Find out whether a file is a symbolic link in PowerShell

Try this:

function Test-ReparsePoint([string]$path) {
  $file = Get-Item $path -Force -ea SilentlyContinue
  return [bool]($file.Attributes -band [IO.FileAttributes]::ReparsePoint)
}

It is a pretty minimal implementation, but it should do the trick. Note that this doesn't distinguish between a hard link and a symbolic link. Underneath, they both just take advantage of NTFS reparse points, IIRC.

For those that want to check if a resource is a hardlink or symlink:

(Get-Item ".\some_resource").LinkType -eq "HardLink"

(Get-Item ".\some_resource").LinkType -eq "SymbolicLink"

My results on Vista, using Keith Hill's powershell script to test symlinks and hardlinks:

c:\markus\other>mklink symlink.doc \temp\2006rsltns.doc
symbolic link created for symlink.doc <<===>> \temp\2006rsltns.doc

c:\markus\other>fsutil hardlink create HARDLINK.doc  \temp\2006rsltns.doc
Hardlink created for c:\markus\other\HARDLINK.doc <<===>> c:\temp\2006rsltns.doc

c:\markus\other>dir
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is C8BC-2EBD

 Directory of c:\markus\other

02/12/2010  05:21 PM    <DIR>          .
02/12/2010  05:21 PM    <DIR>          ..
01/10/2006  06:12 PM            25,088 HARDLINK.doc
02/12/2010  05:21 PM    <SYMLINK>      symlink.doc [\temp\2006rsltns.doc]
               2 File(s)         25,088 bytes
               2 Dir(s)   6,805,803,008 bytes free

c:\markus\other>powershell \script\IsSymLink.ps1 HARDLINK.doc
False

c:\\markus\other>powershell \script\IsSymLink.ps1 symlink.doc
True

It shows that symlinks are reparse points, and have the ReparsePoint FileAttribute bit set, while hardlinks do not.

here is a one-liner that checks one file $FilePath and returns if it is a symlink or not, works for files and directories

if((Get-ItemProperty $FilePath).LinkType){"symboliclink"}else{"normal path"}

Just want to add my own two cents, this is a oneliner function which works perfectly fine for me:

Function Test-Symlink($Path){
    ((Get-Item $Path).Attributes.ToString() -match "ReparsePoint")
}