🗺️ map — A Pretty Tree Command for PowerShell

A minimal, elegant tree-style directory visualizer for PowerShell 5.1+. No dependencies. No install. Just paste and go.

⚡ One-liner Install

New-Item -Path "$HOME\Documents\WindowsPowerShell" -ItemType Directory -Force; @'
function map {
    param(
        [string]$Path = ".",
        [string]$Indent = "",
        [switch]$ShowSize,
        [int]$Depth = [int]::MaxValue,
        [int]$_level = 0
    )
    $tee    = [char]0x251C + [char]0x2500 + [char]0x2500 + " "
    $corner = [char]0x2514 + [char]0x2500 + [char]0x2500 + " "
    $pipe   = [char]0x2502 + "   "
    $blank  = "    "
    if ($_level -ge $Depth) { return }
    $items = Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $Path -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    for ($i = 0; $i -lt $items.Count; $i++) {
        $item   = $items[$i]
        $isLast = $i -eq $items.Count - 1
        $branch = if ($isLast) { $corner } else { $tee }
        $child  = if ($isLast) { $blank  } else { $pipe }
        $label  = $item.Name
        if ($ShowSize -and -not $item.PSIsContainer) { $label += "  $(Format-FileSize $item.Length)" }
        Write-Output "$Indent$branch$label"
        if ($item.PSIsContainer) { map -Path $item.FullName -Indent "$Indent$child" -ShowSize:$ShowSize -Depth $Depth -_level ($_level + 1) }
    }
}
function Format-FileSize([long]$bytes) {
    if ($bytes -ge 1GB) { return "{0:N1} GB" -f ($bytes / 1GB) }
    if ($bytes -ge 1MB) { return "{0:N1} MB" -f ($bytes / 1MB) }
    if ($bytes -ge 1KB) { return "{0:N1} KB" -f ($bytes / 1KB) }
    return "$bytes B"
}
'@ | Set-Content -Path "$HOME\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1" -Force; . $PROFILE

Paste this into any PowerShell 5.1 terminal. Done.

🖥️ Output

├── src
│   ├── index.ts
│   └── utils.ts
├── tests
│   └── index.test.ts
└── package.json  4.2 KB

📖 Usage

# Current directory
map

# Specific path
map C:\Projects\MyApp

# Limit depth
map -Depth 2

# Show file sizes
map -ShowSize

# Combine flags
map C:\Projects\MyApp -Depth 3 -ShowSize

⚙️ Parameters

🔧 How It Works

Installs a map function into your PowerShell profile (Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1), so it's available in every session automatically.

• Uses ├──, └──, and │ for proper tree branching
• Box-drawing characters are built at runtime via [char] and Unicode code points — the profile file stays pure ASCII, so encoding is never an issue regardless of how the file is saved or transferred
• Gracefully skips folders you don't have permission to read
• Human-readable file sizes (B / KB / MB / GB)

🔄 Reload Profile

If you've already run the one-liner and want to activate changes in your current session:

. $PROFILE

📋 Requirements

• Windows PowerShell 5.1
• No admin rights required

📄 License

MIT — do whatever you want with it.