Forfiles

forfiles is a computer software utility for Microsoft Windows, which selects files and runs a command on them. File selection criteria include name and last modified date. The command specifier supports some special syntax options. It can be used directly on the command-line, or in batch files or other scripts.

The forfiles command was originally provided as an add-on, in the Windows 98, Windows NT and Windows 2000Forfiles.exe - Windows 2000 Resource Kit Utility
/ref> Resource Kits. It became a standard utility with Windows Vista, as part of the new management features.

Usage

The forfiles command has several command-line switches. If no switches or parameters given, it outputs the name of every file in the current directory.

Switches

Command syntax

The command string is executed as given, except as noted below.

Sequences of the form , where "0x" is literal, and "FF" represents any two-digit hexadecimal number, are replaced with the corresponding single-byte value. This can be used to embed non-printing ASCII characters, or extended ASCII characters.

The sequence is replaced with a literal quotation mark . Using the 0x sequence form described previously, can also be used, which additionally hides the from the command interpreter.

Several variables are provided, to be used in the command as placeholders for the values from each file. Variables are technically not required, but must be used if the command is to vary for each file.

Date syntax

The date switch (/D) selects files based on their last modified date, given a ''date'' argument.

The date argument can be given as a literal date, in MM/DD/YYYY format (other date formats are not accepted). Alternatively, the date argument can be given as a number, in which case it is taken to mean an age in days (i.e., the day ''date'' days before the present date).

If the ''date'' argument begins with a minus (-), only files modified on or before the given date are selected (older file / modified earlier). Otherwise, only files modified on or after the given date are selected (younger files / modified later). An explicit plus (+) may be given, but is the default. Note that both modes select files on the given date. There is no way to select files only on a given date (without also either before or after).

Examples

The following command selects all log files (*.LOG) in the Windows directory 30 days or older, and lists them with their date.

C:\>FORFILES /P C:\Windows /M *.LOG /D -30 /C "CMD /C ECHO @FDATE @FILE"
6/12/2015 "iis7.log"
5/28/2015 "msxml4-KB954430-enu.LOG"
5/28/2015 "msxml4-KB973688-enu.LOG"
5/26/2015 "setuperr.log"

The following command would delete the same files.

C:\>FORFILES /P C:\Windows /M *.LOG /D -30 /C "CMD /C DEL @PATH"

The use of is required in the above examples, as both and are internal to the command processor, rather than external utility programs.

See also

* cmd.exe – The program implementing the Windows command-line interpreter
* Foreach loop – The FOR and FORFILES commands both implement a ''for-each loop''
* find (Unix) – Unix command that finds files by attribute, similar to forfiles
* find (Windows) – DOS and Windows command that finds text matching a pattern
* grep – Unix command that finds text matching a pattern, similar to Windows find

References

* .
*
*

External links

forfiles , Microsoft Docs

{{Windows commands

Windows Vista
Utility software
Command-line software
Windows administration