Resolved Using FOR command to list filenames in order

Using a simple batch file I am trying to keep my backup files for a system under control e.g. keep the most recent 5, then delete any more provided they are at least 10 days old.

To achieve this, I am trying to use the FOR command to list files in a directory in reverse name order (which, by convention is the same as saying reverse order of when they were created).

I can achieve a list of the matching files using the FOR syntax -

set srch=pal *.xlsm
for /R %%a in ("%srch%") do echo file %%~fa ..​

and, in my case, I get all 18 matching filenames listed. Trouble is, the list of files is from oldest to youngest. I need it to be youngest to oldest. That way I can skip the first 5. With the resultant list I can then check if the file is older than say 10 days and if so delete it.

Ignoring the wrong order for now, I tried to skip the first 5 files in the list, so I added the SKIP option into the command -

for /R "SKIP=5" %%a in ("%srch%") do @echo %%~fa ..​

but now I get absolutely no files listed!!
What an I coding wrong?

Ultimately, I thought something like the following would do it, but it obviously is flawed ;-{
i.e. files are listed in the wrong order, and listing of files not working at all with SKIP coded.

set myNum=5
echo list with skip the first %myNum% ...
for /R "SKIP=%myNum%" %%a in ("%srch%") do (
echo encountered file %%~fa .. datetime %%~ta.
forfiles /M "%%a" /D -10 /C "cmd /c echo issue a delete for file %%a ..
)​

Thanks for any help anyone has.

 

I am not a programmer so I cannot answer this. Until a programmer comes along, I have to ask, can't you tell your backup program to keep only the last 5 backups?

 

I figured my code ... combination of FOR and FORFILES will do it. Posted here in case someone else wants to use it, or a variation of it.

set keepcnt=5
REM
REM other code in here
REM working directory is where the files are so no need for "path" option in FOR
REM
FOR /f "skip=%keepcnt% eol=: delims=" %%f in ('dir "* FNpattern *.xlsx" /b /o-n') do (

echo Checking if file "%%f" is old enough to delete ..
FORFILES /M "%%f" /D -10 /C "cmd /c echo ..time to delete file @file" 2>nul
FORFILES /M "%%f" /D -10 /C "cmd /c del @file"2>nul​

)​

As with the "echo" immediately before it, the first FORFILES is optional. I'm using it to give me a 'report' on what will actually be done. It does result in two "ERROR.." lines if the files are not 10+ days old, but the "2>nul" on the end eliminates those msgs.

 

My "backup pgm" is what I write. App is written in Excel (with VBA) so a batch file (in addition to any system level backup "pgm" - which is a drive cloning each night .. don't ask me why that's what they do) does the backups periodically during the day using Task Scheduler in case a user does the accidental "hit the DELETE key" on their keyboard when explore-ing files on the network drive.