script that logs and deletes old windows files

Perl Noob has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I'm new to Perl and the only real experience I've had with it has been self-taught through a beginners book. I recently was asked to do a script that will perform certain functions in a windows directory, and was hoping I could get a little help. Here's what its supposed to do:

Monitor and scan a windows directory daily and see if any files are older than 5 days. If they are then the script should log the files in a blank text document and delete them from the directory.

You can see what I have so far on my public scratchpad. I'm sure it looks pretty bad, but like I said, I just started learning. I could still use some help with the pieces I'm missing, as well as any clean up I can perform. Any advice you guys can give me would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Comment on script that logs and deletes old windows files

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Re: misguided intern in need of help by Transient (Hermit) on Jun 17, 2005 at 19:01 UTC
Some functions that might be good to know: open print readdir stat unlink Try it out! Get a test area set up and go nuts! see what happens :)	[reply]
Re: misguided intern in need of help by ikegami (Patriarch) on Jun 17, 2005 at 19:13 UTC
I like to use the core module Time::Local to check for time differences. `use Time::Local qw( timelocal_nocheck ); my ($mday, $mon, $year) = (localtime())[3, 4, 5]; my $five_days_ago = timelocal_nocheck(0, 0, 0, $mday-5, $mon, $year); foreach my $filename (...) { next unless (stat($filename))[9] < $five_days_ago; ...do something... }` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: misguided intern in need of help by Zaxo (Archbishop) on Jun 17, 2005 at 19:26 UTC
The -M file test operator will be helpful. Use unlink to delete regular files. After Compline, Zaxo	[reply]
Re^2: misguided intern in need of help by polettix (Vicar) on Jun 17, 2005 at 23:45 UTC
Absolutely. The beta sample chapter from "Learning Perl 4" also gives some insight and examples. Flavio (perl -e 'print(scalar(reverse("\nti.xittelop\@oivalf")))') Don't fool yourself.	[reply]
Re: misguided intern in need of help by ww (Archbishop) on Jun 17, 2005 at 18:59 UTC
misguided: Not to be harsh, but use the monastery's search for at least two recent threads on this very topic; use search before posting new ques... .oO: uht-oh, too late! I've already approved the question.... So, as a bonus: see also threads with references to modules such as File::find Welcome to the Monastery, but save yourself a few ego_bruises by reading How do I post a question effectively? and other introductions to practice and etiquette amongst the monks.	[reply]
Re^2: misguided intern in need of help by Perl Noob (Initiate) on Jun 17, 2005 at 19:21 UTC
Thanks for the welcome and advice. I guess I should have looked a little harder through prior questions. I'll research the material as per your suggestion.	[reply]
Re: misguided intern in need of help by tcf03 (Deacon) on Jun 17, 2005 at 19:52 UTC
Heres something Ive used in the past - you'll have to test it and probably modify it somewhat, but this should give you a good start. `use strict; use warnings; use POSIX qw(strftime); my $modtime_seconds = ( stat($file) )[9]; $modtime_seconds = $modtime_seconds - 86400; my $modtime = ( ! defined ($modtime_seconds) ) ? "null" : POSIX::strftime( "%B %d", $modtime_seconds, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, + 0 );` [download] update or `find /yourdir -type f -mtime +5 -exec rm -rf {} \;` Ted -- "That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved." --Ralph Waldo Emerson	[reply] [d/l] [select]