List files in tree by date

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michael Salem
  • Start date Start date
M

Michael Salem

Does anybody know of a program, or a procedure, in a 32-bit Windows
system which will let me display all the files in a directory and its
subdirectories listed by date?

The purpose: quickly check the date of the last meaningful change to any
file in the tree: if it was a long time ago, move the whole lot to
archive.

Output something like:

C:\DATA\ALICE\THUMBS.DB 2005-07-19 18:56
C:\DATA\BOB\THUMBS.DB 2005-07-19 18:56
C:\DATA\CAROL\THUMBS.DB 2005-07-19 18:56
C:\DATA\DEREK\THUMBS.DB 2005-07-19 18:56
C:\DATA\ELENA\CONTRACT.DOC 2003-07-11 14:56
The file CONTRACT.DOC above is the newest meaningful file, and the rest
of the list is irrelevant to me. The THUMBS.DB are updated by the
system, and their dates are not of interest.

I can probably do this from the command line, using Windows ports of
Unix tools; something like
ls c:\DATA <some parameters> | SORT <some parameters> | HEAD <parameters
to show only the first few entries>

but this will take a while, and I don't want to reinvent the wheel.

Best wishes,
 
Start > Run, type: cmd

Command line: dir /s /o:d

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Michael said:
Does anybody know of a program, or a procedure, in a 32-bit Windows
system which will let me display all the files in a directory and its
subdirectories listed by date?
Click to expand...

TrackerV3 (http://www.trackerv3.com/) can do this. So to the top
directory, do a find files on "*", the click on the date column in the
resulting display to sort by date. Easier to do than to explain. :)

You can also set the find to only find files that are newer than x
days/weeks/whatever, which might be convenient to limit the display.

Probably other file managers can do this as well.

Terry
 
Michael said:
Does anybody know of a program, or a procedure, in a 32-bit Windows
system which will let me display all the files in a directory and its
subdirectories listed by date?
Click to expand...

This app will (I use and like it).

Program: Karen's Directory Printer
Author: (Karen Kenworthy)
http://www.karenware.com/

Susan
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Search alt.comp.freeware (or read it online):
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Pricelessware: http://www.pricelessware.org (not maintained)
 
aafuss said:
http://www.winsite.com/bin/Info?14500000036731
Click to expand...

Thanks; will look into this.

Another response:
Command line: dir /s /o:d
Click to expand...

Thanks, but this won't work, as the files are listed by directory; I
want to find the newest files, with their pathnames, anywhere in the
tree. For example, I did such a listing just now, on 20 July, having
lots of files with today's date. The last file in the DIR listing is
dated 16 Jul.

It's not a hugely difficult problem to solve from scratch, just
difficult to find someone who's already done it.

Best wishes,
==
Michael Salem
 
Michael Salem <[email protected]> wrote:
Click to expand...
Does anybody know of a program, or a procedure, in a 32-bit Windows
system which will let me display all the files in a directory and its
subdirectories listed by date?
Click to expand...
The purpose: quickly check the date of the last meaningful change to any
file in the tree: if it was a long time ago, move the whole lot to
archive.
Click to expand...
Output something like:
Click to expand...
C:\DATA\ALICE\THUMBS.DB 2005-07-19 18:56
C:\DATA\BOB\THUMBS.DB 2005-07-19 18:56
C:\DATA\CAROL\THUMBS.DB 2005-07-19 18:56
C:\DATA\DEREK\THUMBS.DB 2005-07-19 18:56
C:\DATA\ELENA\CONTRACT.DOC 2003-07-11 14:56
Click to expand...
The file CONTRACT.DOC above is the newest meaningful file, and the rest
of the list is irrelevant to me. The THUMBS.DB are updated by the
system, and their dates are not of interest.
Click to expand...
I can probably do this from the command line, using Windows ports of
Unix tools; something like
ls c:\DATA <some parameters> | SORT <some parameters> | HEAD <parameters
to show only the first few entries>
Click to expand...
but this will take a while, and I don't want to reinvent the wheel.
Click to expand...

I haven't checked Karen's app or TrackerV3 yet.

I think that the dir command can almost work. Perhaps grabbing 4DOS,
rather than a port of a UNIX tool is easier.

dir C:\DATA /O:-D /T:W /S

That sorts files, newest to oldest, by the Time they were last written
to, by directory. You also want to filter the result with an exclude
list, such as *.DB, and I'm pretty rusty, yet pretty sure that 4DOS
will allow you to do exactly what you want, excluding by extension.

Or, ask in alt.msdos.batch, or alt.msdos.batch.nt, and I'm sure they
will help you do exactly what you want with SED and batch. They will
also show you how to use the resulting report to move files older than
x number of days. Great groups!!

Be sure to give your OS in asking! :)
 
Michael said:
Does anybody know of a program, or a procedure, in a 32-bit Windows
system which will let me display all the files in a directory and its
subdirectories listed by date?

The purpose: quickly check the date of the last meaningful change to any
file in the tree: if it was a long time ago, move the whole lot to
archive.

Output something like:

C:\DATA\ALICE\THUMBS.DB 2005-07-19 18:56
C:\DATA\BOB\THUMBS.DB 2005-07-19 18:56
C:\DATA\CAROL\THUMBS.DB 2005-07-19 18:56
C:\DATA\DEREK\THUMBS.DB 2005-07-19 18:56
C:\DATA\ELENA\CONTRACT.DOC 2003-07-11 14:56
The file CONTRACT.DOC above is the newest meaningful file, and the rest
of the list is irrelevant to me. The THUMBS.DB are updated by the
system, and their dates are not of interest.

I can probably do this from the command line, using Windows ports of
Unix tools; something like
ls c:\DATA <some parameters> | SORT <some parameters> | HEAD <parameters
to show only the first few entries>

but this will take a while, and I don't want to reinvent the wheel.

Best wishes,
Click to expand...

Dirhtml can also do that, with result being an html file.

http://home.pacbell.net/nitzsche/dirhtml/dirhtml.html
 
Does anybody know of a program, or a procedure, in a 32-bit Windows
system which will let me display all the files in a directory and its
subdirectories listed by date?
Click to expand...

< snip >

Find, then click on "modified" column to sort by date.

Regards, John.
--
****************************************************
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/ Oz \ John Fitzsimons - Melbourne, Australia.
\_,--.x/ http://www.vicnet.net.au/~johnf/welcome.htm
v http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/
 
Does anybody know of a program, or a procedure, in a 32-bit Windows
John Fitzsimons responded:
Find, then click on "modified" column to sort by date.
Click to expand...

Excellent, very simple solution, many thanks. To spell it out in detail,
for Windows XP:
Search.
for Files and Folders
Leave file box empty, or type *.*
Browse to the directory from where you want to start.
Make sure that subfolders are opened.
Do the search
If "date modified" is not in the column heading, right click on the row
of column headers, and select it
Sort by date, newest first, by clicking on the date modified column
header.

Thanks again,
 
Michael Salem said:
John Fitzsimons responded:


Excellent, very simple solution, many thanks. To spell it out in detail,
for Windows XP:
Search.
for Files and Folders
Leave file box empty, or type *.*
Browse to the directory from where you want to start.
Make sure that subfolders are opened.
Do the search
If "date modified" is not in the column heading, right click on the row
of column headers, and select it
Sort by date, newest first, by clicking on the date modified column
header.

Thanks again,
Click to expand...

This will display the list as asked for (I'll be a bore and say that
Tracker3 does it quicker), but I cannot see a way to save the list to a file
or print it, keeping the dates in the dates modified or dates created order.
Any ideas, anyone?

===

Frank Bohan
¶ Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot about puppies.
 
This will display the list as asked for (I'll be a bore and say that
Tracker3 does it quicker), but I cannot see a way to save the list to a file
or print it, keeping the dates in the dates modified or dates created order.
Any ideas, anyone?
Click to expand...

Sure, use the shell extension DMEX. Then right click to save to
clipboard. This shell extension is one of the major reasons I don't
use Tracker. I use it too often. :-)

Not sure of a current download site. A recent release was 3.19.

Regards, John.
--
****************************************************
,-._|\ (A.C.F FAQ) http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/faq.html
/ Oz \ John Fitzsimons - Melbourne, Australia.
\_,--.x/ http://www.vicnet.net.au/~johnf/welcome.htm
v http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/
 
Frank said:
This will display the list as asked for (I'll be a bore and say that
Tracker3 does it quicker), but I cannot see a way to save the list to a file
or print it, keeping the dates in the dates modified or dates created order.
Any ideas, anyone?
Click to expand...

Trackerv3 lets you save the list to the clipboard, with the date
modified. Do select all, then right click, info-to-clipboard, choose
your format. The clipboard gets the list in whatever order you see it,
and the data is in CSV format. From the clipboard, it's easy to get it
to a file and print it.

Terry
 
John Fitzsimons said:
Sure, use the shell extension DMEX. Then right click to save to
clipboard. This shell extension is one of the major reasons I don't
use Tracker. I use it too often. :-)

Not sure of a current download site. A recent release was 3.19.

Regards, John.
Click to expand...

John: Thanks for your reply, but Terry found a way to do it with Tracker (as
someone said, it's a program where you continually find something new).

<quote> (from Terry's post). Trackerv3 lets you save the list to the
clipboard, with the date
modified. Do select all, then right click, info-to-clipboard, choose
your format. The clipboard gets the list in whatever order you see it,
and the data is in CSV format. From the clipboard, it's easy to get it
to a file and print it. </quote>
(I found that "Select all" is not necessary, just click on one item)

===

Frank Bohan
¶ Being called a poetess brings out the terroristress in me.
 
Terry said:
Trackerv3 lets you save the list to the clipboard, with the date
modified. Do select all, then right click, info-to-clipboard, choose
your format. The clipboard gets the list in whatever order you see it,
and the data is in CSV format. From the clipboard, it's easy to get it
to a file and print it.

Terry
Click to expand...

Terry: Thanks for the info. I found that if all the columns are required,
just ticking one item, then as you suggest, was sufficient. Should we form a
Tracker Appreciation Society? Also, I discovered that by using View > Show
Info Panel > Find Files > Tick Include Subfolders, you can include the
subfolders and/or choose selected filetypes.

===

Frank Bohan
¶ Abort: To correct a misconception
 
Frank said:
Terry: Thanks for the info. I found that if all the columns are required,
just ticking one item, then as you suggest, was sufficient. Should we form a
Tracker Appreciation Society?
Click to expand...

The list you get in the clipboard should reflect which items are
selected. For example, if you select one item, you should get a list
(in the clipboard) of just that one item. If you select all, the list
should include all the items.

The only exception to this is if you select right-click/info to
clipboard/all rows, which copies all info for all items.
Also, I discovered that by using View > Show
Info Panel > Find Files > Tick Include Subfolders, you can include the
subfolders and/or choose selected filetypes.
Click to expand...
Sure -- you can select files by size, date, contents, etc., as well.

Terry
 
Frank said:
Terry: Thanks for the info. I found that if all the columns are required,
just ticking one item, then as you suggest, was sufficient. Should we form a
Tracker Appreciation Society? Also, I discovered that by using View > Show
Info Panel > Find Files > Tick Include Subfolders, you can include the
subfolders and/or choose selected filetypes.
Click to expand...

I should have mentioned, that this is just a form of the "report"
panel, which has some options for controlling the format of the stuff
saved to the clipboard. Also, you can save directly to a file, or
directly to the printer, from this panel.

Terry
 
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