -Stream Zone.Identifier
Get-Content C:\Test\Copy-Script.ps1 -Stream Zone.Identifier

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: -Debug, -ErrorAction, -ErrorVariable, -InformationAction, -InformationVariable, -OutBuffer, -OutVariable, -PipelineVariable, -ProgressAction, -Verbose, -WarningAction, and -WarningVariable. For more information, see about_CommonParameters.

You can't pipe objects to this cmdlet.

This cmdlet returns no output.

PowerShell includes the following aliases for Clear-Content:

• All platforms:
  • clc

You can use Clear-Content with the PowerShell FileSystem provider and with other providers that manipulate content. To clear items that are not considered to be content, such as items managed by the PowerShell Certificate or Registry providers, use Clear-Item.

The Clear-Content cmdlet is designed to work with the data exposed by any provider. To list the providers available in your session, type Get-PSProvider. For more information, see about_Providers.