Powershell compress files older than X days from folder path by keeping folder structure (folder + sub-folders) and also exclude a few sub-folders

Question

I'm pretty new to Powershell in general, I've come across some partial solutions, but I can't find the right fit. Ideally I would like to Archive (Zip) with Powershell but only files of a certain age (x days/months), but I would prefer keeping the folder structure and also add exclusions. Here's what I've been trying to use (without success):

$inputFolder = "C:\Temp\Test"
$excludeFolders = @("\subfolderToKeep")
$ouputFileName="C:\Temp\archive.zip"
$Daysback = "-5"
$CurrentDate = Get-Date
$DatetoDelete = $CurrentDate.AddDays($Daysback)

$tempFolder = [System.IO.Path]::GetTempFileName()
Remove-Item $tempFolder -Force
New-Item -Type  Directory -Path $tempFolder -Force
$exclude =@()
$excludeFolders | ForEach-Object {
 $exclude+=(Join-Path $inputFolder $_) 
 Get-ChildItem (Join-Path $inputFolder $_) -Recurse | 
  ForEach-Object{$exclude+=$_.FullName}}
Get-ChildItem $inputFolder -Recurse | Where-Object { $_.FullName -notin $exclude -and $_.LastWriteTime -lt $DatetoDelete } |
 Copy-Item -Destination {Join-Path $tempFolder $_.FullName.Substring($inputFolder.length)}

Get-ChildItem $tempFolder |
Compress-Archive -DestinationPath $ouputFileName -Update

The current setup would work without the date filtering:

-and $_.LastWriteTime -lt $DatetoDelete

`$Daysback = "-5"` --> `$Daysback = -5`. No quotes, it's a (negative) int. — Theo, Apr 28 '20 at 18:30
good catch, but still gives the same error as the temp folder can't match the $_.LastWriteTime -lt $DatetoDelete logical block — G Tuli, Apr 28 '20 at 18:40
Try setting the date to midnight `$DatetoDelete = $CurrentDate.AddDays($Daysback).Date` — Theo, Apr 28 '20 at 18:49
`.Date` isn't formatting the datetime object, It merely sets the time part to 00:00:00 (midnight) — Theo, Apr 28 '20 at 18:58
It runs with $_.LastWriteTime -gt $DatetoDelete ->but it simply can't take -lt — G Tuli, Apr 28 '20 at 19:22
Then.. are you sure there are files in there with a LastWriteTime earlier than 5 days ago? — Theo, Apr 28 '20 at 19:25
part of the problem is here https://stackoverflow.com/a/57383660/7787546 — G Tuli, Apr 28 '20 at 19:33
So you get an error message? Please add this in full to your question. — Theo, Apr 28 '20 at 19:35

Powershell compress files older than X days from folder path by keeping folder structure (folder + sub-folders) and also exclude a few sub-folders

0 Answers0