Retrieving Items

This page covers all the methods for finding and retrieving Sitecore items using SPE. Whether you need a single item or a collection, SPE provides flexible query options to meet your needs.

Core Cmdlets

Get-Item

Use Get-Item to retrieve a single item or items matching a query. This cmdlet throws an error if the item doesn't exist (unless using queries that may return zero results).

Key uses:

• Retrieve a single item by path

• Query items using Sitecore query

• Get items by ID or URI

Get-ChildItem

Use Get-ChildItem to retrieve children and descendants of an item. This cmdlet is ideal for traversing content trees.

Key uses:

• List immediate children

• Recursively traverse item trees

• Filter by template or other properties

Dynamic Parameters

SPE extends the standard PowerShell cmdlets with dynamic parameters. These appear when you specify a Sitecore database path:

Parameter	Description	Available On	Example
AmbiguousPaths	Show all items matching ambiguous criteria	Get-Item	-AmbiguousPaths
Database	Specify database when using ID	Get-Item	-Database "master"
ID	Match item by GUID	Get-Item, Get-ChildItem	-ID "{110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9}"
Language	Specify language versions	Get-Item, Get-ChildItem	-Language "en-US" or -Language *
Query	Execute Sitecore query	Get-Item	-Query "/sitecore/content//*"
Uri	Match item by ItemUri	Get-Item	-Uri "sitecore://master/{GUID}?lang=en&ver=1"
Version	Specify item versions	Get-Item, Get-ChildItem	-Version 2 or -Version *
WithParent	Include parent in results	Get-ChildItem	-WithParent

Retrieving by Path

The most common way to retrieve items is by their Sitecore path.

Example: Retrieve an item by path.

Get-Item -Path "master:\content\home"

Output:

Name Children Language Version Id                                     TemplateName
---- -------- -------- ------- --                                     ------------
Home True     en       2       {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} Sample Item

The /sitecore portion of the path is optional. Both master:\content\home and master:\sitecore\content\home work identically.

Example: The C# equivalent for reference.

Sitecore.Data.Database master = Sitecore.Configuration.Factory.GetDatabase("master");
Sitecore.Data.Items.Item item = master.GetItem("/sitecore/content/home");

Working with Languages

Retrieve items in specific languages or all languages using the -Language parameter with wildcards.

When working with multi-language sites, you may find that specifying the -Language parameter results in a more consistent behavior.

Example: Retrieve the Danish version of an item.

Get-Item -Path "master:\content\home" -Language "da" |
    Format-Table DisplayName, Language, Id, Version, TemplateName

Output:

DisplayName Language ID                                     Version TemplateName
----------- -------- --                                     ------- ------------
Hjem        da       {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} 1       Sample Item

Example: Retrieve latest version for all languages.

Get-Item -Path "master:\content\home" -Language * |
    Format-Table DisplayName, Language, Id, Version, TemplateName

Output:

DisplayName Language ID                                     Version TemplateName
----------- -------- --                                     ------- ------------
Home        en       {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} 1       Sample Item
Home        de-DE    {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} 1       Sample Item
Home        pl-PL    {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} 1       Sample Item
Home        en-US    {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} 3       Sample Item
Home        en-GB    {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} 1       Sample Item
Hjem        da       {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} 1       Sample Item

Working with Versions

Retrieve specific versions or all versions using the -Version parameter.

Example: Retrieve all versions in all languages.

Get-Item -Path "master:\content\home" -Language * -Version * |
    Format-Table DisplayName, Language, Id, Version, TemplateName

Output:

DisplayName Language ID                                     Version TemplateName
----------- -------- --                                     ------- ------------
Home        en       {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} 1       Sample Item
Home        de-DE    {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} 1       Sample Item
Home        pl-PL    {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} 1       Sample Item
Home        en-US    {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} 1       Sample Item
Home        en-US    {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} 2       Sample Item
Home        en-US    {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} 3       Sample Item
Home        en-GB    {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} 1       Sample Item
Hjem        da       {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} 1       Sample Item

Example: Using wildcards for partial matches (all English variants).

Get-Item -Path "master:\content\home" -Language "en","en-*"

Retrieving Children

Use Get-ChildItem to retrieve an item's children, with optional recursion.

Example: Retrieve immediate children only.

Get-ChildItem -Path "master:\content"

Example: Retrieve all descendants recursively.

Get-ChildItem -Path "master:\content\home" -Recurse

Example: Retrieve children in all languages and versions.

Get-ChildItem -Path "master:\content" -Language * -Version * |
    Format-Table DisplayName, Language, Id, Version, TemplateName

Retrieving by ID

Use the -ID parameter to retrieve items by their GUID. This is useful when you know the item ID but not its path.

Example: Retrieve an item by ID.

Get-Item -Path "master:" -ID "{110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9}" -Language *

Output:

Name Children Language Version Id                                     TemplateName
---- -------- -------- ------- --                                     ------------
Home True     en       3       {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} Sample Item
Home True     en-CA    2       {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} Sample Item

When using -ID, you must specify the database path (e.g., master:) to activate the dynamic parameter.

Retrieving by URI

ItemUri encodes the database, item ID, language, and version in a single string.

Example: Retrieve an item by URI.

Get-Item -Path "master:" -Uri "sitecore://master/{110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9}?lang=en&ver=1"

Output:

Name Children Language Version Id                                     TemplateName
---- -------- -------- ------- --                                     ------------
Home True     en       1       {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} Sample Item

Sitecore Query

Use Sitecore query to find items matching complex criteria. This is more efficient than traversing the tree when you need specific items.

Sitecore query paths containing reserved keywords or spaces require # delimiters: #path with spaces#

Example: Find all items with a specific template.

Get-Item -Path "master:" -Query "/sitecore/content//*[@@templatename='Sample Item']"

Output:

Name          Children Language Version Id                                     TemplateName
----          -------- -------- ------- --                                     ------------
Home          True     en       3       {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} Sample Item
Contact       False    en       1       {357D85DB-4F6C-42AF-B9A0-C232FD86F679} Sample Item
History       False    en       1       {49D54DA4-EEB9-463B-AB19-BD8647270442} Sample Item
Team          False    en       1       {2E4F7BBB-C71C-4CBC-BBA1-B4C05F946138} Sample Item
BulkItem1     False    en       1       {81E660ED-0207-4C1F-BCEF-DAD9286B4E02} Sample Item

Example: Query with language and version wildcards.

Get-Item -Path "master:" -Query "/sitecore/content//*[@@templatename='Sample Item']" -Language * -Version * |
    Format-Table DisplayName, Language, Id, Version, TemplateName -AutoSize

Example: Query using dates (ISO format required) filtering by the publishing restriction where the item (not version) has a future date.

$isoDate = [Sitecore.DateUtil]::ToIsoDate([datetime]::Today)
Get-Item -Path "master:" -Query "/sitecore/content/home//*[@__Publish > '$($isoDate)']" |
    Show-ListView -Property ID, Name, ItemPath

Fast Query

Sitecore has deprecated this functionality in XM/XP 10.1.

XPath with Axes

For complex queries using XPath axes, use the Sitecore API directly or prepend the context path.

Example: Use XPath axes to find ancestors.

$query = "ancestor-or-self::*[@@templatename='Sample Item']"

# Option 1: Use Axes directly on an item
$SitecoreContextItem.Axes.SelectItems($query)

# Option 2: Prepend the context path to the query
Get-Item -Path "master:" -Query "$($SitecoreContextItem.Paths.Path)/$query"

Custom Property Sets

Use custom property sets with Select-Object to retrieve specific groups of properties.

Example: Retrieve security properties using PSSecurity.

Get-Item -Path "master:\content\home" | Select-Object -Property PSSecurity

Output:

Name ID                                     __Owner        __Security
---- --                                     -------        ----------
Home {110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9} sitecore\Admin ar|sitecore\Developer|pd|+item:read|pe|+item:read|

Check out Item Security to learn about managing the security settings using SPE.

Example: Retrieve template information using PSTemplate.

Get-Item -Path "master:" -ID "{04DAD0FD-DB66-4070-881F-17264CA257E1}" | Select-Object -Property PSTemplate

Output:

Name  ID                                     BaseTemplate
----  --                                     ------------
cover {04DAD0FD-DB66-4070-881F-17264CA257E1} {Image, File, Standard template, Advanced...}

Example: Retrieve image metadata using PSImage.

Get-Item -Path "master:\media library\Default Website\cover" | Select-Object -Property PSImage

Output:

Name      : cover
ID        : {04DAD0FD-DB66-4070-881F-17264CA257E1}
Alt       :
Width     : 1600
Height    : 550
Extension : jpg
Size      : 119719

Example: Retrieve schedule information using PSSchedule.

Get-Item -Path "master:\system\Tasks\Schedules\Forms\FileStorageCleanup" |
    Select-Object -Property PSSchedule

Output:

Name     : FileStorageCleanup
ID       : {3D8F6795-1C4E-462D-8A81-BE27B1AEC5BD}
Schedule : 20190101|99990101|127|24:00:00
Last run : 11/29/2025 4:46:29 AM
Command  : {D4ADAD17-E648-4FDC-BC4C-43F9D1513720}
Items    :

Using Initialize-Item

If you retrieve items using the Sitecore API directly, wrap them with Initialize-Item to add SPE's automatic properties.

Example: Query using Sitecore API and wrap with SPE properties.

# Get the root node using Get-Item, then call Axes
$mediaItemContainer = Get-Item -Path "master:\media library"
$items = $mediaItemContainer.Axes.GetDescendants() |
    Where-Object { [int]$_.Fields["Size"].Value -gt 100000 } |
    Initialize-Item

Common Retrieval Patterns

Pattern: Find Items by Template

# Using Get-ChildItem with filtering
Get-ChildItem -Path "master:\content\home" -Recurse |
    Where-Object { $_.TemplateName -eq "Sample Item" }

# Using Sitecore query (more efficient for large trees)
Get-Item -Path "master:" -Query "/sitecore/content/home//*[@@templatename='Sample Item']"

Pattern: Find Recently Modified Items

$cutoffDate = (Get-Date).AddDays(-7)
Get-ChildItem -Path "master:\content" -Recurse |
    Where-Object { $_.__Updated -gt $cutoffDate }

Pattern: Find Items by Field Value

# Using Where-Object
Get-ChildItem -Path "master:\content\home" -Recurse |
    Where-Object { $_.Title -like "*Welcome*" }

# Using Sitecore query
Get-Item -Path "master:" -Query "/sitecore/content/home//*[contains(@Title, 'Welcome')]"

Pattern: Get All Media Items Above Size Threshold

Get-ChildItem -Path "master:\media library" -Recurse |
    Where-Object { $_.Size -gt 1MB } |
    Select-Object Name, Size, Extension, ItemPath

Performance Tips

• Use Sitecore query when you need specific items from a large tree

• Use Get-ChildItem for small trees or when you need all items

• Filter early - use query predicates instead of Where-Object when possible

• Limit language/version retrieval - only use -Language * and -Version * when necessary

See Also

• Editing Items - Update item properties and fields

• Best Practices - Performance optimization guidance

• Appendix - Common Commands - Full cmdlet reference

References

• Performance details for different query methods

• Escaping queries with reserved keywords

• Working with Sitecore Items in PowerShell Extensions