Compare file date to current date

[silvrwood]

How can I compare the date of a file to the current system date?

[Sidewinder]

File dates come in flavors: dateCreated, dateWritten, and dateAccessed. Decide which you need; you can grab any of them off a dir listing.

Any of the file dates should never be greater than the system date, but you never know What kind of compare are you doing? Higher or lower (arithmetic compare)? Equal or not equal (string compare)?

If you post the output of echo %date% we can help you out with the code. If your goal is some sort of aging calculation, batch code may not be the solution.

Let us know. 

[Dias de verano]

If you rearrange a date to the format YYYYMMDD you will produce an 8 figure number that can be used for equal/older/newer comparisons. 20081017 is greater (newer) than 20081016 and smaller (older) than 20081018.

[spshanth]

how to get the datecreated,datewritten or the dateaccessed??

[Sidewinder]

Code: [Select]

dateCreated:

    for /f "skip=5 tokens=1-5" %%i in ('dir /tc /a-d') do echo %%i %%m

dateWritten:

    for /f "skip=5 tokens=1-5" %%i in ('dir /tw /a-d') do echo %%i %%m

dateAccessed:

    for /f "skip=5 tokens=1-5" %%i in ('dir /ta /a-d') do echo %%i %%m

For each of the above you will find the appropriate date in the %%i variable and the file name in %%m. To run each command at the command line change each occurrence of %% to %.

 

EDIT: added the skip parameter to the for loops

[spshanth]

I would like to know how to get the creation date of a folder and to store the date alone in the fomrat mm/dd/yyyy in a variable.

thanks
Prashanth

[Sidewinder]

Care to give us the name of the folder? Also what is the format of your system date? For all we know the date may already be mm/dd/yyyy.

Post the output of this command: echo %date%

 

A little imagination goes a long way.

[silvrwood]

I have a program that needs to exit if our fileserver reboots (as it does periodically for updates).  I am thinking of having a script run when the fileserver shuts down that writes to a file.  The program on another system will check, during the window when the fileserver could reboot, to compare the date the flag file was modified to see if it equals the current date.  If it does, it will run a script to stop the program in question. 

All of that, of course, will lead to a question of how to loop the command until it either receives a true from the comparison, or hits a certain time of the day.... But that will be for another post.

File dates come in flavors: dateCreated, dateWritten, and dateAccessed. Decide which you need; you can grab any of them off a dir listing.

Any of the file dates should never be greater than the system date, but you never know What kind of compare are you doing? Higher or lower (arithmetic compare)? Equal or not equal (string compare)?

If you post the output of echo %date% we can help you out with the code. If your goal is some sort of aging calculation, batch code may not be the solution.

Let us know. 

[Sidewinder]

I am thinking of having a script run when the fileserver shuts down that writes to a file

What happens to this program now if the file server reboots? I think the only way to start a job at shutdown/reboot is through Group Policy (not available on XP Home).

Do you have the source code for your program? It might be easier to have the program shut itself down if the files being served by the file server are no longer available.

An alternate solution would be a VBScript monitor to check the file server's event log for a shutdown/reboot event code.

Happy scripting. 

[silvrwood]

When the fileserver shuts down, the program errors and the index fails to update, decimating users' ability to search.

The fileserver is on Win Server 2003, and I've already written the script to update the flag file, and applied it as the script to run at shut down in the group policy for the OU to which I added the fileserver. 

Now I just have to figure out how to apply this file modified date comparison to the current date, and a way to loop the whole thing every 10 minutes until the flag is true or 3:00 AM. 

[Sidewinder]

When the fileserver shuts down, the program errors and the index fails to update, decimating users' ability to search.

Yeah, that would certainly throw a wrench into everything.

Where is this flag file? A simple batch file can use the for command to read the contents, extract the date and do the date compare. Using the sleep command you can cycle the file every 10 minutes.

I guess I'm hung up on the possibility that the flag file is checked and while waiting for ten minutes to pass, the server goes into reboot.

I still like the idea of monitoring the server's event log. This way the script gets an  immediate notification that a reboot is in progress. If all you want to do is cancel your program, the monitor script can do that for you.

Let us know. Sounds like an interesting mini-project.

 

[spshanth]

thanks sidewinder..

But when i give the command dir/tc to get the file creation date,  the time is also coming along with the date. From this only i want to take the date alone and store it in a variable. is it possible?

[Sidewinder]

spshanth,

It's my fault for encouraging you, but please start your own thread. It is considered rude to hijack a thread and a far as I know this thread is still active by the OP (TS?).

In your new thread, please post exactly what you did. dir /tc is not the example that was posted. Is there not a space between the date and time?

 

[silvrwood]

The flag file is written to the system on which the indexing program resides so that the file can be found by said system whether the fileserver is up or down. 

Being but a novice at batch writing, I've stuck with what is easy for me (using the flag file).  It sounds like at the expert level there is a benefit to monitoring the server log, but I don't even know where to begin for that.  Since I'm in a time crunch, I'll start with the easy and try to glean enough to undertake what you suggest as time allows.

Thank you for the hint on a sleep command.  I will search that out.

Where is this flag file? A simple batch file can use the for command to read the contents, extract the date and do the date compare. Using the sleep command you can cycle the file every 10 minutes.

I guess I'm hung up on the possibility that the flag file is checked and while waiting for ten minutes to pass, the server goes into reboot.

I still like the idea of monitoring the server's event log. This way the script gets an  immediate notification that a reboot is in progress. If all you want to do is cancel your program, the monitor script can do that for you.

Let us know. Sounds like an interesting mini-project.

 

[Sidewinder]

This needs work, but the basics are there:

Code: [Select]

@echo off
:loop
for /f %%i in (flagfile.txt) do (
set dt=%%i
)
if %dt% equ %date% ......
ping -n 601 localhost > nul
goto loop

Not knowing the format of your system date or the flagfile date, I suspect we will need to do some formatting of the dates. The flagfile in the code needs a path pointer. Not knowing if you have access to the sleep command, I substituted ping. And finally the dots represent code you need to write if the dates are equal.

Other than that  , the snippet should be a good framework to start with.

Just so you know, a batch file is going to tie up a command window.

Good luck. 

[silvrwood]

You're wonderful!  Thanks!

@echo off
:loop
for /f %%i in (flagfile.txt) do (
   set dt=%%i
   )
if %dt% equ %date% ......
ping -n 601 localhost > nul
goto loop

If you have time to walk me through understanding what is happening in the code, I would much appreciate it.
What does the /f represent? 
What about %%i? 
What is the -n switch on the ping command?  Is the 601 for 601 seconds/10 minutes?  What is localhost > nul doing?

That's pretty much the whole thing, huh?     I'm familiar with comparisons, looping and for structures through C++, Java, VBA & the like, but obviously don't know much about DOS.

[ALAN_BR]

Ping sends an echo request to a "target" IP address.

In this case "localhost" means don't ask a stranger on the Internet - keep it to yourself - you are not really wanting a status reply answer.

n 601 means repeat it 601 times.
In theory the first one takes almost no time at all, and the others follow at 1 second intervals = 10 minutes total.

In practice the intervals are somewhat different than 1 Second on my machine - perhaps another consequence of SP3, perhaps a consequence of my Netgear Firewall and Router, perhaps a consequence of ESET NOD32 Anti-virus or Comodo Firewall thinking "strange action - hmmm, shall I let it proceed - etc. etc."
I don't know why, I decided to get on with my life and accept that stuff just happens.

Regards
Alan

[silvrwood]

LOL.  Thanks for the clear explanation. 

[silvrwood]

So, I must confess to still wondering what does the /f represent? 
What about %%i? 

[Sidewinder]

The /f switch represents to the for command that within the parenthesis, will be a:

fileset - unquoted
command - single quotes
literal - double quotes

The %%i is an arbitrary variable name. Can be any upper or lower case alpha character. Numbers can be used but add confusion with command line arguments. The variables only live within the for loop.

type for /? at a command prompt for all the gory details.

 

[ALAN_BR]

Sidewinder just beat me to it.

all I can add is

also look at  http://www.computerhope.com/forhlp.htm
- and if you understood everything else you are doing well !!!

Regards
Alan

[silvrwood]

Beautiful!  Thanks!

[silvrwood]

OK.  So I've got the batch file complete (I thought).  I tested it, and it just closes before finishing.  I added some PAUSE and ECHO commands to see what is going on, and it exits after the first pause following comparing the system date to the flag file date.  It doesn't ECHO either ECHO statement I put in at the 2 possible steps after the IF command, but I just can't figure out why it is stopping prematurely.

What am I missing?

Code: [Select]

REM @echo off

:loop
REM set variable to flag file mod date in sys format
for /f "tokens=1,2" %%i in (C:\Admin\flag.txt) do (
   set dt=%%i %%j
   )
REM echo %dt%
pause
REM compare flag mod date to sys date
if %dt% equ %date% GOTO indexer
pause
echo Not Equal
REM dates not same so wait 10 minutes and try again
ping -n 601 localhost > nul
pause
GOTO loop

:indexer
pause
echo Equal
REM dates same so close Indexer
CALL C:\Admin\EndIndex.bat
pause
REM wait for fileserver to come back up
ping -n 11 localhost > nul
REM start Indexer again
CALL C:\Admin\StartIndex.bat

EXIT

[Sidewinder]

Not bad. I think you may want to call :indexer instead of using goto.

You're waiting 11 seconds before StartIndex.bat runs. How do you check if the server is up?

What values do %%i and %%j resolve to and what format is your %date% variable?

 

[silvrwood]

I'll try CALL instead.  Thank you.
The 11 seconds is just for testing purposes so I don't sit there 15 minutes waiting to see if the final CALL works.  Once testing is successful, I'll change it to 901, acting under the assumption that within 15 minutes the Fileserver will be back up.  If it isn't, I'll see alerts the next morning anyway.   

%%i holds the day and %%j holds the date, from what I see when I ECHO %dt%, which is what I saw when I put an ECHO in for %date% (FRI 10/24/2008).

Not bad. I think you may want to call :indexer instead of using goto.

You're waiting 11 seconds before StartIndex.bat runs. How do you check if the server is up?

What values do %%i and %%j resolve to and what format is your %date% variable?

 

[silvrwood]

I've done some testing with that one IF line, and there is an issue there no matter what command I use when true. 
I am wondering if the %dt% and %date% are incompatible data types.  I believe %dt% is pulling from the file, because when I echo everything, I see it first set dt=File server, which are the first 2 values parsed out of the first line of flag.txt. 

So, I've been digging to see how to get the date accessed of the file instead, or to convert a string to a date.  At the beginning of this thread is a suggestion to use

Code: [Select]

for /f "skip=5 tokens=1-5" %%i in ('dir /tw /a-d') do echo %%i %%m, but where do I pass the file name?

[Sidewinder]

Try not to over think this. While it's possible to scrape the date off a directory list, it's really not necessary. What format is the date written to the flag file by the shutdown script? Is the %date% variable in this format: ddd mm/dd/yyyy?

If both dates are in the same format, you may just have to modify the for statement to override the default delimiter of space. If not, we can force the date formats to match.

Code: [Select]

for /f "delims=" %%i in (C:\Admin\flag.txt) do (
   set dt=%%i
   )


I see it first set dt=File server

Where did this come from? Exactly what is in the flag file?

 

[silvrwood]

format is the date written to the flag file by the shutdown script? Is the %date% variable in this format: ddd mm/dd/yyyy?

Yes.

Where did this come from? Exactly what is in the flag file?

The flag file says:
Fileserver shut down
[date]

When I ECHO the date of the system and that contained in the dt variable, they are both in the same format.  However, when the batch file hits my IF statement, the program exits.  That's regardless of what I have it do if true.  So I was thinking there must be a problem with the comparison.

[Dias de verano]

when the batch file hits my IF statement, the program exits.  That's regardless of what I have it do if true.  So I was thinking there must be a problem with the comparison.

When you say it "exits", it sounds to me as if you are starting the batch file by double clicking its icon in Windows Explorer. When you are trouble shooting a batch file, it is a very good idea to open a command window in the folder where the batch file is located, and then run the batch file by typing its name at the prompt and hitting ENTER. That way, if the batch file errors out, you are returned to the prompt, and you get to see any error messages that may be generated. Another trick is to temporarily "comment out" with a REM any @echo off line you may have at the beginning of the code and that way you get to see the code being executed line by line, with all variables expanded, and you may see where in the file things are going wrong.

[silvrwood]

That was just the tip I needed!  Thank you. 

When you are trouble shooting a batch file, it is a very good idea to open a command window in the folder where the batch file is located, and then run the batch file by typing its name at the prompt and hitting ENTER. That way, if the batch file errors out, you are returned to the prompt, and you get to see any error messages that may be generated.

Now I can see that it says

Code: [Select]

10/27/2008 was unexpected at this time.
IF Mon 10/27/2008 EQU Mon 10/27/2008 DO ECHO Equal
(I put ECHO Equal for testing purposes)

It looks like I need to parse the date out without the day and compare that way to avoid problems with spaces?  Or is there a way to tell it the whole contents of the variable are one data set?

[devcom]

try to put Mon 10/27/2008 in quotes ("")

[silvrwood]

Thank you. 

 I ended up working through it prior to seeing your post, and I have successfully tested this:

Code: [Select]

@echo off

:loop
REM set variable to flag file mod date in sys format
for /f "tokens=1,2" %%i in (C:\Admin\flag.txt) do (
   set dt=%%j
   )
REM Create variable from sys date parsed to just mm/dd/yyyy
for /f "tokens=1,2" %%i in ("%date%") do set sysdt=%%j
REM compare flag mod date to sys date
IF %dt% EQU %sysdt% GOTO indexer
REM ECHO Not Equal
REM dates not same so wait 10 minutes and try again
ping -n 601 localhost > nul
GOTO loop

:indexer
REM ECHO equal
REM dates same so close Indexer
CALL C:\Admin\EndIndex.bat
REM wait for fileserver to come back up
ping -n 901 localhost > nul
REM start Indexer again
CALL C:\Admin\StartIndex.bat

EXIT



Thanks to everyone for all your help!!!!

Now, I just have to wait for an update initiated reboot to see if the script that writes to the flag file will run even with 3rd party initiated reboots.  If not, I'll be back to find out more about the suggestion to listen for the reboot event.