Get the details of all first level folders and the oldest file in them recursively

Question

I have two scripts that do what I need, but really need them to be combined to save manual matching.

Script 1 gathers all the top-level folders and Create & Last Write dates and Owner:

$sourcePath = 'P:\'              # enter your path here
$outputPath = 'C:\Temp\x-list4.txt'   # and the path for the output file here
Get-ChildItem -Path $sourcePath  | 
Select-Object Mode, FullName, CreationTime, LastWriteTime, LastAccessTime,
              @{Name = 'Owner'; Expression = {(Get-Acl -Path $_.FullName).Owner}} |
Export-Csv -Path $outputPath -UseCulture -NoTypeInformation

Script 2 - I have to specify a top-level folder and run it to get the oldest file in that folder or sub-folders. And repeat for each top-level folder.

$FileDate = (Get-Date -Format g)
$path = “P:\Folder4\”
Get-ChildItem -Path $path -Recurse | ForEach-Object {
if ($_.LastWriteTime -lt $FileDate -and -not $_.PSIsContainer) {
$FileDate = $_.LastWriteTime
$OldFile = $_.FullName
}
}
Write-Host ‘oldest file on the system is: ‘ $OldFile
$FileDate

Is there a way to combine them so each row would have the top level folder's info and the oldest file in the folder and subfolders?

FullName CreationTime LastWriteTime Owner OldestFile OldestFileWriteTime

Answer 1

Hi @alhowarthWF ,

Try something like this:

$sourcePath = 'P:\'  # Enter your source path here

$outputPath = 'C:\Temp\x-list4.csv'  # Enter your output file path here

# Create an empty array to hold the results

$results = @()

# Get all top-level directories in the source path

$topLevelFolders = Get-ChildItem -Path $sourcePath -Directory

foreach ($folder in $topLevelFolders) {

    $oldestFile = Get-ChildItem -Path $folder.FullName -Recurse | Where-Object { -not $_.PSIsContainer } | Sort-Object LastWriteTime | Select-Object -First 1

    $result = [PSCustomObject]@{

        FullName            = $folder.FullName

        CreationTime        = $folder.CreationTime

        LastWriteTime       = $folder.LastWriteTime

        Owner               = (Get-Acl -Path $folder.FullName).Owner

        OldestFile          = $oldestFile.FullName

        OldestFileWriteTime = $oldestFile.LastWriteTime

    }

    # Add the result to the results array

    $results += $result

}

# Export the results to a CSV file

$results | Export-Csv -Path $outputPath -UseCulture -NoTypeInformation

This script will:

1. Iterate through each top-level directory in the source path.
2. For each top-level directory, find the oldest file within that directory and its subdirectories.
3. Create a custom object for each top-level directory containing the directory's properties and the oldest file's properties.
4. Collect these custom objects in an array.
5. Export the array to a CSV file at the specified output path.

This should give you a CSV file with a row for each top-level folder and the requested information for that folder and its oldest file.

Answer 2

Hi alhowarthWF,

Let's see if this meets your needs.

$sourcePath = 'P:\'              # enter your path here
$outputPath = 'C:\Temp\x-list4.txt'   # and the path for the output file here
Get-ChildItem -Path $sourcePath | 
Select-Object Mode, FullName, CreationTime, LastWriteTime, LastAccessTime,
              @{Name = 'Owner'; Expression = {(Get-Acl -Path $_.FullName).Owner}} |
ForEach-Object {
    $FileDate = (Get-Date -Format g)
    #$path = “C:\Temp\a”
    Get-ChildItem -Path $_.FullName -Recurse | ForEach-Object {
        if ($_.LastWriteTime -lt $FileDate -and -not $_.PSIsContainer) {
            $FileDate = $_.LastWriteTime
            $OldFile = $_.FullName
        }
    }
    
    Add-member -InputObject $_ -Name "OldestFile" -Value $OldFile -MemberType NoteProperty
    Add-member -InputObject $_ -Name "OldestFileWriteTime" -Value $FileDate -MemberType NoteProperty
    $_
}|          
Export-Csv -Path $outputPath -UseCulture -NoTypeInformation

Best Regards,

Ian Xue

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