Batch Script to delete oldest folder in a given folder

Question

I\'m writing a simple .bat backup script, and as part of it I want the oldest backup (folder) to be deleted upon reaching a set max limit of backups.

Right now I hav

Answer 1

You were so close ! :-)

All you need to do is skip the first %MAXBACKUPS% entries when sorted by date descending. You don't even need your COUNTER variable.

:: Preserve only the %MAXBACKUPS% most recent backups.
set "delMsg="
for /f "skip=%MAXBACKUPS% delims=" %%a in (
  'dir "..\Backup\*" /t:c /a:d /o:-d /b'
) do (
  if not defined delMsg (
    set delMsg=1
    echo More than %MAXBACKUPS% found - only the %MAXBACKUPS% most recent folders will be preserved.
  )
  rd /s /q "..\Backup\%%a"
)

Answer 2

A simple way to do this based on your script:

FOR /f "delims=" %%a in ('dir "..\Backup\*" /t:c /a:d /o:-d /b') do set lastfolder=%%a

rd /s /q "..\Backup\%lastfolder%"

So you still loop over each folder, sorted by age, but you overwrite %lastfolder% so at the end it contains only the name of the oldest folder.

Then you delete that folder.

Answer 3

Here's the final block of code I ended up using:

:: Preserve only the %MAXBACKUPS% most recent backups.
FOR /f "skip=%MAXBACKUPS% delims=" %%a in (
'dir "..\Backup\*" /t:c /a:d /o:-d /b'
) do (
ECHO More than %MAXBACKUPS% backups found--Deleting "%%a".
ECHO.
rd /s /q "..\Backup\%%a"
)

It simplifies the deletion message code a bit, and provides the end user with info about what file was deleted in the command prompt window.

Based on dbenham's answer.

Answer 4

FOR /f "delims=" %%a in ('dir "..\Backup\*" /t:c /a:d /o:d /b') do (
 rd /s /q "..\Backup\%%a"
 goto :break
)
:break

you can break the for loop with goto