Deleting Files Based on Creation Date (67381)

SUMMARY

MS-DOS versions before 6.x do not provide a direct means of deleting a file based upon its creation date. However, you can perform this function by using a sequence of MS-DOS commands, executed from the directory in which the files to be deleted reside, as follows:

   md newfiles                     (Creates subdirectory NEWFILES)

   xcopy *.* newfiles /d:date      (Copies all files from current
                                   directory created on or after
                                   date to the subdirectory
                                   NEWFILES*)

   del *.*                         (Deletes all files in current
                                   directory)

   xcopy newfiles                  (Copies files from NEWFILES to
                                   current directory)

   del newfiles                    (Deletes all files in subdirectory
                                   NEWFILES)

   rd newfiles                     (Removes subdirectory NEWFILES)
				

• Please note that this procedure requires enough free disk space to maintain two copies of all of the files in the current directory that will be saved.

With MS-DOS version 6.x the final two steps can be replaced with: