Batch process multiple files
Syntax NT/2000:
FORFILES [-pPath] [-s] [-dDate] [-mMask] [-cCommand]
Syntax 2003/Vista:
FORFILES [-p Path] [-s] [-d Date] [-m Mask] [-c Command]
key
Path : Path to search (default=current folder)
-s : Recurse into sub-folders
Date : This can be
+DDMMYY to select files newer than a given date
(filedate >=DDMMYY) or
-DDMMYY to select files older than a given date
(filedate <=DDMMYY) or
(Recent versions format the date mask as: +MM/DD/YY
+DD to select files newer than DD days ago or
-DD to select files older than DD days ago
Mask : Search mask (wildcards allowed) default=*.*
Command : Command to execute on each file. default="CMD /C Echo @FILE"
The following variables can be used in -cCommand (must be upper case)
@FILE,
@FNAME_WITHOUT_EXT,
@EXT,
@PATH,
@RELPATH,
@ISDIR,
@FSIZE,
@FDATE,
@FTIME
To ECHO Hex characters in the Command use: 0xHH
Examples:
To find every text file on the C: drive
FORFILES -pC:\ -s -m*.TXT -c"CMD /C Echo @FILE is a text file"
To show the path of every HTML file on the C: drive
FORFILES -pC:\ -s -m*.HTML -c"CMD /C Echo @RELPATH is the location of @FILE"
List every folder on the C: drive
FORFILES -pC:\ -s -m*. -c"CMD /C if @ISDIR==TRUE echo @FILE is a folder"
For every file on the C: drive list the file extension in double quotes
FORFILES -pc:\ -s -m*.* -c"CMD /c echo extension of @FILE is 0x22@EXT0x22"
List every file on the C: drive last modified over 100 days ago
FORFILES -pc:\ -s -m*.* -d-100 -c"CMD /C Echo @FILE : date >= 100 days"
Find files last modified before 01-Jan-1995
FORFILES -pc:\ -s -m*.* -d-010195 -c"CMD /C Echo @FILE is quite old!"
note:
'0x22' is hex 22 - the double quote character - put these around any long filenames.
Version 1.0 of FORFILES will only search for files newer than a specified date.
Version 1.1 (described above) can search for file dates Newer or Older then a specified date.
The Vista/2003 version of ForFiles is not compatible with Windows 2000
An alternative method of dealing with files older or newer than a specified date is to use ROBOCOPY