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Number   :  4539
Date     :  2003-05-06
Author   :  Garry Deane
Subject  :  Re: Deleting folders based on folder date
Size(KB) :  2


--- In xxcopy@yahoogroups.com, "daverunda"  wrote:
> I have a batch file that uses XXCOPY to create a folder
> named %DATE% on my D: drive and copy the contents of my
> C:\DATA folder into the D:\%DATE% folder. This system
> works great except that after a while I need to purge
> some of these old backup folders. I asked Kan if I can 
> use XXCOPY to delete old folders on my D: drive based
> on the folder creation date. His reply is as follows: 
> 


It seems that you are using W2k or XP if you are using the %date% 
system variable or did you mean the $date$ macro? If you are using 
W2k/XP there are a number of batch methods you could use however 
let's stick to what Xxcopy can do.

Because %date% will produce a date format according to your 
particular locale settings, I'll assume you have a directory created 
10 days ago which looks like D:\2003-04-26\. You'll need to adjust 
the following to suit whatever date format you are using.

Xxcopy could create that directory using a command like:

xxcopy c:\data\ d:\/$yyyy-mm-dd$\ /bu

To remove a directory which was created 10 days ago, you can use 
the /TM switch to offset the date used in the macro to 10 days ago.

xxcopy d:\/$yyyy-mm-dd$\ /rmdir/rsy/tm-10

Of course this will only delete the single directory which matches 
the date 10 days ago (not anything older) but on the assumption that 
you would be running this in a daily batch, that's OK. If you are 
running this only occasionally you might do something like delete all 
directories created during the month (approximately) 2 months ago. If 
run today, the following would delete all directories created in 
March.

xxcopy d:\/$yyyy-mm$*\ /rmdir/rsy/tm-61

Another approach you might consider (if you're game) is to use Xxcopy 
to list the directories created AFTER the date of the directories you 
want to keep. Then use Xxcopy to remove the directories EXCLUDING 
those in the list you have just created.

xxcopy d:\ /ltree/da#10/fc/foc:\save.lst
xxcopy d:\ /rmdir/rsy/exc:\save.lst

This is a pretty risky approach however because if something goes 
awry, you might lose all your backup data. I'd test VERY thoroughly 
before attempting this.

There's probably a number of other possibilities along these lines 
but I'll leave that for you to play with. If you want a batch 
approach, let us know which OS and date format you are using. 
Depending on these, it may be quite simple to do in batch using the 
output from a /LTREE/DB#nn/FC command.

Garry



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