I have a backup file which gets generated everyday with the same file name "contentstore.zip" and gets stored in a specific location C:\contentstore_backups. So each day, the previous copy of the file is overwritten.

I want to write a BAT file which renames the file contentstore.zip file to contentstore_currentdate.For instance, if today's date is 04/14/2009, then i want it to renamed as contentstore_20090414.
This way, we can prevent the new file from overwriting the old one.

However , after 7 days, I want the OLDEST file to get deleted , so that at a point I have only 7 backups in the folder "contentstore_backups".

Please help.Quote from: em on April 14, 2009, 08:49:36 AM

I want to write a BAT file which renames the file contentstore.zip file to contentstore_currentdate.For instance, if today's date is 04/14/2009, then i want it to renamed as contentstore_20090414.

However , after 7 days, I want the oldest file to get deleted , so that at a point I have only 7 backups in the folder "contentstore_backups".

Please help.

Thanks for the inputs. It really helped me with the first part of my problem--renaming of the file with the date in it

The second part was:
Now for instance, for the next seven days every day we get a new backup file:
contentstore_20090414 ----taken on 04/14/2009
contentstore_20090415 ----taken on 04/15/2009
contentstore_20090416 ----taken on 04/16/2009
contentstore_20090417 ----taken on 04/17/2009
contentstore_20090418 ----taken on 04/18/2009
contentstore_20090419 ----taken on 04/19/2009
contentstore_20090420 ----taken on 04/20/2009

On the 8Th day, when we get a new file "contentstore_20090421" on 04/21/2009, I want the oldest backup "contentstore_20090414" taken on 04/14/2009 to get deleted.
This ensures that I have only 7 backups at any given time.

Since the files are named in this format, can we not sort the filenames and delete the file with the smallest name?

@OP, set a scheduled task to execute every 7 days. in your batch, you just specify dir ( with a for loop) to get the oldest file. check the dir/? for more info, or search the forum. (been posted many times).

Code: [Select]@echo off
pushd C:\contentstore_backups || goto:eof
dir/b contentstore.zip || goto:eof

>$$$.vbs echo wsh.quit year(date)*10000+month(date)*100+day(date)
cscript//nologo $$$.vbs

ren contentstore.zip contentstore_%errorlevel%.zip
for /f "skip=7" %%a in ('dir/b/on contentstore_*.zip') do del %%a

del $$$.vbs
popd
untested

Mine works for getting rid of the oldest one...as long as there isn't anything in the folder other than the .zips.
A combo of my previous code (for deleting the oldest file) and my new one (which does the renaming).

However , after 7 days, I want the oldest file to get deleted , so that at a point I have only 7 backups in the folder "contentstore_backups".

Batch Features:Answer:
bug fix:
for /f "skip=7" %%a in ('dir/b/o-n contentstore_*.zip') do del %%a

looks like the OP didn't come back here

helpmeh, it's logic error.

imagine the batch first running, and initially there is only one file contentstore.zip
dir /b /o:d C:\contentstore_backups > directory
set /p delzip=<directory
del C:\contentstore_backups\%delzip%
bang, there it goes, today content_store.zip which should be renamed goes into dos black hole.

ok, how about if the directory already contain 2,3, or even 4 contentstore_yyyymmdd.zip
everytime the batch is run, the numbers of backup will never increase. thus the requierment of 7 backups at any time is not fulfil.

the only condition where your batch will works is the folder only contain 8 *.zip file(s) -including the contentstore.zip to be renamed, not LESS, not MORE. and only contentstore*.zip, or else the batch code is buggy.

and date retrieving problem, .......