Script to Remove FOLDERS older than X days

[wisem2540]

So I have a couple directories where backups are created. The names of the folders are not uniform in any way (that I can see)

So I need to write something that can look at the modified/created date of the folder and remove it if its older than X days.

I have tried using a Forfiles command, which seems super easy, but I cant get it to work right on server 2003. I imgine most of the examples I have found are for windows 7. Does autoit have an easy way to do this?

[Melba23]

wisem2540,

FileGetTime also works on folders - so now you can find out when they were created.

Then _DateDiff should allow you to find out how many days ago they were created - but look carefully at the format you require as you will have to modify the return from FileGetTime (StringMid is what you need).

As to listing the folders in the first place, _FileListToArray will do that - but if you need to get to subfolders as well, take a look at the RecFileListToArray UDF in my sig.

Give it a go yourself - you know where we are if you run into problems.

M23

[wisem2540]

That looks to be slightly more complicated than I intended it to be. In any event, I am not against learning something new....

Just so you are aware, I do not have programming knowledge when it comes to simple things like Arrays.

Anyway, I put the first command in FileGetTime and it wants a file name. So I put *.* (because I want folders) but it doesnt appear I have a way to test this to see if it works....

Sorry to sound like a total noob here...

[Melba23]

wisem2540,

a total noob here

We all were at one time...so we will do this in stages.

FileGetTime requires a specific file/foldername as a parameter - *.* will not work.

_FileListToArray will list folders if they are all within a single folder - is that the case?

If so we can move on to how to loop through the returned list.

M23

[wisem2540]

I have a folder called C:Test

Inside of it I have folders with random names that are full of old backups. I need to look at these random named folders and eventually delete the ones that are 3 days or more old (so my drive doesnt fill up)

So my problem is, I cant really specify one folder because they are random. Would I specify TEST?

thanks for the help

[Melba23]

wisem2540,

Run this script and see if you can understand why it does what it does:

#include <File.au3>
#include <Array.au3>

Global $aList = _FileListToArray("C:Test", "*", 2)

_ArrayDisplay($sList)

Ask if you have any questions - but make sure you read the Help file first to see what the various parameters mean.

M23

[wisem2540]

After I fixed the typo, it works great .

I was researching that command a moment ago. So I do understand whats happening there. What is the next step?

[Melba23]

wisem2540,

After I fixed the typo, it works great

Oops!

So now we loop through the array and get the date of each folder:

#include <File.au3>

; put the root in a variable
$sRoot = "C:Test"

; We can use that variable here
Global $aList = _FileListToArray($sRoot, "*", 2)

; This is a loop that runs from 1 to the number of items listed in the first element of the returned  array
For $i = 1 To $aList[0]
    ; Here we display the folder name taken from the array and use FileGetTime to get the datetimegroup
    MsgBox(0, "Folder date", $sRoot & "" & $aList[$i] & @CRLF & @CRLF & FileGetTime($sRoot & "" & $aList[$i], 0, 1))
Next

Again ask if you cannot understand what is happening.

M23

[wisem2540]

Well it works...and I see message boxes. So most of the code I get.... but not really....

So I dont get the @CRLF reference, nor do I really get anything after the msgbox command....

also, it appears to also include the time... any way to surpress that? I only ask because it makes it hard to read...

In comes accross like this... 20120625140425

Obviously 140425 refers to time, but I dont really need that...

Edited June 26, 2012 by wisem2540

[Mechaflash]

@CRLF just means it's performing a carriage-return line-feed. Which is why you see the gap between lines of text in the msgbox.

There's still a couple additional steps you need. Can you guess what to do next?

(this is like a Disney Channel learning program XD)

Edited June 26, 2012 by mechaflash213

[Melba23]

wisem2540,

Look in the Help file - did I say that already?

MsgBox(0, "Folder date", $sRoot & "" & $aList[$i] & @CRLF & @CRLF & FileGetTime($sRoot & "" & $aList[$i], 0, 1))
       ^   ^             ^
       |   |             |
    flag,  title,        text

The text is made up as follows:

$sRoot                                         ; the variable containing the root folder
&                                              ; this adds the variosu parts together - "concatenation"
""                                            ; other wise we do not get a proper path
& 
$aList[$i]                                     ; the folder name from the array
& 
@CRLF                                          ; a newline
& 
@CRLF 
& 
FileGetTime($sRoot & "" & $aList[$i], 0, 1))  ; And the result of the function
            ^                          ^  ^
            |                          |  | 
            filename              option  format

Over to you.

M23

Edit:

mechaflash213,

Is that you volunteering to take over?

Edited June 26, 2012 by Melba23

[wisem2540]

Alright, I believe I am following. So I am assuming I have to create an array that also has the date/time in it?

[Melba23]

wisem2540,

No, you can do the work inside the loop for each folder in turn.

Once you have the returned value from FileGetTime (YYYYMMDDHHMMSS) you will need to reformat it to match the required format for _DateDiff (YYYY/MM/DD as you are only lookign at the days). As you can see you will need to add in the "/" characters - as I mentioned above, StringMid will be the way to go here.

Using the Help file example for StringMid, just try and convert this 20120626211300 into this 2012/06/26. See how you get on.

M23

[Mechaflash]

or just let FileGetTime() output it to an array, and format the array parts into a string XD.

If you're using SciTE to do your coding (which you should be... ) as you type a function like FileGetTime, mouseover it, F1, and it will show you the function's syntax and what the function returns.

@Melba and No =P

Edited June 26, 2012 by mechaflash213

[wisem2540]

I got that to work. I littlerally typed

Global $date = StringMid("2012/06/26119300", 1, 10)

MsgBox(0, "10 chars extracted from position 1 are:", $date)

and it was fine. Now what I need to do is pull the date from those folders

[AZJIO]

wisem2540

; http://www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/141609-old-files/#entry996385"]http://www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/141609-old-files/#entry996385

#include <Array.au3>
#include <FileOperations.au3>

Global $TimeDiff = 3600 * 24 * 3
$TimeCurrent = _NowCalc()

$FolderList = _FO_FolderSearch(@TempDir, '*')
_ArrayDisplay($FolderList, 'Folder = *')

$c = 0
For $i = 1 To $FolderList[0]
    $t = FileGetTime($FolderList[$i], 1)
    $sTime = $t[0] & '/' & $t[1] & '/' & $t[2] & ' ' & $t[3] & ':' & $t[4] & ':' & $t[5]
    If _DateDiff('s', $sTime, $TimeCurrent) > $TimeDiff Then
        $c += 1
        $FolderList[$c] = $FolderList[$i]
    EndIf
Next
ReDim $FolderList[$c + 1]
$FolderList[0] = $c
_ArrayDisplay($FolderList, '>3')

If MsgBox(4, '???', 'FileRecycle ?') = 6 Then
    $err = ''
    For $i = 1 To $FolderList[0]
        If Not FileRecycle($FolderList[$i]) Then
            $err &= $FolderList[$i] & @CRLF
        EndIf
    Next
    If $err Then MsgBox(0, 'Error', $err)
EndIf

Edited April 19, 2013 by AZJIO

[wisem2540]

While I apreciate your contribution of what looks like a fine tool..... I am actually more confused by it than anything....

[Mechaflash]

#include <Array.au3>
#include <File.au3>
#include <Date.au3>

; put the root in a variable
$sRoot = "C:Test"

; Retrieve a list of all the folders in $sRoot, and store that list as an array in $aList
Global $aList = _FileListToArray($sRoot, "*", 2) ; _FileListToArray("path" [, "Filter" [, Flag]])
; Look at what _FileListToArray() puts into $aList
; You can delete the below line after seeing the output for the first time
_ArrayDisplay($aList)

; This is a loop that runs from 1 to the number of items listed in the first element of the returned  array
For $i = 1 To $aList[0]
    ; For each folder, get the modified date/time and store its individual parts in array $aDate
    $aDate = FileGetTime($sRoot & $aList[$i], 0, 0) ; FileGetTime("filename" [, option [, format]])

    ; Look at what FileGetTime() puts into $aDate
    ; You can delete the below line after seeing the output for the first time
    _ArrayDisplay($aDate)

    ; Build the properly formatted date string for _DateDiff()'s needs
    $sDate = $aDate[0] & "/" & $aDate[1] & "/" & $aDate[2] ;0 index stores the year, 1 index stores month, 2 index stores day

    ; Look at what we made into $sDate
    ; You can delete the below line after seeing the output for the first time
    msgbox(0,"Check Output", $sDate)

    ; Use _DateDiff() to see if the difference is greater than 3 days, and if it's true, then delete the folder and all its subfolders
    If _DateDiff("D", $sDate, _NowCalcDate()) > 3 Then DirRemove($sRoot & $aList[$i], 1)
Next

Now where do I send my bill for this $100 course?

EDIT: Removed my $sToday string and used _NowCalcDate() directly in _DateDiff() function

Edited June 27, 2012 by mechaflash213

[wisem2540]

that script worked great with a few modifications ty so much. I do want to learn what I am missing here. Im going to take a look at the tutorial.

[bgruett]

#include <Array.au3>
#include <File.au3>
#include <Date.au3>

; put the root in a variable
$sRoot = "C:Test"

; Retrieve a list of all the folders in $sRoot, and store that list as an array in $aList
Global $aList = _FileListToArray($sRoot, "*", 2) ; _FileListToArray("path" [, "Filter" [, Flag]])
; Look at what _FileListToArray() puts into $aList
; You can delete the below line after seeing the output for the first time
_ArrayDisplay($aList)

; This is a loop that runs from 1 to the number of items listed in the first element of the returned array
For $i = 1 To $aList[0]
; For each folder, get the modified date/time and store its individual parts in array $aDate
$aDate = FileGetTime($sRoot & $aList[$i], 0, 0) ; FileGetTime("filename" [, option [, format]])

; Look at what FileGetTime() puts into $aDate
; You can delete the below line after seeing the output for the first time
_ArrayDisplay($aDate)

; Build the properly formatted date string for _DateDiff()'s needs
$sDate = $aDate[0] & "/" & $aDate[1] & "/" & $aDate[2] ;0 index stores the year, 1 index stores month, 2 index stores day

; Look at what we made into $sDate
; You can delete the below line after seeing the output for the first time
msgbox(0,"Check Output", $sDate)

; Use _DateDiff() to see if the difference is greater than 3 days, and if it's true, then delete the folder and all its subfolders
If _DateDiff("D", $sDate, _NowCalcDate()) > 3 Then DirRemove($sRoot & $aList[$i], 1)
Next

Now where do I send my bill for this $100 course?

EDIT: Removed my $sToday string and used _NowCalcDate() directly in _DateDiff() function

I tried this script because it was very well-documented and because it looked like it would achieve my own goals very nicely (that being to purge all folders greater than 3 days in a predesignated location). Unfortunately, every time I run it I get the following error:

==========================================================

[PATH TO AU3 FILE] (15) : ==> Subscript used with non-Array variable.:

$sDate = $aDate[0] & "/" & $aDate[1] & "/" & $aDate[2]

$sDate = $aDate^ ERROR

==========================================================

The '[PATH TO AU3 FILE] is the local path to the .au3 file I'm testing with (the file into which I copied your code).

I did some searching on this, and I'm not sure what's causing the issue. Some people say that empty directories will do it, but all of my folders have content. Right now I'm only testing against a local folder with some generic subfolders and files, so this isn't in production yet.

Even though most of what's in the script is over my head, it seems to make sense. I'm really not sure why I'm getting this error.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Bob

Edited July 13, 2012 by bgruett