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How to best delete directories
Posted: 25 Jan 2015 23:51
by OM3
I've found a code snippet to delete files older than 30 days
How do I change so that I do the same for folders instead of files?
So, what I want is: delete folder AND its contents if the folder is older than 30 days
The code for deleting the files is:
Code: Select all
REM Remove files older than 30 days
forfiles /p "C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Downloads" /s /m *.* /c "cmd /c Del @path" /d -30
After having this setup, I can use Task Scheduler to run this batch file every 30 days
Awesome - just what I wanted
Or is there a better way to do?
Thanks
OM
Re: How to best delete directories
Posted: 26 Jan 2015 07:18
by Squashman
Forfiles has an option to test if the the data is a directory.
Re: How to best delete directories
Posted: 26 Jan 2015 08:01
by ShadowThief
del can't delete folders
Try using rd /s @path instead.
Re: How to best delete directories
Posted: 27 Jan 2015 08:33
by OM3
thanks for the replies guys
rd - that only removes empty directories surely?
the only thing i can think of is deltree - but, i'd rather not delete permanently
surely there must be a better option than to: test if directory, then delete files contained, and then remove the directory?
thanks
Re: How to best delete directories
Posted: 27 Jan 2015 08:55
by ShadowThief
rd by itself just removes directories
the /s flag deletes all files and subfolders as well
From rd /?Code: Select all
RMDIR [/S] [/Q] [drive:]path
RD [/S] [/Q] [drive:]path
/S Removes all directories and files in the specified directory
in addition to the directory itself. Used to remove a directory
tree.
/Q Quiet mode, do not ask if ok to remove a directory tree with /S
Re: How to best delete directories
Posted: 28 Jan 2015 17:44
by OM3
thanks for the replies guys
for some reason i thought rd only removed empty directories
so... is this correct:
Code: Select all
REM Remove files older than 30 days
forfiles /p "C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Downloads" /s /m *.* /c "cmd /c rd /s @path" /d -30
What is /s /sm for?
What does the /c do?
forfiles - do I want this if I want to work on directories?
is there an equivalent for directories?
Thanks!
Re: How to best delete directories
Posted: 28 Jan 2015 18:16
by Squashman