Comments on: Delete Files Older Than Date Using Batch Files

By: ObiWanKenobi

ObiWanKenobi — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 09:05:00 +0000

I use FileDestroyer
http://sourceforge.net/projects/filedestroyer/

Here is a short tutorial:

http://arturito.net/2010/07/13/file-destroyer-clean-upfree-up-disk-space-and-deleting-files-or-folders-after-a-certain-period-of-time/

Usage:

FileDestroyer.exe -scan “D:\SQLBackup” -ext bak -log “D:\Logs\” –days 2

This command scans folder “D:\SQLBackup” looks for extension .bak and removes backups/files older than 2 days and it logs everything in D:\Logs\

It also supports UNC Paths (\\server1\shared\backups\)

(Disclaimer: I’m the author of this utility)

By: Mike-Win2003Server

Mike-Win2003Server — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:36:20 +0000

This worked for me Win 2003 Server:

REM displays all the files older than 180 days from the X:\exene folder
FORFILES /P X:\exene /M *.xml /S /D -180 /C “cmd /c echo @file”

REM deletes all the files older than 180 days from the X:\exene folder
FORFILES /P X:\exene /M *.xml /S /D -180 /C “cmd /c del @file”

By: Frustrated Tech

Frustrated Tech — Tue, 03 May 2011 17:20:57 +0000

Forfiles -pC:\backup -s -m*.* -d-5 -c “cmd /c del /q @path”

Worked great for me. Saved my life! Thanks a ton.

By: Stan

Stan — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:35:26 +0000

I had the same problem but I get it resolved once I removed the “echo” word from the command line. It should work nicely.

By: The Database Zealot

The Database Zealot — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:31:27 +0000

@Rons – I use this to delete files with no extension:

forfiles /p D:\backups /s /d -5 /c “cmd /c del /q @PATH\@FILE”

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:46:58 +0000

Previous comment says no spaces, in these cases using quotes fixing that issue.

FORFILES /P “C:\TEST\TEST\TEST” /M *.dat /D -5 /C “cmd /c del /q @PATH”

For those of you from other languages might like this batch function method. Basically you do a call to the label %1 is first argument. You don’t leave the batch file… Fun Trick.

CALL:DELETE “C:\test”

GOTO:EOF

ELETE

DEL /q %1

GOTO:EOF

By: delete files older than x days | andrewlaihk

delete files older than x days | andrewlaihk — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:12:28 +0000

[...] http://scottelkin.com/programming/delete-files-older-than-date-using-batch-files/ [...]

By: Rons

Rons — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 21:37:23 +0000

I’m having issues trying to delete files with no extension. The ForFiles batch file seems to skip if I just do *.*. I tried specifing a file typ and got rid of the /M switch and then I get prompted if I’m sure I want to delete wit a Yes/No. having to input Yes/No invalidates the batch process. How can I modify this to delete files with no extension?

By: Howard

Howard — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 23:30:51 +0000

After several attempts, I noticed that the command switches may need to be in upper case. (The command failed out right for me until I made this change.)

By: Nico57

Nico57 — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 21:59:45 +0000

Didn’t know about forfiles either…
It’s a very welcome addition to my admin toolkit.

Regarding this command line, spawning a new cmd.exe on each file delete sounds like overkill.
I’d rather type:

for /f %a in (‘forfiles /p C:\backup /s /d -5′) do del %a