Must Powershell modules be placed in separate folders?

Question

Using PowerShell 2.0

According to what I've read online, user-created powershell modules must each reside in their own directory. For example if I create a module called MyModule.psm1 it must reside in a folder called MyModule and reside in any directory listed in $env:PSModulePath.

If I have many modules for a project, it seems silly to me to have to create a separate folder for each one. Is this really necessary? Why? Any elegant way around it?

Answer 1

If you want to just have the .psm1 file, you can import it by giving the path to the file itself rather than just the name of the module.

For example:

import-module c:\mymodules\folder\themodule.psm1

With this technique you can have as many modules as you want in the same folder. I don't know that I'd recommend this, but it does work.

Answer 2

PowerShell modules can consist of more than one file, for instance for providing multi-language help or by splitting the functionality into several files. So yes, it's necessary.