How do I overwrite a file using PowerShell?

Question

New-Item -Path "C:\aws" -Name "script.ps1" -ItemType "file" -Value "text in file"

I am trying to create a file using the above command, if the file already exists I have to replace it with new file, it will have same file name. Please help

Answer 1

Use the force — specifically, the -Force parameter...

New-Item -Path "C:\aws" -Name "script.ps1" -ItemType "file" -Value "text in file" -Force

Whether script.ps1 already exists or not, upon success it will contain the exact content text in file.

Its use is also demonstrated in example #9 of the New-Item documentation...

Example 9: Use the -Force parameter to overwrite existing files

This example creates a file with a value and then recreates the file using -Force. This overwrites The existing file and it will lose it's content as you can see by the length property

PS> New-Item ./TestFile.txt -ItemType File -Value 'This is just a test file'

    Directory: C:\Source\Test
Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
-a----         5/1/2020   8:32 AM             24 TestFile.txt

New-Item ./TestFile.txt -ItemType File -Force

    Directory: C:\Source\Test
Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
-a----         5/1/2020   8:32 AM              0 TestFile.txt

Omitting -Force from the second invocation of New-Item produces the error New-Item : The file '...\TestFile.txt' already exists..