FORFILES
Select a file (or set of files) and execute a command on each file. Batch processing.
Syntax FORFILES [/p Path] [/m Mask] [/s] [/c Command] [/d[+ | -] {dd/MM/yyyy | dd}] Key /p Path The Path to search (default=current folder) /s Recurse into sub-folders /C command The command to execute for each file. Wrap the command string in double quotes. Default = "cmd /c echo @file" The Command variables listed below can also be used in the command string. /D date Select files with a last modified date greater than or equal to (+), or less than or equal to (-), the specified date using the "dd/MM/yyyy" format; /D + dd Select files with a last modified date greater than or equal to the current date plus "dd" days. (in the future) /D - dd Select files with a last modified date less than or equal to the current date minus "dd" days. (in the past) A valid "dd" number of days can be any number in the range of 0 to 32768. (89 years) "+" is taken as default sign if not specified. Command Variables: @file The name of the file. @fname The file name without extension. @ext Only the extension of the file. @path Full path of the file. @relpath Relative path of the file. @isdir Returns "TRUE" if a file type is a directory, and "FALSE" for files. @fsize Size of the file in bytes. @fdate Last modified date of the file. @ftime Last modified time of the file.
To include special characters in the command line, use the hex code for the character in 0xHH format (ex. 0x09 is theTAB character, 0x22 is the double quote " character.) so "C:\Program Files\" becomes ^0x22C:\Program^ Files\^0x22
Internal CMD.exe commands must be preceded with "cmd /c".
If ForFiles finds one or more matches if will return %errorlevel% =0
If
ForFiles finds no matches if will return %errorlevel% =1 and will print
"ERROR: No files found with the specified search criteria."
The old NT4 version of ForFiles used unix style -parameters, and could only
match dates newer than a specified date using the following command
variables names: (which must be upper case) @FILE, @FNAME_WITHOUT_EXT, @EXT,
@PATH, @RELPATH, @ISDIR, @FSIZE, @FDATE, @FTIME
The Windows 2000 version of
ForFiles also used unix-style parameters but is otherwise the same as current
versions.
Last modified dates set in the future are not common but can happen when your computer clock date/time is changed e.g. due to daylight savings time.
Examples:
Delete the testfile if it is is 5 days old or older:
C:\> forfiles /m testfile.txt /c "cmd /c Del testfile.txt " /d
-5
Find .xls file that were last modified 30 days ago or older
C:\> FORFILES /M *.xls /C "cmd /c echo @path was changed 30 days
ago" /D -30
List the size of all .doc files:
C:\> FORFILES /S /M
*.doc /C "cmd /c echo @fsize"
An alternative method of dealing with files older or newer than a specified date is to use ROBOCOPY
Rule #1: Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Rule #2: It's all
small stuff - Dr Robert S Eliot, University of Nebraska
cardiologist
Related:
Syntax - Delete files older than N
days
FOR - Conditionally perform a
command several times.
Powershell: ForEach-Object - Loop for each object in
the pipeline
Equivalent bash command (Linux): find - Search for files that meet a desired
criteria