Search and Delete Files Based on Mask

[Ben]

Greetings,
I am looking for a way to search for and delete files based on a pattern
mask. For example, the search method would find all files matching a
certain pattern containing wildcards (e.g. *FILE29*.TXT). I'm looking for a
way to do this in either Visual Basic or C(++). Thanks!

[Richard Heathfield]

Ben wrote:

Greetings,
I am looking for a way to search for and delete files based on a
pattern
mask. For example, the search method would find all files matching a
certain pattern containing wildcards (e.g. *FILE29*.TXT). I'm looking for
a
way to do this in either Visual Basic or C(++). Thanks!

Look up the Windows SDK functions FindFirstFile(), FindNextFile(),
FindClose() and the WIN32_FIND_DATA type.

Every now and again, Microsoft change the preferred way to parse files, so
don't be surprised if your code is considered archaic in, say, a year or
two. (Does anyone remember filling the DTA using INT 21 sub 4E and sub 4F?
Surely it wasn't /that/ long ago, was it?)

--
Richard Heathfield : bi****@eton.powernet.co.uk
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K&R answers, C books, etc: http://users.powernet.co.uk/eton

[J French]

On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 09:15:10 +0000, Richard Heathfield
<in*****@address.co.uk.invalid> wrote:

Ben wrote:

Greetings,
I am looking for a way to search for and delete files based on a
pattern
mask. For example, the search method would find all files matching a
certain pattern containing wildcards (e.g. *FILE29*.TXT). I'm looking for
a
way to do this in either Visual Basic or C(++). Thanks!

Look up the Windows SDK functions FindFirstFile(), FindNextFile(),
FindClose() and the WIN32_FIND_DATA type.

Every now and again, Microsoft change the preferred way to parse files, so
don't be surprised if your code is considered archaic in, say, a year or
two. (Does anyone remember filling the DTA using INT 21 sub 4E and sub 4F?
Surely it wasn't /that/ long ago, was it?)

Yup - and I also remember how essential it was to restore the DTA ...

To the OP - it would be best to write your own 'matching' algorithm
- that leading '*' in '*FILE29*.TXT' is very non-standard

[Derk Gwen]

# > I am looking for a way to search for and delete files based on a
# > pattern
# > mask. For example, the search method would find all files matching a
# > certain pattern containing wildcards (e.g. *FILE29*.TXT). I'm looking for
# > a
# > way to do this in either Visual Basic or C(++). Thanks!

The basic command is
find $directory -name '*FILE29*.TXT' -print | xargs rm

You can embed that into a C program with the system() function.
char *directory = "...";
char *pattern = "*FILE29*.TXT";
char *format = "find '%s' -name '%s' -print | xargs rm";
char command[strlen(directory)+strlen(pattern)+strlen(format)+1];
sprintf(command,format,directory,pattern);
system(command);

--
Derk Gwen http://derkgwen.250free.com/html/index.html
I have no respect for people with no shopping agenda.

[Mark McIntyre]

On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 11:03:21 -0000, in comp.programming , Derk Gwen
<de******@HotPOP.com> wrote:

# > I am looking for a way to search for and delete files based on a
# > pattern
# > mask. For example, the search method would find all files matching a
# > certain pattern containing wildcards (e.g. *FILE29*.TXT). I'm looking for
# > a
# > way to do this in either Visual Basic or C(++). Thanks!

The basic command is
find $directory -name '*FILE29*.TXT' -print | xargs rm

if you're going to post absurdly offtopic answers to offtopic questions, at
least put some comment in to that effect, and point out that the question
was offtopic in the first place.
--
Mark McIntyre
CLC FAQ <http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html>
CLC readme: <http://www.angelfire.com/ms3/bchambless0/welcome_to_clc.html>
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[Joe \Nuke Me Xemu\ Foster]

"Ben" <be**@bellsouth.nizzle> wrote in message <news:os*******************@bignews3.bellsouth.net >...

I am looking for a way to search for and delete files based on a pattern
mask. For example, the search method would find all files matching a
certain pattern containing wildcards (e.g. *FILE29*.TXT). I'm looking for a
way to do this in either Visual Basic or C(++). Thanks!

Here's how I might have done it in VB3...

Sub TrashDisk (ByVal Start As String, ByVal Pattern As String, ByVal AttrMask As Integer)
Dim DirCount As Long, Dirs() As String
ReDim Dirs(0 To 3): DirCount = 1
If Right$(Start, 1) = "\" Then
Dirs(0) = Start
ElseIf Start Like "[A-Za-z][:]" Then
Dirs(0) = Start
Else
Dirs(0) = Start & "\"
End If
Dim DejaVu As Integer
While DirCount
DirCount = DirCount - 1
Start = Dirs(DirCount)
If DejaVu Then On Error Resume Next
Dim File As String: File = Dir$(Start, AttrMask Or ATTR_DIRECTORY)
If DejaVu Then On Error GoTo 0 Else DejaVu = True
While Len(File)
Dim SubDir As Integer
If File = "." Or File = ".." Then
SubDir = False
Else
On Error Resume Next
SubDir = False
SubDir = (GetAttr(Start & File) And ATTR_DIRECTORY) = ATTR_DIRECTORY
On Error GoTo 0
End If
If SubDir Then
If DirCount > UBound(Dirs) Then
ReDim Preserve Dirs(0 To UBound(Dirs) * 2 Or 6)
End If
Dirs(DirCount) = Start & File & "\"
DirCount = DirCount + 1
ElseIf File Like Pattern Then
' On Error Resume Next
Kill Start & File
' On Error GoTo 0
End If
File = Dir$
Wend
Wend
End Sub

--
Joe Foster <mailto:jlfoster%40znet.com> Got Thetans? <http://www.xenu.net/>
WARNING: I cannot be held responsible for the above They're coming to
because my cats have apparently learned to type. take me away, ha ha!

[Old Enough to Know Better]

"Ben" <be**@bellsouth.nizzle> wrote in message
news:os*******************@bignews3.bellsouth.net. ..

Greetings,
I am looking for a way to search for and delete files based on a pattern mask. For example, the search method would find all files matching a
certain pattern containing wildcards (e.g. *FILE29*.TXT). I'm looking for a way to do this in either Visual Basic or C(++). Thanks!

You may also want to check out the FileSystemObject ( for VB add a project
reference to the Microsoft scripting runtime)
..

[J French]

On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 17:27:05 GMT, "Old Enough to Know Better"
<Sp*******@NoSpam.com> wrote:

<snip>

You may also want to check out the FileSystemObject ( for VB add a project
reference to the Microsoft scripting runtime)

Are you joking ?

[Rick Rothstein]

> I am looking for a way to search for and delete files based on a
pattern

mask. For example, the search method would find all files matching a
certain pattern containing wildcards (e.g. *FILE29*.TXT). I'm looking for a way to do this in either Visual Basic or C(++). Thanks!

You can always go back to the old DOS roots...

Path = "d:\temp\test"
Mask = "*File29*.txt"
Shell Environ("comspec") & " /c del " & _
Path & "\" & Mask & " /q"

Note that the Path assignment is made without the trailing backslash. That
is because I am concatenating it in within the Shell statement directly.

Rick - MVP

[Old Enough to Know Better]

"J French" <er*****@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:40***************@news.btclick.com...

On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 17:27:05 GMT, "Old Enough to Know Better"
<Sp*******@NoSpam.com> wrote:

<snip>

You may also want to check out the FileSystemObject ( for VB add a projectreference to the Microsoft scripting runtime)

Are you joking ?

I make no guarentees on this code because I didn't spend a lot of time
verifing it but here
is a MS knowledge base example of how to recursively search using wildcards
and FSO in VB6.
Maybe OP can spend a few minutes and paste it into a VB form and see if it's
what they want.
If you're not familiar with VB you can reference the KB article for complete
instructions.

HOW TO: Recursively Search Directories by Using FileSystemObject
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;185601

Option Explicit

Dim fso As New FileSystemObject
Dim fld As Folder

Private Sub Command1_Click()
Dim nDirs As Long, nFiles As Long, lSize As Currency
Dim sDir As String, sSrchString As String
sDir = InputBox("Type the directory that you want to search for", _
"FileSystemObjects example", "C:\")
sSrchString = InputBox("Type the file name that you want to search for",
_
"FileSystemObjects example", "vb.ini")
MousePointer = vbHourglass
Label1.Caption = "Searching " & vbCrLf & UCase(sDir) & "..."
lSize = FindFile(sDir, sSrchString, nDirs, nFiles)
MousePointer = vbDefault
MsgBox Str(nFiles) & " files found in" & Str(nDirs) & _
" directories", vbInformation
MsgBox "Total Size = " & lSize & " bytes"
End Sub

Private Function FindFile(ByVal sFol As String, sFile As String, _
nDirs As Long, nFiles As Long) As Currency
Dim tFld As Folder, tFil As File, FileName As String

On Error GoTo Catch
Set fld = fso.GetFolder(sFol)
FileName = Dir(fso.BuildPath(fld.Path, sFile), vbNormal Or _
vbHidden Or vbSystem Or vbReadOnly)
While Len(FileName) <> 0
FindFile = FindFile + FileLen(fso.BuildPath(fld.Path, _
FileName))
nFiles = nFiles + 1
List1.AddItem fso.BuildPath(fld.Path, FileName) ' Load ListBox
FileName = Dir() ' Get next file
DoEvents
Wend
Label1 = "Searching " & vbCrLf & fld.Path & "..."
nDirs = nDirs + 1
If fld.SubFolders.Count > 0 Then
For Each tFld In fld.SubFolders
DoEvents
FindFile = FindFile + FindFile(tFld.Path, sFile, nDirs, nFiles)
Next
End If
Exit Function
Catch: FileName = ""
Resume Next
End Function

Of course the sample code above doesn't actually delete the files it just
gives a listing, which you could then use for review before deleting. To
delete files use the FileSystemObject.DeleteFile method.

fso.DeleteFile ( filespec[, force] );
Arguments
filespec - Required. The name of the file to delete. The filespec can
contain wildcard characters in the last path component.
force - Optional. Boolean value that is true if files with the read-only
attribute set are to be deleted; false (default) if they are not.

Remarks
An error occurs if no matching files are found. The DeleteFile method stops
on the first error it encounters. No attempt is made to roll back or undo
any changes that were made before an error occurred.

Hope this helps

[Programmer Dude]

Mark McIntyre wrote:

The basic command is
find $directory -name '*FILE29*.TXT' -print | xargs rm

if you're going to post absurdly offtopic answers to offtopic
questions, at least put some comment in to that effect, and
point out that the question was offtopic in the first place.

Except--speaking as one regular of c.p--I didn't find it terribly
off-topic. comp.programming is pretty lenient about topic, because
we're a small enough group not to worry about traffic.

If it's genuinely computer programming related (and it was IMO)
then (again, IMO) it's fine.

Completely bogus answers are somewhat less fine, tho....

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|_____________________________________________|___ ____________________|

[Programmer Dude]

Richard Heathfield wrote:

(Does anyone remember filling the DTA using INT 21 sub 4E and sub
4F? Surely it wasn't /that/ long ago, was it?)

Heh! In "computer years" it's several generations ago! (-:

(In human years, probably close to a decade by now.)

--
|_ CJSonnack <Ch***@Sonnack.com> _____________| How's my programming? |
|_ http://www.Sonnack.com/ ___________________| Call: 1-800-DEV-NULL |
|_____________________________________________|___ ____________________|