RoboDelete - Robust file delete for Windows

Provided as-is. That said, the script has been in use for years in many environments and thus quite tested. If you do find a bug, please let me know using the form on the bottom of this page.

Use /SIMULATE before production run - you'll see what will happen before it actually happens.
Use /SAFEGUARD if files are going to be deleted based on their age.

1. Delete any file, age older than or equal to four days, from C:\TEMP:
robodelete.wsf /F:* /MINAGE:4 /PATH:"c:\temp"

2. Delete any atleast 4 months old file from current directory:
robodelete.wsf /F:* /MINAGE:4 /INTERVAL:m /PATH:.

3. Delete atleast 4 days old files of any name, recurse+delete subfolders.
robodelete.wsf /F:* /MINAGE:4 /PATH:"c:\temp" /R /FOLDERS

4. Like #3, but the /MINAGE is ignored for folders
robodelete.wsf /F:* /MINAGE:4 /PATH:"c:\temp" /R /FOLDERS /DISFLDAGE

5. Delete C:\TEMP\*.txt, with logging:
robodelete.wsf /F:*.txt /PATH:"c:\temp" /LOG:C:\DELETELOG.TXT

6. Delete *.txt files, using Regular Expression, ignore fileage:
robodelete.wsf /F:"^.*\.txt$" /REGEXP /PATH:"c:\temp"

7. Skip files if Archive is bit set or size is smaller than 100000 bytes
robodelete.wsf /F:* /PATH:"c:\temp" /ATTSKIP:A /MINSIZE:100000

8. If computer date is 2009-01-21 or later, Delete X:\*.tmp (366d+ old files)
robodelete.wsf /F:*.tmp /PATH:X:\ /MINAGE:366 /SAFEGUARD:2009-01-21

9. Move MP3 files and copy a notification file as replacement
robodelete.wsf /F:*.mp3 /PATH:X:\ /MOVE:PATH /MOVETARGET:Y:\ /NOTEFILE:a.txt

WARNING 1: See also: /INTERVAL
WARNING 2: See /SAFEGUARD to prevent accidental deletions

Filters files/folders based on their age. /COMP and /INTERVAL parameters modifies how the values of /MINAGE and /MAXAGE are interpreted.

Deleting a file changes the parent folders "Date modified"-timestamp: If you use /FOLDERS, notice that the "age" of the parent folder is possibly (depends from the value of /COMP) 0 seconds after deleting a file from it. Use /DISFLDAGE to disable the age test for folder deletions.

Examples

Filters files/folders based on their datestamps. /COMP parameter modifies what dates are used for comparisons.

Deleting a file can change the parent folders "Date modified"-timestamp. If you use /FOLDERS, notice that the date of the parent folder is possibly (depends from the value of /COMP) 0 seconds after deleting a file from it. Use /DISFLDAGE to disable the age test for folder deletions.

It's strongly recommended to use an unambiguous format for dates: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS. There are quite a few formats for numeric dates out there. For example, people in the US and Europe might interpret them differently. If we write 06/07/2011 or 06.07.2011, did we mean 2011-07-06 or 2011-06-07? June or july? Same applies to computers. What are the regional settings? Are they the same in all the remote offices on all continents across the globe? Using the ISO8601 format above none of this has to be considered - it is the same everywhere.

Examples

Defines what interval is specified on the /MINAGE and /MAXAGE parameters. If /INTERVAL is not defined, /MINAGE and /MAXAGE defaults to days.

Defines which levels of subfolders are processed. Ignored if /R is not defined. Default: No limitation (all subfolders are processed). Negative values are treated as an error.

In the examples below path is defined as /PATH:C:\RootFolder and this is the example directory three:

      C:\RootFolder\Sub1\Sub2\Sub3\Sub4\Sub5\Sub6\Sub7
         ↑          ↑    ↑    ↑    ↑    ↑    ↑    ↑
         0          1    2    3    4    5    6    7   ← depth

Incorrect time on computer clock can result in unintentional deletes when using /MINAGE and/or /MAXAGE. Example scenario:
Current date is 2011-01-15. During BIOS reset the computer clock is cleared to 1970-01-01. "Example file" is created 2011-01-14 (real age 1 day). A scheduled task is run after bootup, where MINAGE is set to 12 months. Because of incorrect computer time, the "Example file" passes the MINAGE test and gets deleted.

Move modes other than OFF has to be combined with /MOVETARGET.

Examples

/MOVETARGET specifies the path where files are moved if /MOVE switch is used. Environment variables are expanded. The movetarget directory must exist prior to executing robodelete.