If a URL points to a file, you may want to extract its name for use in a script. Query parameters and fragments can make simple string splitting inconvenient. PowerShell’s [uri] type gives you access to the individual parts of a URL.

Create a URI Object

Assign the URL to a variable typed as [uri]:

[uri]$Uri = 'https://some-server.com/Path/To/File.txt?someQueryParameter=123#Heading1'

PowerShell converts the string into a System.Uri object. This lets you inspect the host, path, query, and fragment separately, without contacting the server.

Inspect the URL Components

Display the properties relevant to this example:

$Uri | Select-Object AbsolutePath, AbsoluteUri, PathAndQuery,
    Segments, Host, Port, Query, Fragment, Scheme | Format-List

Output (line wrapping depends on the console width):

AbsolutePath : /Path/To/File.txt
AbsoluteUri  : https://some-server.com/Path/To/File.txt?someQueryParameter=123#Heading1
PathAndQuery : /Path/To/File.txt?someQueryParameter=123
Segments     : {/, Path/, To/, File.txt}
Host         : some-server.com
Port         : 443
Query        : ?someQueryParameter=123
Fragment     : #Heading1
Scheme       : https

AbsolutePath contains only the path. The query parameter and fragment are available through Query and Fragment, so they do not become part of the file name.

Extract the File Name

Use Split-Path with -Leaf to get the final component of the path:

$FileName = Split-Path -Path $Uri.AbsolutePath -Leaf
$FileName

Output:

File.txt

This extracts the name from the URL path; it does not check whether the file exists or determine a file name supplied by the server in a download response. Use it when the URL path itself contains the file name you need.

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