Delete file by date function or script?

[Eagle117]

I am getting ready to write something for my company that will delete files from a few directories after they are 2 weeks old. I wanted to check and see if there was a function or a script that would do this for me automatically before I spend the time doing it myself. Anyone aware of something that can do this?

[Xandl]

Hello,

maybe try unixtools from http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/.

Find is your friend:

Using "find -mtime 14", you will get all files older than 14 days,

in all subdirectories. You might want to redirect the output to a file, and process it later.

Another possibility is to use rm from the tools:

"find -mtime +14 -exec rm {} ;"

will remove all files older than 14 days.

Play around with find to find out more. Find --help shows its switches.

ciao

Xandl

PS: one thing might be good to mention: be aware that this find tool is the same name as

windows find, residing in the path environment setting. So you can be in trouble quite easy.

In this case, I would use a batch file, and set a temp path like this test_dir.cmd:

setlocal
set path=D:\winprog\unixutil;%path%
find -mtime +14 -exec ls -l {};
endlocal

Edited December 12, 2007 by Xandl

[weaponx]

I modified my recursive file search to find the files to delete. I didn't actually write the deletion code, you should be able to figure it out.

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#cs ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
        
         AutoIt Version: 3.2.10.0
         Author:         WeaponX
        
         Script Function:
            Recursive file search (array based, no redimensioning)
            
            Return files last modified 2 or more weeks ago
          
            Notes:
            -Second fastest by a slim margin (a few milliseconds)
        
    #ce ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
#include <array.au3>
#Include <Date.au3>
$timestamp = TimerInit()
$Array = RecursiveFileSearch(@ScriptDir, "", false)
MsgBox(0,"",(TimerDiff($timestamp) / 1000) & " seconds" & @CRLF & "# of files: " & $Array[0] & @CRLF & Ubound($Array));0.1063s / 2090 files
_ArrayDisplay($Array)
    
;startdir: Path to starting folder, without trailing slash
;RFSpattern: RegEx pattern to match
;RFSRecurse: Recurse subfolders, True / False
Func RecursiveFileSearch($startDir, $RFSpattern = ".", $RFSRecurse = true, $depth = 0)
  
    If $depth = 0 Then
        ;Get count of all files in subfolders
        $RFSfilecount = DirGetSize ($startDir,1)
        Global $RFSarray[$RFSfilecount[1] + 1]
        If StringRight($startDir, 1) <> "\" Then $startDir &= "\"
        $RFSarray[0] = 0
    EndIf
  
    $search = FileFindFirstFile($startDir & "*.*")
    If @error Then Return
  
    ;Search through all files and folders in directory
    While 1
        $next = FileFindNextFile($search)
        If @error Then ExitLoop
      
        ;If folder, recurse
        If StringInStr(FileGetAttrib($startDir & $next), "D") AND $RFSRecurse Then
            RecursiveFileSearch($startDir & $next, $RFSpattern, $depth + 1)
        Else
            ;Return file last modified time as array
            $filetime = FileGetTime ($startDir & $next, 0, 0)
            
            ;Return number of weeks since file was modified
            $diff = _DateDiff( 'w',$filetime[0] & "/" & $filetime[1] & "/" & $filetime[2] & " " & $filetime[3] & ":" & $filetime[4] & ":" & $filetime[5],_NowCalc())
            
            ;Only return files 2 weeks or older
            If StringRegExp($next,$RFSpattern, 0) AND $diff >= 2 Then
                ConsoleWrite($next & ": " & FileGetAttrib($startDir & $next) & " Age:" & $diff & @CRLF)    
                
                ;Append filename to array
                $RFSarray[$RFSarray[0] + 1] = $startDir & $next
                  
                ;Increment filecount
                $RFSarray[0] += 1
            EndIf
        EndIf
    WEnd
    FileClose($search)
  
    If $depth = 0 Then
        Redim $RFSarray[$RFSarray[0] + 1]
        Return $RFSarray
    EndIf
EndFunc

[Valuater]

Deletion code in a GUI

... Maybe you can use the search function from weapon

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#include <GuiConstantsEx.au3>
#include <Date.au3>

; user input - maybe an array
; for $x.. blah, blah
$File_one = @WindowsDir & "\Notepad.exe"   ; older ?
$File_two = @WindowsDir & "\Notepad.exe"   ; newer ?
; next ..blah,blah

; GUI Based
$f = FileGetTime($File_one, 1)
$s = FileGetTime($File_two, 1)

; Create GUI
$hGUI = GUICreate("Compare File Time", 425, 300)
$iMemo = GUICtrlCreateEdit("", 2, 2, 420, 250, $WS_VSCROLL)
GUICtrlSetFont($iMemo, 9, 400, 0, "Courier New")
$delete = GUICtrlCreateButton("Replace File #1 with File #2 ", 40, 260, 150, 30)
GUICtrlSetState($delete, $GUI_DISABLE)
$next = GUICtrlCreateButton("Next", 240, 260, 150, 30)
GUISetState()

; Compare FAT Dates/Times
$tFileTime1 = _Date_Time_DosDateTimeToFileTime ($f[0] & "/" & $f[1] & "/" & $f[2], $f[3] & ":" & $f[4] & ":" & $f[5]) ; 01/01/2007 02:15:30
$tFileTime2 = _Date_Time_DosDateTimeToFileTime ($s[0] & "/" & $s[1] & "/" & $s[2], $s[3] & ":" & $s[4] & ":" & $s[5]) ; 12/31/2007 18:34:20
$pFiletime1 = DllStructGetPtr($tFileTime1)
$pFiletime2 = DllStructGetPtr($tFileTime2)

$result = _Date_Time_CompareFileTime ($pFiletime1, $pFiletime2)
If $result = 0 Then $result = "First file time is equal to second file time" 
If $result = 1 Then $result = "First file time is later than second file time" 
If $result = -1 Then $result = "First file time is earlier than second file time" 
$date_dif = _DateDiff('d', $f[2] & "/" & $f[1] & "/" & $f[0] & " " & $f[5] & ":" & $f[4] & ":" & $f[3], $s[2] & "/" & $s[1] & "/" & $s[0] & " " & $s[5] & ":" & $s[4] & ":" & $s[3])
GUICtrlSetData($iMemo, $result & @CRLF & "The days different is " & $date_dif & @CRLF, 1)

If $result = "First file time is earlier than second file time"  And $date_dif > 14 Then GUICtrlSetState($delete, $GUI_ENABLE)

; Loop until user exits
Do
    $msg = GUIGetMsg()
    
    If $msg = $delete Then
        ;FileDelete($File_one)
        ;FileCopy($File_two, $File_one, 1)
    EndIf
    If $msg = $next Then ExitLoop ; exit or returns to the file listed to an array
    
Until $msg = $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE

8)

[randallc]

Hi

@WeaponX

Good func; but why modify your search?;

I would just make the array ,of all files in subfolders, usingy our FileList UDF, then loop through the array to decide the dates and which to delete?

@Val;

Looks good too; but aren't the new funcs redundant?

Why do you need "_Date_Time_DosDateTimeToFileTime" and "_Date_Time_CompareFileTime" when you are going to use "DateDiff" anyway?

Best, randall

[weaponx]

Hi

@WeaponX

Good func; but why modify your search?;

I would just make the array ,of all files in subfolders, usingy our FileList UDF, then loop through the array to decide the dates and which to delete?

@Val;

Looks good too; but aren't the new funcs redundant?

Why do you need "_Date_Time_DosDateTimeToFileTime" and "_Date_Time_CompareFileTime" when you are going to use "DateDiff" anyway?

Best, randall

Hey I just thought you needed a one trick pony.

[ghetek]

I modified my recursive file search to find the files to delete. I didn't actually write the deletion code, you should be able to figure it out.

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#cs ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
        
         AutoIt Version: 3.2.10.0
         Author:         WeaponX
        
         Script Function:
            Recursive file search (array based, no redimensioning)
            
            Return files last modified 2 or more weeks ago
          
            Notes:
            -Second fastest by a slim margin (a few milliseconds)
        
    #ce ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
#include <array.au3>
#Include <Date.au3>
$timestamp = TimerInit()
$Array = RecursiveFileSearch(@ScriptDir, "", false)
MsgBox(0,"",(TimerDiff($timestamp) / 1000) & " seconds" & @CRLF & "# of files: " & $Array[0] & @CRLF & Ubound($Array));0.1063s / 2090 files
_ArrayDisplay($Array)
    
;startdir: Path to starting folder, without trailing slash
;RFSpattern: RegEx pattern to match
;RFSRecurse: Recurse subfolders, True / False
Func RecursiveFileSearch($startDir, $RFSpattern = ".", $RFSRecurse = true, $depth = 0)
  
    If $depth = 0 Then
        ;Get count of all files in subfolders
        $RFSfilecount = DirGetSize ($startDir,1)
        Global $RFSarray[$RFSfilecount[1] + 1]
        If StringRight($startDir, 1) <> "\" Then $startDir &= "\"
        $RFSarray[0] = 0
    EndIf
  
    $search = FileFindFirstFile($startDir & "*.*")
    If @error Then Return
  
    ;Search through all files and folders in directory
    While 1
        $next = FileFindNextFile($search)
        If @error Then ExitLoop
      
        ;If folder, recurse
        If StringInStr(FileGetAttrib($startDir & $next), "D") AND $RFSRecurse Then
            RecursiveFileSearch($startDir & $next, $RFSpattern, $depth + 1)
        Else
            ;Return file last modified time as array
            $filetime = FileGetTime ($startDir & $next, 0, 0)
            
            ;Return number of weeks since file was modified
            $diff = _DateDiff( 'w',$filetime[0] & "/" & $filetime[1] & "/" & $filetime[2] & " " & $filetime[3] & ":" & $filetime[4] & ":" & $filetime[5],_NowCalc())
            
            ;Only return files 2 weeks or older
            If StringRegExp($next,$RFSpattern, 0) AND $diff >= 2 Then
                ConsoleWrite($next & ": " & FileGetAttrib($startDir & $next) & " Age:" & $diff & @CRLF)    
                
                ;Append filename to array
                $RFSarray[$RFSarray[0] + 1] = $startDir & $next
                  
                ;Increment filecount
                $RFSarray[0] += 1
            EndIf
        EndIf
    WEnd
    FileClose($search)
  
    If $depth = 0 Then
        Redim $RFSarray[$RFSarray[0] + 1]
        Return $RFSarray
    EndIf
EndFunc

what kind of magic do i need to get the depth variable working? i error out whenever i change the value from 0 to 5

[weaponx]

what kind of magic do i need to get the depth variable working? i error out whenever i change the value from 0 to 5

You don't set that variable. That is only used internally so the function know what recursion depth its at.