dos batch file to delete folders older than 2 days (folder name has timestamp)

I suspect it's because the month has rolled over to '08' which is treated as an invalid octal number due to the leading zero. This is only a problem when performing some arithmetic.

A way around this is as follows (eg, where %mm% = 08):

   set /a mm = 1%mm% + 2 -100


Expanding this gives:

   set /a mm = 108 + 2 - 100

therefore:

   mm = 10

Which is the correct answer.

Notice we had to put a 1 infront of the %mm% then later, subtract 100.
   

how is 10 the correct value for August (08)?

it isn't and i wasn't referring to august. my example shows how to perform calculations on numbers with a leading zero.

will get your code up and running in a mo...


in the meantime, if you type:

   ECHO %DATE%

at the command prompt, what exactly does it output?

ok great. that resolved the first error message. but i still receive the following error message:

'2' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
The system cannot find the file specified.

And the older than 2 days folders are still not deleted.

Thoughts?

for echo %date% i get Mon 08/17/2009

thanks

what does one of your datestamped foldernames look like ?

sorry - not needed

Not the best way of writing this however, i've left it in it's original format and edited it in places....

Don't foget to remove the 'ECHO' in the PROCESSFILE section of the code.



@echo off
SET OLDERTHAN=2
 
IF NOT DEFINED OLDERTHAN GOTO SYNTAX
for /f "tokens=2" %%i in ('date /t') do set thedate=%%i

set mm=%thedate:~0,2%
set dd=%thedate:~3,2%
set yyyy=%thedate:~6,4%

set /A dd=1%dd% - %OLDERTHAN% - 100
set /A mm=1%mm% - 100

if %dd% GTR 0 goto DONE
set /A mm-=1
if %mm% GTR 0 goto ADJUSTDAY
set mm=12
set /A yyyy-=1


:ADJUSTDAY
if %mm% equ 1 goto SET31
if %mm% equ 2 goto LEAPCHK
if %mm% equ 3 goto SET31
if %mm% equ 4 goto SET30
if %mm% equ 5 goto SET31
if %mm% equ 6 goto SET30
if %mm% equ 7 goto SET31
if %mm% equ 8 goto SET31
if %mm% equ 9 goto SET30
if %mm% equ 10 goto SET31
if %mm% equ 11 goto SET30
if %mm% equ 12 goto SET31
 
goto ERROR
 
:SET31
set /A dd+=31
goto DONE
 
:SET30
set /A dd+=30
goto DONE
 
:LEAPCHK
set /A tt=%yyyy% %% 4
if not %tt% equ 0 goto SET28
set /A tt=%yyyy% %% 100
if not %tt% equ 0 goto SET29
set /A tt=%yyyy% %% 400
if %tt% equ 0 goto SET29
 
:SET28
set /A dd+=28
goto DONE
 
:SET29
set /A dd+=29
 
:DONE
if %dd% LSS 10 set dd=0%dd%
if %mm% LSS 10 set mm=0%mm%

for /d %%i in (backup\*) do (
   set foldername=%%i
   call :PROCESSFILE %%~ti
)

set mm=
set yyyy=
set dd=
set thedate=
goto EXIT
 
:SYNTAX
ECHO.
ECHO USAGE:
ECHO DELOLD X
ECHO   Where X is the number of days previous to Today.
ECHO.
ECHO EX: "DELOLD 5" Deletes files older than 5 days.
GOTO EXIT
 
:PROCESSFILE
set fd=%2
set fyyyy=20%fd:~8%
set fmm=%fd:~0,2%
set fdd=%fd:~3,2%
if %fyyyy% GTR 2069 set fyyyy=19%fmm%

if %yyyy%%mm%%dd% GEQ %fyyyy%%fmm%%fdd% (
   echo RMDIR /S /Q %foldername%%fmm%%fdd%%fyyyy%%
)
 
set temp=
set fyyyy=
set fmm=
set fdd=
:EXIT

don't forget to change:

   for /d %%i in (backup\*) do (

to:

   for /d %%i in (c:\backup\*) do (

ie, include the 'c:\'...

t0t0, i tried ur script, it doesnt do anything, neither does it print any statements.
i tried without the 'echo' and still nothing.

1. can anybody see any mistake in my original code? how come it suddenly stopped working. The '08' logic doesnt work because it would have failed in month '07' too.

2. the directory structure is as follows. Daily backup is put into its own folder on D drive. So D drive directory listing is as follows:
D:\BACKUP08122009
D:\BACKUP08132009
D:\BACKUP08142009
D:\BACKUP08152009
D:\BACKUP08162009
D:\BACKUP08172009

there is progress now.
im using the attached code, and it delete only the folder which is older than 2 days.

this will do, but it doesnt delete ALL folders older than 2 days.
meaning, today when i ran it, it still gave the error message:
'2' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
The system cannot find the file specified.

but it delete the folder labelled BACKUP08162009 because i ran it today (BACKUP08182009).

however it did not delete BACKUP08152009, BACKUP08142009 and other older folders.

@echo off
SET OLDERTHAN=2
 
IF NOT DEFINED OLDERTHAN GOTO SYNTAX
for /f "tokens=2" %%i in ('date /t') do set thedate=%%i
 
set mm=%thedate:~0,2%
set dd=%thedate:~3,2%
set yyyy=%thedate:~6,4%
 
set /A dd=1%dd% - %OLDERTHAN% - 100
set /A mm=1%mm% - 100
 
if /I %dd% GTR 0 goto DONE
set /A mm=%mm% - 1
if /I %mm% GTR 0 goto ADJUSTDAY
set /A mm=12
set /A yyyy=%yyyy% - 1
 
:ADJUSTDAY
if %mm%==1 goto SET31
if %mm%==2 goto LEAPCHK
if %mm%==3 goto SET31
if %mm%==4 goto SET30
if %mm%==5 goto SET31
if %mm%==6 goto SET30
if %mm%==7 goto SET31
if %mm%==8 goto SET31
if %mm%==9 goto SET30
if %mm%==10 goto SET31
if %mm%==11 goto SET30
if %mm%==12 goto SET31
 
goto ERROR
 
:SET31
set /A dd=31 + %dd%
goto DONE
 
:SET30
set /A dd=30 + %dd%
goto DONE
 
:LEAPCHK
set /A tt=%yyyy% %% 4
if not %tt%==0 goto SET28
set /A tt=%yyyy% %% 100
if not %tt%==0 goto SET29
set /A tt=%yyyy% %% 400
if %tt%==0 goto SET29
 
:SET28
set /A dd=28 + %dd%
goto DONE
 
:SET29
set /A dd=29 + %dd%
 
:DONE
if /I %dd% LSS 10 set dd=0%dd%
if /I %mm% LSS 10 set mm=0%mm%
for %%i in (D:\BACKUP) do (
set Filename=%%i
call :PROCESSFILE %%~ti
)
 
set mm=
set yyyy=
set dd=
set thedate=
goto EXIT
 
:SYNTAX
ECHO.
ECHO USAGE:
ECHO DELOLD X
ECHO   Where X is the number of days previous to Today.
ECHO.
ECHO EX: "DELOLD 5" Deletes files older than 5 days.
GOTO EXIT
 
:PROCESSFILE
set temp=%1
set fyyyy=20%temp:~6%
set fmm=%temp:~0,2%
set fdd=%temp:~3,2%
if /I %fyyyy% GTR 2069 set fyyyy=19%temp:~6%
 
if /I %yyyy%/%mm%/%dd% GEQ %fyyyy%/%fmm%/%fdd% (
RMDIR /S /Q D:\BACKUP%mm%%dd%%yyyy%%
)
 
set temp=
set fyyyy=
set fmm=
set fdd=
 
:EXIT
                                              

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the folders with timestamps are on D drive root. i.e.: D:\BACKUP08142009, D:\BACKUP08152009, etc.

I'll check out this new script with value 'D:\BACKUP' and get back.

thanks.