Please help - Delete files based upon names of folders which are in date format

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  Hi Adam,

  Could you please post the script you've made so far?
  

  Wednesday, December 13, 2017 2:55 PM
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  Hi

  So here is the first script I created which deletes files based on creation date. 

  $Path = 'c:\temp\folders'
  $Daysback = '-1096'
  $CurrentDate = get-date
  $DatetoDelete = $CurrentDate.AddDays(-1096)

  Get-ChildItem $Path -Recurse | Where-Object { $_.LastWriteTime -lt $DatetoDelete } | Remove-Item -confirm:$false

  My attempt at getting the folder names but stuck at trying to string them together in date order. Apologies if I'm on the wrong track here. 

  $folderyear = (gci "c:\temp\folders\" | where-object {$_.PSIsContainer -eq $True}).Name
  $foldermonth = (gci "c:\temp\folders\*" -Depth 1| where-object {$_.PSIsContainer -eq $True}).Name
  $folderday = (gci "c:\temp\folders\*\*"  -Depth 1| where-object {$_.PSIsContainer -eq $True}).Name

  
  # Get the folder list
  $dates = New-Object psobject -Property  @{

  folderyear = $folderyear
  foldermonth = $foldermonth
  folderday = $folderday
  }

  So the output of $dates is below. Thought there might be a way to string year, month and day today but can't work out how initially. 

  E.g.
  12/1/2016
  22/1/2016
  12/2/2106
  22/2/2016

  ...

  PS C:\Users\astean> $dates

  folderyear   foldermonth     folderday
  ----------   -----------     ---------
  {2016, 2017} {1, 2, 3, 4...} {22, 12}

  Wednesday, December 13, 2017 3:29 PM
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  So, I think I see what you're trying to do. but try this instead, that way you're not cutting and pasting string objects together to get a folder path:

  (Get-ChildItem "c:\temp\folders\*\*" -Depth 1).fullname

  That should return something like:

  c:\temp\Folders\2016\1\12

  Then you can compare the date above with the date that you want:

  ((Get-Date).AddDays(-1096) | Get-Date -Format 'yyyy/MM/dd').Replace('/','\')

  This date format returns this: 2014\12\13
  

  ---

  Jeremy Corbello | https://www.jeremycorbello.com

  • Marked as answer by astean Friday, December 15, 2017 2:22 PM

  Wednesday, December 13, 2017 3:40 PM
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  Hi Jeremy, 

  Thanks for your help. When I run (Get-ChildItem "c:\temp\folders\*\*" -Depth 1).fullname I get the output below. I'd just like to see the y/m/d portion of the results and ignore the result of the output. This way I might then be able to use these dates if I'm being clear?
  
  E.g. 2016/4/22
  2017\4\12 
  

  C:\temp\folders\2016\1
  C:\temp\folders\2016\2
  C:\temp\folders\2016\3
  C:\temp\folders\2016\4
  C:\temp\folders\2016\4\22
  C:\temp\folders\2016\4\22\New Text Document - Copy (2).txt
  C:\temp\folders\2016\4\22\New Text Document - Copy.txt
  C:\temp\folders\2016\4\22\New Text Document.txt
  C:\temp\folders\2017\1
  C:\temp\folders\2017\2
  C:\temp\folders\2017\3
  C:\temp\folders\2017\4
  C:\temp\folders\2017\4\12
  C:\temp\folders\2017\4\12\New Text Document - Copy (2).txt

  Thanks

  • Marked as answer by astean Friday, December 15, 2017 2:22 PM

  Wednesday, December 13, 2017 4:02 PM
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  I came up with this:

  $daysback = -1096
  Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath "C:\temp\folders" | foreach {
  
      # Full Year
      if([int]$_.Name -lt [int]((Get-Date).AddDays($daysback).ToString("yyyy"))){
  
         # Delete whole year folder
      }
  
      # Year
      elseif([int]$_.Name -eq [int]((Get-Date).AddDays($daysback).ToString("yyyy"))){
  
          # Full Month
          if([int]$_.Name -lt [int](Get-Date).AddDays($daysback).ToString("MM")){
  
             # Delete whole month folder
          }
  
          #  Month
          elseif([int]$_.Name -eq [int](Get-Date).AddDays($daysback).ToString("MM")){
  
             # ... same thing with the day folder
          }
      }
  }

  Pretty much "quick and dirty" and untested...

  Wednesday, December 13, 2017 4:02 PM
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  Try this instead. - sorry I didn't force it to only take folders in.

  $rootPath = "C:\temp\folders\"
  (Get-ChildItem $rootPath -Recurse | Where-Object {$_.PSIsContainer}).fullname | foreach {$_.replace("$rootPath","")}

  ---

  Jeremy Corbello | https://www.jeremycorbello.com

  • Marked as answer by astean Friday, December 15, 2017 2:22 PM

  Wednesday, December 13, 2017 4:12 PM
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  Hi

  Thanks very much. I'll try and work through this and dissect it. 

  Wednesday, December 13, 2017 4:23 PM
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  Hi Jeremy

  This now just displaying the dates :)

  So from here I'll look to compare with the current date and if older than 3 years delete the files stored within.

  This is really helpful.

  Thanks 

  Wednesday, December 13, 2017 4:26 PM
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  No worries! And this will put the date in the same format that the folder output is giving you, so you can compare directly:

  (Get-Date).AddDays(-1096).tostring('yyyy/MM/dd').Replace('/','\')

  
  

  ---

  Jeremy Corbello | https://www.jeremycorbello.com

  • Marked as answer by astean Friday, December 15, 2017 2:22 PM

  Wednesday, December 13, 2017 4:43 PM
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  And don't forget to mark the answer for others to learn!

  ---

  Jeremy Corbello | https://www.jeremycorbello.com

  Wednesday, December 13, 2017 4:55 PM
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  Thanks Jeremy. I will certainly do. Going to have a go at putting it together today. 

  Thursday, December 14, 2017 10:05 AM
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  Hi,
  
  I'm checking how the issue is going, was your issue resolved?
  
  And if the replies as above are helpful, we would appreciate you to mark them as answers, and if you resolve it using your own solution, please share your experience and solution here. It will be greatly helpful to others who have the same question.
  
  Appreciate for your feedback.
  
  Best Regards,
  Albert

  ---

  Please remember to mark the replies as an answers if they help.
  If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact tnmff@microsoft.com

  Friday, December 15, 2017 7:44 AM
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  Hi Albert

  Jeremy was most helpful and I have marked his efforts as answers as they really helped a lot. 

  I have resolved it using the script below. I'm sure it could be coded better but it does what I need it to do and I've added some comments also. 

  # Find today's date and calculate 2 years ago. Set the date in yyyy/mm/dd format and flip the slashes
  $today = (get-date)
  $twoYearsAgo = $today.AddDays(-720).ToString('yyyy/MM/dd').Replace('/','\')

  #Delete the beginning part of path and only show the year, month and date folders
  $rootPath = "C:\temp\folders\"
  $dates = (Get-ChildItem $rootPath -Recurse | Where-Object {$_.PSIsContainer}).fullname  | foreach {$_.replace("$rootPath","")} 

  #Only show the dates if they are 8, 9 or 10 characters  in length
  $results = $dates | Where-Object {$_.length -eq 8 -or $_.length -eq 9 -or $_.length -eq 10}

  #Join the full path up again and loop through the results and if they are less then two years delete the files.
  foreach ($result in $results) {
   If ($result -lt $twoYearsAgo)
   {
         
      
          $lastpath = Join-Path $rootPath -ChildPath $result
          Write-host $lastpath ----- "Delete files within these locations-----"
        # remove-item $lastpath -Recurse -Confirm:$false
        Get-ChildItem $lastpath | remove-item #$lastpath -Recurse -Confirm:$false
         
        }
        }

  Friday, December 15, 2017 2:26 PM