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Q&A How to automatically select new bulk downloads, and delete downloads deleted months ago?

Write a script to find the old files. Once you have a full treename of a file, it's trivial to delete it. Pretty much any command shell should be able to do this. Here is an example using my scr...

posted 15d ago by Olin Lathrop‭ · edited 15d ago by Olin Lathrop‭

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#2: Post edited by

Olin Lathrop‭ · 2025-02-06T17:55:44Z (15 days ago)

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Write a script to find the old files. Once you have a full treename of a file, it's trivial to delete it. Pretty much any command shell should be able to do this. Here is an example using my scripting language, <a href="http://www.embedinc.com/pic/escr">ESCR</a>:
<pre>
// SHOWOLD date
//
// Show all the files in the current tree that are older than DATE. The
// format for DATE is YYYY/MM/DD.
//
var new thdate time = [arg 1]
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
// Subroutine OLDFILE tnam
//
// TNAM is the full treename of a file older than the threshold date/time.
//
subroutine oldfile
var local tnam string = [vnl [arg 1]]
show "Old file " tnam
endsub
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
~~// Subroutine DODIR path~~
//
subroutine dodir
var local olddir string = [dir]
loop dir "."
pick one by [dent type]
option "DIR"
dir [dent]
call dodir:+1 //process subdirectory recursively
dir olddir
option "FILE"
if [< [dent dtm] thdate] then //older than the threshold ?
call oldfile [dent tnam]
endif
endpick
endloop
endsub
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
// Start of main routine.
//
show "Files older than " thdate ":"
call dodir
</pre>
Since I didn't actually want to delete files on my system, I have it only show the name of each old file. However, you could make subroutine OLDFILE do whatever you wanted, including deleting the file.
If you want to run the above script directly, you'll have to install my ESCR scripter. It is included in the Full Runtime release at http://www.embedinc.com/pic/dload.htm.
Again, similar things can be done with other scripting languages and most command shells.

Write a script to find the old files. Once you have a full treename of a file, it's trivial to delete it. Pretty much any command shell should be able to do this. Here is an example using my scripting language, <a href="http://www.embedinc.com/pic/escr">ESCR</a>:
<pre>
// SHOWOLD date
//
// Show all the files in the current tree that are older than DATE. The
// format for DATE is YYYY/MM/DD.
//
var new thdate time = [arg 1]
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
// Subroutine OLDFILE tnam
//
// TNAM is the full treename of a file older than the threshold date/time.
//
subroutine oldfile
var local tnam string = [vnl [arg 1]]
show "Old file " tnam
endsub
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
// Subroutine DODIR
//
// Process all the files in the current directory and any of its
// sub-directories.
//
subroutine dodir
var local olddir string = [dir]
loop dir "."
pick one by [dent type]
option "DIR"
dir [dent]
call dodir:+1 //process subdirectory recursively
dir olddir
option "FILE"
if [< [dent dtm] thdate] then //older than the threshold ?
call oldfile [dent tnam]
endif
endpick
endloop
endsub
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
// Start of main routine.
//
show "Files older than " thdate ":"
call dodir
</pre>
Since I didn't actually want to delete files on my system, I have it only show the name of each old file. However, you could make subroutine OLDFILE do whatever you wanted, including deleting the file.
If you want to run the above script directly, you'll have to install my ESCR scripter. It is included in the Full Runtime release at http://www.embedinc.com/pic/dload.htm.
Again, similar things can be done with other scripting languages and most command shells.

#1: Initial revision by

Olin Lathrop‭ · 2025-02-06T17:51:39Z (15 days ago)

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Write a script to find the old files.  Once you have a full treename of a file, it's trivial to delete it.  Pretty much any command shell should be able to do this.  Here is an example using my scripting language, <a href="http://www.embedinc.com/pic/escr">ESCR</a>:

<pre>
//   SHOWOLD date
//
//   Show all the files in the current tree that are older than DATE.  The
//   format for DATE is YYYY/MM/DD.
//
var new thdate time = [arg 1]

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
//   Subroutine OLDFILE tnam
//
//   TNAM is the full treename of a file older than the threshold date/time.
//
subroutine oldfile
  var local tnam string = [vnl [arg 1]]

  show "Old file " tnam

  endsub

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
//   Subroutine DODIR path
//
subroutine dodir
  var local olddir string = [dir]

  loop dir "."
    pick one by [dent type]
      option "DIR"
        dir [dent]
        call dodir:+1        //process subdirectory recursively
        dir olddir
      option "FILE"
        if [< [dent dtm] thdate] then //older than the threshold ?
          call oldfile [dent tnam]
          endif
      endpick
    endloop

  endsub

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
//   Start of main routine.
//
show "Files older than " thdate ":"

call dodir
</pre>

Since I didn't actually want to delete files on my system, I have it only show the name of each old file.  However, you could make subroutine OLDFILE do whatever you wanted, including deleting the file.

If you want to run the above script directly, you'll have to install my ESCR scripter.  It is included in the Full Runtime release at http://www.embedinc.com/pic/dload.htm.

Again, similar things can be done with other scripting languages and most command shells.

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