Powershell script - delete files older than, except one folder name

Question

Powershell script - delete files older than, except one folder name

Lukasz Florek 0

Hi, I've made a script that deletes files in folders and subfolders.

It works fine and looks like:

$limit = (Get-Date).AddDays(-0) $currentDate = Get-Date -Format "yyyyMMdd_HHmmss" $path = "C:\test" $LogFile = "C:\delete_log\delete_$currentDate.log"; # Delete files older than the $limit. Get-ChildItem -Path $path -Recurse -Force -Exclude 'Keep' | Where-Object { !$.PSIsContainer -and $.LastWriteTime -lt $limit } | Out-File -FilePath $LogFile -Append Get-ChildItem -Path $path -Recurse -Force -Exclude 'Keep' | Where-Object { !$.PSIsContainer -and $.LastWriteTime -lt $limit } | Remove-Item -Force

I would like to skip folder "_Keep" and what's in side - shouldn't be deleted.

I try to something like this but it's not working.

$limit = (Get-Date).AddDays(-0) $currentDate = Get-Date -Format "yyyyMMdd_HHmmss" $path = "C:\test" $exclude = "Keep" $logfile = "C:\delete_log\delete$currentDate.log"; # Excluding folders $files = get-childitem $path -Recurse | Where-object{$.fullname -notlike $exclude} # Delete files older than the $limit. Get-ChildItem -Path $files -Recurse -Force | Where-Object {!$.PSIsContainer -and $.LastWriteTime -lt $limit } | Out-File -FilePath $logfile -Append Get-ChildItem -Path $files -Recurse -Force | Where-Object {!$.PSIsContainer -and $_.LastWriteTime -lt $limit } | Remove-Item -Force

Any help? Please :)

Rich Matheisen 47,901 Reputation points

2023-11-06T16:03:27.6933333+00:00

Are you trying to exclude exact matches to "Keep" or to exclude matches that have "Keep" somewhere in their value (i.e., a partial match)?

Also, do you mean to match "Keep" (without the underbar character) or "_Keep".
Lukasz Florek 0 Reputation points

2023-11-07T07:34:13.7433333+00:00

directly a directory named _Keep which can be in multiple subdirectories
Rich Matheisen 47,901 Reputation points

2023-11-07T15:34:22.83+00:00

Then you need to add the leading "_" character to "Keep" value in the example you posted.

1 answer

Your answer

Rich Matheisen 47,901 Reputation points

2023-11-06T16:03:27.6933333+00:00

Are you trying to exclude exact matches to "Keep" or to exclude matches that have "Keep" somewhere in their value (i.e., a partial match)?

Also, do you mean to match "Keep" (without the underbar character) or "_Keep".
Lukasz Florek 0 Reputation points

2023-11-07T07:34:13.7433333+00:00

directly a directory named _Keep which can be in multiple subdirectories
Rich Matheisen 47,901 Reputation points

2023-11-07T15:34:22.83+00:00

Then you need to add the leading "_" character to "Keep" value in the example you posted.

Answer 1

MotoX80 36,291

Try this.

$limit = (Get-Date).AddDays(-8300) 
$currentDate = Get-Date -Format "yyyyMMdd_HHmmss" 
$path = "C:\temp\deleteme" 
$exclude = "_Keep"                       #  Keep or _Keep?? 
$logfile = "C:\temp\delete$currentDate.log"
# Get folder names that don't contain _Keep 
$folders = get-childitem $path -Recurse -Directory | Where-object{$_.fullname.split("\") -notcontains $exclude}    # account for subfolders under Keep 
"Analyzing these folders." | Out-File -FilePath $logfile -Append
($folders).fullname | Out-File -FilePath $logfile -Append
# Delete files older than the $limit.
"Deleting these files." | Out-File -FilePath $logfile -Append 
foreach ($f in $folders) {
    $files = Get-ChildItem -Path $f.FullName -File  -Force | Where-Object {$_.LastWriteTime -lt $limit }
    ($files).fullname | Out-File -FilePath $logfile -Append 
    $files | Remove-Item -Force -whatif 
}
# Get-Content $logfile      # for testing

Lukasz Florek 0 Reputation points

2023-11-07T07:43:47.3233333+00:00

Nope, it's not working.
Report is fine but it's not delete anything.
Lukasz Florek 0 Reputation points

2023-11-07T07:52:35.5733333+00:00

Nope, it's not working.

Only scanning folders but not delete anything.

MotoX80 36,291

Remove the -whatif switch that I used for testing.

You should have seen console output like this when you ran the script.

What if: Performing the operation "Remove File" on target "C:\temp\deleteme\2002\P1010013.JPG".
What if: Performing the operation "Remove File" on target "C:\temp\deleteme\2002\P1010015.JPG".
What if: Performing the operation "Remove File" on target "C:\temp\deleteme\2002\P1010019.JPG".
What if: Performing the operation "Remove File" on target "C:\temp\deleteme\2002\P1010024.JPG".

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/itops-talk-blog/powershell-basics-don-t-fear-hitting-enter-with-whatif/ba-p/353579

MotoX80 36,291 Reputation points

2023-11-07T16:05:43.79+00:00

The intent of using -whatif was to allow you to test to verify that keep or _keep files did not get deleted. If you have both folder names, then the script will need to be modified.
Lukasz Florek 0 Reputation points

2023-11-08T07:45:43.1533333+00:00

OK, my mistake :)
AddDays was to loong. It's works fine.

THX

Share via

Powershell script - delete files older than, except one folder name

1 answer

Your answer