Hello. Stock and PROVEN delete batch file to find files so many days old and delete except on this NT server Error 1 ======= Caused by CODE: ================ set /A dd=%dd% - %OLDERTHAN% set /A mm=%mm% + 0 Invalid number. Numeric contants are either decimal (17) hexadecimal (0x11), binary (0b10001) or octal (021). Reason: this occurs becasue month and day resolves to "02" or other with zero before digit; doesn't the SET /A clear this up? If I remove the "0" before digit it works up to next error. ******************************************** ERROR 2 ======= Caused by CODE: =============== for %%i in (*.*) do ( set FileName=%%i call :PROCESSFILE %%~ti ) Need to get the full date to be used for parse and comparison later on? For valid formats type CALL /? or FOR /? The following usage of the path operator in batch-parameter substitution is invalid: %~ti Thanks in advance. ************************************** :: --------DELOLD.BAT---------- @echo off SET OLDERTHAN=%1 ::if "%1" == "" goto SYNTAX 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=%dd% - %OLDERTHAN% set /A mm=%mm% + 0 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 (*.*) do (set FileName=%%i echo %%i) for %%i in (*.*) 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. PAUSE 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% :: +*************************************+ :: | This is where the files are deleted | :: | Change the ECHO command to DEL to | :: | delete. ECHO is used for test. | :: +*************************************+ if /I %yyyy%/%mm%/%dd% GEQ %fyyyy%/%fmm%/%fdd% ( ECHO %FileName% ) set temp= set fyyyy= set fmm= set fdd= :EXIT :: ----------END-DELOLD.BAT-------------

I see many errors on that batch file. The author used unproper ways to cut off any traling zeros on the date variables. set /a mm = %mm% + 0 That will not work if %mm% is 08 or 09. set /A dd=%dd% - %OLDERTHAN% That might not work as expected either. Here is a proper way to cut any zeroes from the %dd% and %mm% variables, before any calculations are done: if "%dd:~0,1%"=="0" set dd=%dd:~1% if "%mm:~0,1%"=="0" set mm=%mm:~1% Having found such basic erros, I did not bother to look at the rest of the code. I don't know where you got this, but I definitively think a batch writer should test his code better before publishing, specially when the script is for such a serious task. I would advise looking for a different solution for the problem instead of trying to fix this batch file. That is a well-known issue, and many solutions have already been developed. By the way, you should report errors direcly to the author, if you feel like doing such thing. I developed a solution based on batch scripting myself, but it is currently only compatible with Windows 2000 and XP. Besides, I recently encountered a bug and stopped improoving it, due to the existance of so many other solutions. Look at news:alt.msdos.batch for other solutions. -- Leonardo Pignataro - Secret_Doom -- secret_doom@hotmail.com www.batch.hpg.com.br

if a batch only solution is not nessesary then try my lsfdt.com and delflist.com, you can use them in a batchfile to delete old files see also OLDER2DA.BAT its an example to delete files oder than 2 days all at my page http://plop.at

Hello. Actually, this is a widespread batch file and it got reviews for working out of the box? I have seen it on Computing.net also. Who knows but I almost have it where I need it. Thanks for the code- I ended up using less elegant to accomplish. The one item I can't figure out or find correct syntax for is this for %%i in (*.*) do ( set FileName=%%i call :PROCESSFILE %%~ti) It gets the current directory filename, calls routine, and this is where I get stuck as I need to get the first part of the full directory/filename list with date for later comparison...is there a way to get this from the FOR loop variable? the code uses %%~ti Directory of E:\temp 07/16/03 06:02p 245,760 admin.pst So I would need the 07/16/2003 Thanks very much.