Git clone to home directory with Powershell

Question

I used to work with cmd.exe on Win 10, but recently switched to Powershell.
With cmd.exe both

cd %USERPROFILE%\example 

and

git clone https://github.com/user/example.git %USERPROFILE%\example  

work like intended. Since %USERPROFILE% does not work in Powershell, I use ~ instead.

However, when I'm for instance in C: and enter the command cd ~/example in Powershell, I will end up in the folder C:\Users\JohnDoe\example (as intended).

But when I run

git clone https://github.com/user/example.git ~/example

the repo gets cloned not to my home directory, but to C:\~\example.

Is there a way to use ~ with the git clone command in Powershell?

Solution

That is strange. You could create the directory first, then use tab completion: C:\> mkdir ~/example C:\> git clone https://github.com/user/example.git ~/ex<[Tab]> C:\> git clone https://github.com/user/example.git C:\Users\Josh\example

or use the $HOME variable: C:\> git clone https://github.com/user/example.git $HOME/example

Comments

[user364455]

git clone https://github.com/user/example.git $ExecutionContext.SessionState.Path.GetUnresolvedProviderPat‌​hFromPSPath('~/examp‌​le')

[SimonS]

or you just use $env:userprofile instead of %userprofile%

[jost21]

Thank you! Although $ExectionContext.... would take even more typing than just the normal path ;) I guess I will go with $env:userprofile for now, but it would be nice if ~ works in all cases

[jost21]

I assume this is because of git, or is the culprit Windows/Powershell?

[SimonS]

why would you need to use ~ when $env:userprofile works as intended?

[SimonS]

if you really need it, you can use $((resolve-path ~\Example).Path)

[jost21]

I don't need to use ~, it would just be nice if it worked (since it already partially works). And I'm used to it on my linux machine