Vista - FORFILES Command

Trying to use the following to list files older than 5 days:

FORFILES -pC:\unzipped -mTECHSHR.TMSD203D.VLT2.VOLSER* -d-5 -c"CMD /C Echo
@FILE"

Am getting:

CHAR 14
Expected Statement
Code: 800A0400
Compilation error

This is under XP SP3.

Any ideas on format changes ?

Thanks.

"Dave Cox" <DaveCox@xxxxxx> wrote in message
newsFF4FF32-D3C0-4EF6-9CEC-67FD650E6760@xxxxxxNot so much format changes as venue changes. FORFILES is an executable
intended for batch use:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc753551.aspx

If you put that command into a .cmd or .bat file, it ewll be more likely to
do what you intend it to.

/Al

"Dave Cox" <DaveCox@xxxxxx> wrote in message
newsFF4FF32-D3C0-4EF6-9CEC-67FD650E6760@xxxxxx"Forfiles.exe" needs to be run in a batch file (.bat). Batch files are
interpreted, not compiled. I suspect you're running the command in a .vbs
file.

If you want to run an executable file in a VB Script file then you must use
the "run" or "exec" method. Alternatively you could use the script below. It
is much faster than the forfiles command because it does not need to spawn a
command processor for each file.

sSource = "C:\unzipped\"
sFileSpec = "TECHSHR.TMSD203D.VLT2.VOLSER"
Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

For Each oFile In oFSO.GetFolder(sSource).Files
If InStr(UCase(oFile.Name), sFileSpec) = 1 _
And DateDiff("d", oFile.DateLastModified, Now()) > 5 _
Then WScript.Echo oFile.Name
Next

Thanks for the help to you both. I appreciate it. Yes, I was using a VBS
file, so I will switch to BAT file.

Thanks again,
Dave

"Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:

"Dave Cox" <DaveCox@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:18898641-F2A4-421C-A461-19A221122E2C@xxxxxxPegasus' script was probably intended to be run with cscript, instead of the
default wscript, i.e.:

cscript.exe //nologo your_script_file.vbs

This will cause the output generated by wscript.echo to appear in a console
window, similar to the output from the ECHO command in batch.
That is a far cry from your original query, and a far cry from what Pegasus'
script does. Perhaps you should restate exactly what it is you are trying to
accomplish, and perhaps post what you have in the way of a script.
Output can, indeed, be logged to log files. Or to the registry. Or as an
event...
I'm not familiar with that tool. I usually just use scheduled tasks.

/Al

"Dave Cox" <DaveCox@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:18898641-F2A4-421C-A461-19A221122E2C@xxxxxxYour new requirement is not so much a scope creep but a scope leap . . .

You could use the hybrid batch/script solution below. It uses the inbuild
sort switch of the "dir" command, followed by some VB Script code to delete
all files beyond the count of 45. Here is how to use it:
1. Copy the code to c:\Dave.bat. Do NOT retype it!
2. Set your own parameters in Lines 2 and 3.
3. Unwrap wrapped lines, then remove the line numbers.
4. Open a Command Prompt. then run these commands:
c:\Dave.bat > c:\Dave.txt{Enter}
notepad c:\Dave.txt{Enter}
5. Examine what you see on the screen.
6. If you're happy with the result, delete Line 19 and remove the
word "echo" at the start of Line 20. This will activate the program.

01. @echo off
02. set count=45
03. set Source=d:\My Files
04. set List=c:\Files.txt
05. dir /b /o-d "%Source%" > "%List%"
06.
07. echo > c:\TempVBS.vbs Set oFSO =
CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
08. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs Set oListFile = oFSO.OpenTextFile("%List%")
09. echo\>> c:\TempVBS.vbs
10. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs For i = 1 To %count%
11. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs oListFile.ReadLine
12. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs If oListFile.AtEndOfStream Then
13. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs oListFile.Close
14. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs WScript.Quit
15. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs End If
16. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs Next
17. echo\>> c:\TempVBS.vbs
18. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs While Not oListFile.AtEndOfStream
19. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs WScript.Echo "Deleting %Source%" ^&
oListFile.ReadLine
20. rem echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs oFSO.DeleteFile("%Source%" ^&
oListFile.ReadLine)
21. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs Wend
22. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs oListFile.Close
23. cscript //nologo c:\TempVBS.vbs
24. del c:\TempVBS.vbs & del "%List%"

"Dave Cox" <DaveCox@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:18898641-F2A4-421C-A461-19A221122E2C@xxxxxxThere was a minor oversight in my initial code - use this version instead.

You could use the hybrid batch/script solution below. It uses the inbuilt
sort switch of the "dir" command, followed by some VB Script code to delete
all files beyond the count of 45. Here is how to use it:
1. Copy the code to c:\Dave.bat. Do NOT retype it!
2. Set your own parameters in Lines 2 and 3.
3. Unwrap wrapped lines, then remove the line numbers.
4. Open a Command Prompt. then run these commands:
c:\Dave.bat > c:\Dave.txt{Enter}
notepad c:\Dave.txt{Enter}
5. Examine what you see on the screen.
6. If you're happy with the result, delete Line 19 and remove the
word "echo" at the start of Line 20. This will activate the program.

01. @echo off
02. set count=45
03. set Source=d:\My Files\
04. set List=c:\Files.txt
05. dir /b /o-d /a-d "%Source%" > "%List%"
06.
07. echo > c:\TempVBS.vbs Set oFSO =
CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
08. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs Set oListFile = oFSO.OpenTextFile("%List%")
09. echo\>> c:\TempVBS.vbs
10. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs For i = 1 To %count%
11. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs oListFile.ReadLine
12. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs If oListFile.AtEndOfStream Then
13. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs oListFile.Close
14. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs WScript.Quit
15. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs End If
16. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs Next
17. echo\>> c:\TempVBS.vbs
18. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs While Not oListFile.AtEndOfStream
19. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs WScript.Echo "Deleting %Source%" ^&
oListFile.ReadLine
20. rem echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs oFSO.DeleteFile("%Source%" ^&
oListFile.ReadLine)
21. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs Wend
22. echo >> c:\TempVBS.vbs oListFile.Close
23. cscript //nologo c:\TempVBS.vbs
24. del c:\TempVBS.vbs & del "%List%"

Pegasus (MVP) wrote:
Hi Pegasus,

what about a one liner to be executed from a cmd window in the folder
containing the files:

for /f "skip=45 Delims=" %A in ('dir /B/O-D ".\*"') do @echo Del "%~fA"

To really delete the files remove the echo.
In a batch double the percent signs.

To wrap a vbs in batch code this is IMHO more efficient:

@echo off
set count=45
set Source=d:\My Files\
set List=c:\Files.txt
dir /b /o-d /a-d "%Source%" > "%List%"
set "_=echo\>> c:\TempVBS.vbs"
%_% Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
%_% Set oListFile = oFSO.OpenTextFile("%List%")
%_%
%_% For i = 1 To %count%
%_% oListFile.ReadLine
%_% If oListFile.AtEndOfStream Then
%_% oListFile.Close
%_% WScript.Quit
%_% End If
%_% Next
%_%
%_% While Not oListFile.AtEndOfStream
%_% WScript.Echo "Deleting %Source%" ^& oListFile.ReadLine
%_% ' oFSO.DeleteFile("%Source%" ^& oListFile.ReadLine)
%_% Wend
%_% oListFile.Close
cscript //nologo c:\TempVBS.vbs
del c:\TempVBS.vbs & del "%List%"

--
Regards
Matthias

"Matthias Tacke" <Matthias@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6sgtnnF5i9q3U1@xxxxxxMuch nicer. I initially thought that the code would trip over "poison"
characters in the file names but this does not appear to be the case.

<snip>I suppose it depends on what exactly you mean by "efficient". Your code,
after the interpreter has resolved %_%, will do exactly the same as my
original. Your version requires less typing, which is no issue when using
copy & paste. Your code needs an extra step to resolve %_%; my code needs to
read more data from each line. I suspect that the execution time for a large
batch file would be much the same. One way or another I'm not fussed - I
treat it as a matter of preference.

Thanks for your comments.

Pegasus (MVP) wrote:I meant efficient in that it doesn't add much to the line length of the
vbs code, so less need to number the lines and lesser line wraps.
Also is the vbs code IMHO easier to read.

I hope I didn't bother you, no offense intended at all.

--
Regards
Matthias