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Why does ls work in GitShell, but ls -a or ls -la not work?

I started using GitShell on my Windows 7 computer in order to try to get a script to work properly. When I type ls into the shell, it works fine and displays the file. When I type ls -a, or ls -la it gives me this error - 

Get-ChildItem : A parameter cannot be found that matches parameter name 'a'.
At line:1 char:6
+ ls -a <<<<
+ CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (:) [Get-ChildItem], ParameterB
indingException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : NamedParameterNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Comm
ands.GetChildItemCommand

My co-worker is using the commands on her identical computer just fine. What could the problem be?

Solution

  • This is because you're typing commands into PowerShell not GitShell.

    PowerShell does have a ls command but it's an alias of Get-ChildItem which doesn't have the same switches as the ls command as found in unix shells.