Batch file to delete files by age

Question

I have a directory that is set up as \server\\year\month\day\x, .../y and .../z. I need a batch file that will delete videos located in the x folder in each user's directory for each month day and year based on a retention period (IE 60 days). Then delete the files in Y based on a different period (IE 730 days)

I have forfiles -p "\\server\username\year\month\day\x" -s -m *.* -d -60 -c "cmd /c del @path" but I am not sure how to do the loop in the path to search all of the sub directories from the network folder to find only the X folders.

Is there a way to do this without using the created on date attribute, just in case the camera's date/time was incorrect when the video was taken. Thanks in advance for the help! (If anyone knows a syntax that I could research I would greatly appreciate it)

Welcome to Super User. We are not a script writing service. We expect users to tell us what they have tried so far (including any scripts they are using) and where they're stuck so that we can help with specific problems. Questions that only ask for scripts are too broad and are likely to be put on hold or closed. Please read How do I ask a good question?. — DavidPostill, Oct 22 '15 at 17:56
Possible duplicate of using FORFILES in batch to delete tmp and bak files older than a week, Delete files older than 7 days in folder and its subfolder, Delete all files older than 365 days, but exclude certain folders — Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007, Oct 22 '15 at 17:59
I have forfiles -p "\\server\username\year\month\day\x\" -s -m *.* -d -60 -c "cmd /c del @path" but I am not sure how to do the loop in the path to search all of the sub directories from the network folder to find all of the X folders. Sorry for the vague question, i was hoping for a suggestion on the syntex that I could research further. — Justin, Oct 22 '15 at 18:21
Try for /F "delims=" %G in ('dir /b /s /a:D "\\server\username\x"') do @echo forfiles /P "%~G" ... and while debugged remove echo — JosefZ, Oct 24 '15 at 11:04

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 24 '15 at 11:32

0

forfiles doesn't accept UNC paths AFAIK, you need to associate that network address to a drive letter ("S:" as Server, for instance)

net use S: \\server\username\year\month\day\ /PERSISTENT:YES

Then test your first command, by using echo instead of del as @JosefZ suggested on his comment:

forfiles -p S:\x -s -d -60 -c "cmd /c if @isdir==FALSE echo @path"

You don't need the generic mask *.*, that's implicit. Use the -m switch just to filter specific file classes (ex. *.mp4).

Once you're happy with the results, go for it:

forfiles -p S:\x -s -d -60 -c "cmd /c if @isdir==FALSE del /f @path"

forfiles -p S:\y -s -d -730 -c "cmd /c if @isdir==FALSE del /f @path"

answered Oct 24 '15 at 11:32

SΛLVΘ

1,405

This works great for the one day and I can make it work with:`net use z: "\server...\day" /PERSISTENT:NO
forfiles -p "z:\x" -s -d -60 -c "cmd /c if @isdir==FALSE del @path" forfiles -p "z:\y" -s -d -730 -c "cmd /c if @isdir==FALSE del @path" net use z: /DELETE /YES` then move on to the next day and do it again but I am concerned that running this for all 365 days for each user will cause some performance issues.
– Justin Oct 24 '15 at 21:07
I broke it down to check each month with `for /f "tokens=*" %%G in ('dir /b /s /a:D "\server\username\2015\12 December??"') do (net use z: "%%G"
/PERSISTENT:NO forfiles -p "z:\x" -s -d -60 -c "cmd /c if @isdir==FALSE echo @path" net use z: /DELETE /YES)`
– Justin Oct 25 '15 at 00:41
@Justin, I cannot reproduce in detail what you are trying to do, as you did not give enough... details. Just a couple of hints: check pushd /? and popd /?, I think they work better for what you are trying to achieve; multiple commands on a line need to be separated by &. – SΛLVΘ Oct 25 '15 at 10:42

Batch file to delete files by age

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