PowerShell: cd dir* Pattern Matching Doesn't Work Due to -LiteralPath

[benzaria]

Description

In PowerShell, cd desk* does not work as expected when using zoxide. Normally, PowerShell supports wildcard expansion in paths, but zoxide restricts this behavior. Instead of navigating to a matching directory (e.g., Desktop), it fails or does not expand the pattern.

Important

Upon reviewing the implementation, the issue seems to be caused by the use of the -LiteralPath parameter in the __zoxide_cd function. -LiteralPath prevents wildcard expansion, which explains why commands like cd desk* do not work.

Expected Behavior

PowerShell’s cd desk* should work similarly to its native behavior, where it matches a directory using wildcard expansion (e.g., resolving desk* to Desktop).

Actual Behavior

The command does not work as expected because zoxide uses Set-Location -LiteralPath, which prevents wildcard expansion.

Suspected Cause

The issue appears to be due to the __zoxide_cd function in the PowerShell integration:

# __zoxide_cd :
param($dir, $literal)
$dir = if ($literal) {
    Set-Location -LiteralPath $dir -Passthru -ErrorAction Stop
} else {
   ...
}

Since -LiteralPath is used when $literal is true, it bypasses PowerShell's wildcard handling.

Suggested Fix

Consider modifying the function to allow wildcard expansion when applicable. Instead of -LiteralPath, using -Path should enable this functionality.
Or modify the function __zoxide_z, conditions to call __zoxide_cd with $literal = $false if the input contains wildcards.

# __zoxide_z :
...
 elseif ($args.Length -eq 1 -and ($args[0] -eq '-' -or $args[0] -eq '+')) {
        __zoxide_cd $args[0] $false
    }
    elseif ($args.Length -eq 1 -and (Test-Path $args[0] -PathType Container)) {
        __zoxide_cd $args[0] $true
    }
...

Environment

• OS: Windows 11
• PowerShell Version: 7.5.0
• zoxide Version: 0.9.7

Additional Notes

• This issue seems specific to PowerShell, as wildcard matching works differently in other shells (e.g., Bash).
• If -LiteralPath is required for other use cases, an alternative could be to conditionally use -Path when the input contains wildcards.