How do I delete old files from a directory while keeping the most recent ones on Windows [duplicate]
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09-06-2019 - |
Question
Possible Duplicate:
Batch file to delete files older than N days
I want to run a scheduled windows task that deletes all files from a directory that are older than 2 weeks.
The reason is that these are IIS and Tomcat logs that fill up my server, but I want to keep the most recent logs in case I need to investigate a problem.
Does any one know an easy way to do this?
Cheers
Nige
Solution
exact syntax: FORFILES /p d:\new /d -30 /m * /c "cmd /c del @file"
OTHER TIPS
The simplest way would be a .bat run file run weekly or monthly.
cd \mylog\dir
mkdir archive
del /Q .\archive\*.log
move *.log .\archive
If you want something more complex look into downloading the cygwin tools to use un*x like commands, or possibly look into Powershell.
With VBScript, adapted from ScriptingAnswers
Dim fso, startFolder, OlderThanDate
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
startFolder = "E:\temp" ' folder to start deleting (subfolders will also be cleaned)
OlderThanDate = DateAdd("d", -07, Date) ' 07 days (adjust as necessary)
DeleteOldFiles startFolder, OlderThanDate
Function DeleteOldFiles(folderName, BeforeDate)
Dim folder, file, fileCollection, folderCollection, subFolder
Set folder = fso.GetFolder(folderName)
Set fileCollection = folder.Files
For Each file In fileCollection
If file.DateLastModified < BeforeDate Then
' fso.DeleteFile(file.Path) # Modify this to delete after testing
WScript.StdOut.WriteLine (file.Path)
End If
Next
Set folderCollection = folder.SubFolders
For Each subFolder In folderCollection
DeleteOldFiles subFolder.Path, BeforeDate
Next
End Function
You can run this script with CScript
@Jason: nice utility, FORFILES from the Resource Kit
Schedule a batch file to handle this.
This line will delete all files (*.*) in c:\mydirectory that are older than 14 days:
FORFILES -pc:\mydirectory -s -m*.* -d-14 -c"DEL @FILE"
Put that in a text file, rename it to something like "deletefiles.bat" and schedule it.
I haven't tested this, but should be easy enough to try.
EDIT: If you use this, make sure you understand what is happening - the -s flag tells it to recurse the subdirectories, and that may not be what you want to happen. Also, you may need to specify some flags for the DEL command too. :)
EDIT: Realized that you need to download stuff from Microsoft in order for FORFILES to work. I like the accepted solution too, since you don't have to have anything special. The only problem is that it only happens every two weeks instead of running a process daily to remove all things older than 14 days. For what that's worth. :P
Why dont you write a batch file or a powershell script and schedule it?
Script for deleting files older than a specified date.
It's fairly trivial to do if you have a perl (or similar) installed on the server:
#!perl
foreach my $file (</path/to/logs/*.log>) {
next unless -M $file > 14;
print "Deleting $file...\n";
# unlink $file or die "Failed to remove $file: $!";
}
The line that actually does the delete is commented out, since there might be kids in the house :)