CODEWITHSUNDEEP
powershellwindows-10powershell-7.4
Chris
Chris

Reputation: 13

Get number of deleted files in Powershell Script

I have a Powershell script run overnight to automatically delete those files which meet certain criteria.

How can I modify it to capture the number of files selected for deletion?

The statement I'm using is nice and simple and the Where-object cmdlet would fit in nicely with what I already have, if I could get it to work.

The statement I'm trying to modify is as follows:

$path = [path to containing folder]
Get-ChildItem -Path $path -File | Where-Object { $_.LastWriteTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-10) } | Remove-Item -Force

Upvotes: 1

Views: 73

Answers (2)

mklement0
mklement0

Reputation: 439832

Use the common -OutVariable (-ov) parameter to capture a cmdlet's output objects in a variable, in addition to sending them to the pipeline:

# After executing this command, $files will contain the filtered files, if any.
Get-ChildItem -Path $path -File | 
  Where-Object LastWriteTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-10) -OutVariable files | 
  Remove-Item -Force -WhatIf

Note: The -WhatIf common parameter in the command above previews the operation. Remove -WhatIf and re-execute once you're sure the operation will do what you want.

Note:

  • While the filtered files are captured in variable $files, note how the -OutVariable argument is just files, i.e., without the $ sigil.

    • Use $files.Count to determine the count of matching files.
    • Using -WhatIf, as shown, allows you to examine the files to be deleted ahead of time, before actually deleting them.

  • Also, I've used simplified syntax with Where-Object above.

  • Note that the -OutVariable target variable always receives a collection (of type [System.Collections.ArrayList]), even if only one or no output object is captured.

    • Surprisingly, this behavior differs from capturing output in a variable by assignment ($files = ...); see GitHub issue #3154 for a discussion.

Upvotes: 4

Joel Coehoorn
Joel Coehoorn

Reputation: 416111

$path = [path to containing folder]
$files = Get-ChildItem -Path $path -File | Where-Object { $_.LastWriteTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-10) } 

# $files.Count or $files.Length (both work) will have what you need here

$files | Remove-Item -Force

Upvotes: 1

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