Delete files older than 3 months old in a directory using .NET

Question

I would like to know (using C#) how I can delete files in a certain directory older than 3 months, but I guess the date period could be flexible.

Just to be clear:

Answer 1

The GetLastAccessTime property on the System.IO.File class should help.

Answer 2

Just create a small delete function which can help you to achieve this task, I have tested this code and it runs perfectly well.

This function deletes files older than 90 days as well as a file with extension .zip to be deleted from a folder.

Private Sub DeleteZip()

    Dim eachFileInMydirectory As New DirectoryInfo("D:\Test\")
    Dim fileName As IO.FileInfo

    Try
        For Each fileName In eachFileInMydirectory.GetFiles
            If fileName.Extension.Equals("*.zip") AndAlso (Now - fileName.CreationTime).Days > 90 Then
                fileName.Delete()
            End If
        Next

    Catch ex As Exception
        WriteToLogFile("No Files older than 90 days exists be deleted " & ex.Message)
    End Try
End Sub

Answer 3

For those that like to over-use LINQ.

(from f in new DirectoryInfo("C:/Temp").GetFiles()
 where f.CreationTime < DateTime.Now.Subtract(TimeSpan.FromDays(90))
 select f
).ToList()
    .ForEach(f => f.Delete());

Answer 4

An SSIS type of example .. (if this helps anyone)

          public void Main()
          {
                 // TODO: Add your code here
        // Author: Allan F 10th May 2019

        //first part of process .. put any files of last Qtr (or older) in Archive area 
        //e.g. if today is 10May2019 then last quarter is 1Jan2019 to 31March2019 .. any files earlier than 31March2019 will be archived

        //string SourceFileFolder = "\\\\adlsaasf11\\users$\\aford05\\Downloads\\stage\\";
        string SourceFilesFolder = (string)Dts.Variables["SourceFilesFolder"].Value;
        string ArchiveFolder = (string)Dts.Variables["ArchiveFolder"].Value;
        string FilePattern = (string)Dts.Variables["FilePattern"].Value;
        string[] files = Directory.GetFiles(SourceFilesFolder, FilePattern);

        //DateTime date = new DateTime(2019, 2, 15);//commented out line .. just for testing the dates .. 

        DateTime date = DateTime.Now;
        int quarterNumber = (date.Month - 1) / 3 + 1;
        DateTime firstDayOfQuarter = new DateTime(date.Year, (quarterNumber - 1) * 3 + 1, 1);
        DateTime lastDayOfQuarter = firstDayOfQuarter.AddMonths(3).AddDays(-1);

        DateTime LastDayOfPriorQuarter = firstDayOfQuarter.AddDays(-1);
        int PrevQuarterNumber = (LastDayOfPriorQuarter.Month - 1) / 3 + 1;
        DateTime firstDayOfLastQuarter = new DateTime(LastDayOfPriorQuarter.Year, (PrevQuarterNumber - 1) * 3 + 1, 1);
        DateTime lastDayOfLastQuarter = firstDayOfLastQuarter.AddMonths(3).AddDays(-1);

        //MessageBox.Show("debug pt2: firstDayOfQuarter" + firstDayOfQuarter.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy"));
        //MessageBox.Show("debug pt2: firstDayOfLastQuarter" + firstDayOfLastQuarter.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy"));


        foreach (string file in files)
        {
            FileInfo fi = new FileInfo(file);

            //MessageBox.Show("debug pt2:" + fi.Name + " " + fi.CreationTime.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm") + " " + fi.LastAccessTime.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm") + " " + fi.LastWriteTime.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm"));
            if (fi.LastWriteTime < firstDayOfQuarter)
            {

                try
                {

                    FileInfo fi2 = new FileInfo(ArchiveFolder);

                    //Ensure that the target does not exist.
                    //fi2.Delete();

                    //Copy the file.
                    fi.CopyTo(ArchiveFolder + fi.Name);
                    //Console.WriteLine("{0} was copied to {1}.", path, ArchiveFolder);

                    //Delete the old location file.
                    fi.Delete();
                    //Console.WriteLine("{0} was successfully deleted.", ArchiveFolder);

                }
                catch (Exception e)
                {
                    //do nothing
                    //Console.WriteLine("The process failed: {0}", e.ToString());
                }
            }
        }

        //second part of process .. delete any files in Archive area dated earlier than last qtr ..
        //e.g. if today is 10May2019 then last quarter is 1Jan2019 to 31March2019 .. any files earlier than 1Jan2019 will be deleted

        string[] archivefiles = Directory.GetFiles(ArchiveFolder, FilePattern);
        foreach (string archivefile in archivefiles)
        {
            FileInfo fi = new FileInfo(archivefile);
            if (fi.LastWriteTime < firstDayOfLastQuarter )
            {
                try
                {
                    fi.Delete();
                }
                catch (Exception e)
                {
                    //do nothing
                }
            }
        }


                 Dts.TaskResult = (int)ScriptResults.Success;
          }

Answer 5

Here's a snippet of how to get the creation time of files in the directory and find those which have been created 3 months ago (90 days ago to be exact):

    DirectoryInfo source = new DirectoryInfo(sourceDirectoryPath);

    // Get info of each file into the directory
    foreach (FileInfo fi in source.GetFiles())
    {
        var creationTime = fi.CreationTime;

        if(creationTime < (DateTime.Now- new TimeSpan(90, 0, 0, 0)))
        {
            fi.Delete();
        }
    }

Answer 6

I use the following in a console app, running as a service, to get directory info from the App.Settings file. Number of days to keep the files is also configurable, multiplied by -1 for use in the AddDays() method of DateTime.Now.

static void CleanBackupFiles()
        {
            string gstrUncFolder = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["DropFolderUNC"] + "";
            int iDelAge = Convert.ToInt32(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["NumDaysToKeepFiles"]) * -1;
            string backupdir = string.Concat(@"\", "Backup", @"\");

            string[] files = Directory.GetFiles(string.Concat(gstrUncFolder, backupdir));


            foreach (string file in files)
            {
                FileInfo fi = new FileInfo(file);
                if (fi.CreationTime < DateTime.Now.AddDays(iDelAge))
                {
                    fi.Delete();
                }
            }

        }