How can I delete old files from a directory?

Question

I have a channel that is archiving files into an archive directory.  I only need to keep these files for 90 days.  How can I delete the files and folders that are older than 90 days?

Answer 1

This can be done using two published functions and a scheduled script.  Let's go through it:

1) Create a published function to delete a folder:

function deleteDirectory(directoryToDelete) {
   // new up a java.io.File for the folder that was passed into the function
   var directory = new java.io.File(directoryToDelete);
   
   // list out all of the files/folders for the given directory
   var files = directory.listFiles();
   
   // cycle the files/folders one at a time
   if (files !== null && files.length > 0) {
      for (var currentFile = 0; currentFile < files.length; currentFile++) {
         // if this item is a file and not a directory, then we can just delete it
         if (!files[currentFile].isDirectory()) {
            files[currentFile].delete();
         } else if (files[currentFile].isDirectory()) {
            // we need to call back to this same function to delete this folder
            deleteDirectory(files[currentFile].getAbsolutePath());
         }
      }
   }

   // now that the directory is empty, we can delete it
   directory.delete();
}

2) Create a published function to cycle your directory and delete the files or folders based on a cutoffi time.

function deleteFolders(days,folder) {
   // calculate the cutoffTime based on how many days you want to retain
   var cutoffTime = (new java.util.Date()).getTime() - (days * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);
   
   // new up a java.io.File for the folder that was passed into the function
   var directory = new java.io.File(folder);
   
   // list out all of the files/folders for the given directory
   var files = directory.listFiles();
   
   // cycle the files/folders one at a time
   if (files !== null && files.length > 0) {
      for (var currentFile = 0; currentFile < files.length; currentFile++) {
         // if this item is a file and not a directory, then we can just delete it
         if (!files[currentFile].isDirectory()) {
            // compare the last modified time to the cutoff time to determine if we are going to delete the file
            if (files[currentFile].lastModified() < cutoffTime) {
               // REMEMBER: Uncomment the next line after testing so that the file actually gets deleted.
               // files[currentFile].delete();
               qie.debug('File (' + files[currentFile].getAbsolutePath() + ') would be deleted.');
            }
         } else if (files[currentFile].isDirectory()) {
            // compare the last modified time to the cutoff time to determine if we are going to delete this folder
            if (files[currentFile].lastModified() < cutoffTime) {
               // REMEMBER: Uncomment the next line after testing so that the directory actually gets deleted.
               // deleteDirectory(files[currentFile].getAbsolutePath());
               qie.debug('Directory (' + files[currentFile].getAbsolutePath() + ') would be deleted.');
            }
         }
      }
   }
}

3) Create a scheduled script on our channel that will call this function on a daily basis.

// delete files/folders from my temp directory that are over 5 days old
deleteFolders(5, 'C:\\Temp\\');

Now I can schedule the script to run every day and keep my temp folder clean.

Answer 2

If you only want to delete the files from your current directory and any files from sub directories then you can use one function.

function deleteOldFiles(days,folder) {
   // calculate the cutoffTime based on how many days you want to retain
   var cutoffTime = (new java.util.Date()).getTime() - (days * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);
   
   // new up a java.io.File for the folder that was passed into the function
   var directory = new java.io.File(folder);
   
   // list out all of the files/folders for the given directory
   var files = directory.listFiles();
   
   // cycle the files/folders one at a time
   if (files !== null && files.length > 0) {
      for (var currentFile = 0; currentFile < files.length; currentFile++) {
         // if this item is a file and not a directory, then we can just delete it
         if (!files[currentFile].isDirectory()) {
            // compare the last modified time to the cutoff time to determine if we are going to delete the file
            if (files[currentFile].lastModified() < cutoffTime) {
               //qie.debug('File (' + files[currentFile].getAbsolutePath() + ') would be deleted.');
               files[currentFile].delete();
            }
         } else if (files[currentFile].isDirectory()) {
            // search sub-directory
            deleteOldFiles(days, files[currentFile].getAbsolutePath());
         }
      }
   }
}