I have a batch file that creates a new directory named the current date using the mmddyyyy format. It then copies the contents of a directory to the newly created directory in the backup directory. I am trying to add to it so that it will automatically remove and delete without prompting a backup directory that is more than 7 days old. This is what the batch file already has in it. @echo off FOR /F "TOKENS=1* DELIMS= " %%A IN ('DATE/T') DO SET CDATE=%%B FOR /F "TOKENS=1,2 eol=/ DELIMS=/ " %%A IN ('DATE/T') DO SET mm=%%B FOR /F "TOKENS=1,2 DELIMS=/ eol=/" %%A IN ('echo %CDATE%') DO SET dd=%%B FOR /F "TOKENS=2,3 DELIMS=/ " %%A IN ('echo %CDATE%') DO SET yyyy=%%B SET date=%mm%%dd%%yyyy% md C:\backup\%date% xcopy /e C:\data\*.* C:\backup\%date%

A couple of comments. [1] This forum has been around the block with "date math". Not easy. I think it was dtech10 who finally hammered out a "julian date" BAT. [2] w2k has a built in var called DATE. Depending on your system date layout you can: echo %date:~10,4%%date:~7,2%%date:~4,2% [in my case] or set myVAR=%date:~10,4%%date:~7,2%%date:~4,2% and nevermind all those FORs. [3] Resetting DATE in the BAT is probably a receipe for trouble. [4] If it will suit your purposes, I can work up a BAT which will keep the most recent x number of backups. If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2

I realized I was making it much harder than it had to be. Since I only needed to keep it for seven days I renamed the folders after the day of the week instead and rewrote the batch file as follows. FOR /F "TOKENS=1* DELIMS= " %%A IN ('DATE/T') DO SET day=%%A rmdir /s /q C:\backup\%day% md C:\backup\%day% xcopy /e C:\sms\*.* C:\backup\%day% I feel very silly sorry to waste anyone's time.

Great solution. The simplest way is usually the best. If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2