Delete the latest file of each filename each month

Question

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Dear all,

first of all let me try to describe what i am trying to do.

lets say we have several files in a Folder. The Names are name as follows:

Report 1 2017-08-01.xls
Report 1 2017-08-09.xls
Report 1 2017-08-27.xls
Report 1 2017-09-01.xls
Report 1 2017-09-09.xls
Report 1 2017-09-18.xls

Report 2 2017-08-01.xls
Report 2 2017-08-09.xls
Report 2 2017-08-27.xls
Report 2 2017-09-01.xls
Report 2 2017-09-09.xls
Report 2 2017-09-22.xls

Report 3 2017-08-01 blabla.xls
Report 3 2017-08-09 blabla.xls
Report 3 2017-08-27 blabla.xls
Report 3 2017-09-01 blabla.xls
Report 3 2017-09-09 blabla.xls
Report 3 2017-09-30 blabla.xls

Now.

I want to delete all Files expect the Latest File Of each report of each month.

So the result would be. Delete all Files expext the Files:

Report 1 2017.08.27.xls
Report 1 2017-09-18.xls

Report 2 2017-08-27.xls
Report 2 2017-09-22.xls

Report 3 2017-08-27 blabla.xls
Report 3 2017-09-30 blabla.xls

So first i Listed all files and the belonging Folder in a Gridview.

Then i extracted all Dates with Regex. So far so good.

My Problem is how to delete only the latest of each Filename for each month. does anyone have an suggestion?

Here is my code.

      private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
      {
          string fileName= "";



          string[] folders  = Directory.GetDirectories(@"C:\Test\", "*", System.IO.SearchOption.AllDirectories);



              for (int i = 0; i < folders.Length; i++)
              {
                  string temp = "";
                  Console.WriteLine("Pfad " + i + " " + folders.GetValue(i));
                  temp = folders.GetValue(i).ToString();

                  dataGridView1.Rows[i].Cells[0].Value = temp;


if ((Directory.GetFiles(temp, "*", SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly).Length) == 0)

                  {

                 dataGridView1.Rows[i].Cells[1].Value = "No Files in Path";
                  }

                  else

                  {
                      for (int k = 0; k < (Directory.GetFiles(temp, "*", SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly).Length); k++)
                      {
                          string tempfile = "";
                          tempfile = (Directory.GetFiles(temp, "*", SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly).GetValue(k).ToString());
                      fileName = Path.GetFileName(tempfile).ToString();

                    Console.WriteLine(Regex.Match(fileName, @"\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}"));


                      dataGridView1.Rows[i + k].Cells[0].Value = temp;
                      dataGridView1.Rows[i + k].Cells[1].Value = Path.GetFileName(tempfile).ToString();
                      dataGridView1.Rows[i+k].Cells[2].Value = Regex.Match(fileName, @"\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}"));



                  }
                  }


              }
          }

Your help would be highly appriciated.

Thank you very much.

What I have tried:

To list all Files and the dates but dont know how to delete only the latest.

Posted 9-Nov-17 0:00am

Member 12341536

Updated 9-Nov-17 0:35am

v4

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Comments

Graeme_Grant 9-Nov-17 6:06am

Putting all of your question in Bold Text is considered SHOUTING! Please don't. Click on the Improve question widget to fix. Thank you.

Member 12341536 9-Nov-17 6:07am

im sorry i did it accidently

Graeme_Grant 9-Nov-17 6:32am

All good. Enjoy the solution... :)

2 solutions

Solution 2

How would you do it if you do it by yourself ?
I would build a List only with those files which have the same Reportname, Year and Month.
Now sort this List descending - after that you will get the latest File on Top. Each FileName at the List-Entry 1 or higher could be deleted.
Repeat this with the next Month and after that the next Year and then the next Reportname ...
If your Reportnames are unique you can do all this with Loops ...

Posted 9-Nov-17 0:35am

Ralf Meier

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This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Graeme_Grant · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-09T00:28:00

This will do it succinctly for you:

C#

var inFiles = new List<string>
{
    "Report 1 2017-08-01.xls",
    "Report 1 2017-08-09.xls",
    "Report 1 2017-08-27.xls",
    "Report 1 2017-09-01.xls",
    "Report 1 2017-09-09.xls",
    "Report 1 2017-09-18.xls",
    "Report 2 2017-08-01.xls",
    "Report 2 2017-08-09.xls",
    "Report 2 2017-08-27.xls",
    "Report 2 2017-09-01.xls",
    "Report 2 2017-09-09.xls",
    "Report 2 2017-09-22.xls",
    "Report 3 2017-08-01 blabla.xls",
    "Report 3 2017-08-09 blabla.xls",
    "Report 3 2017-08-27 blabla.xls",
    "Report 3 2017-09-01 blabla.xls",
    "Report 3 2017-09-09 blabla.xls",
    "Report 3 2017-09-30 blabla.xls"
};

var deleteFiles = inFiles.Select(x => new { date = DateTime.Parse(Regex.Match(x, @"\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}").Value), file = x })
                            .Select(x => new { id = x.file.Replace(x.date.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd"), ""), date = x.date, file = x.file })
                            .OrderByDescending(x => x.date)
                            .GroupBy(x => x.id)
                            .SelectMany(x => x.Skip(1).Select(y => y.file));

foreach (var file in deleteFiles)
{
    Console.WriteLine(file);
}

Outputs:

Report 3 2017-09-09 blabla.xls
Report 3 2017-09-01 blabla.xls
Report 3 2017-08-27 blabla.xls
Report 3 2017-08-09 blabla.xls
Report 3 2017-08-01 blabla.xls
Report 2 2017-09-09.xls
Report 2 2017-09-01.xls
Report 2 2017-08-27.xls
Report 2 2017-08-09.xls
Report 2 2017-08-01.xls
Report 1 2017-09-09.xls
Report 1 2017-09-01.xls
Report 1 2017-08-27.xls
Report 1 2017-08-09.xls
Report 1 2017-08-01.xls

UPDATE
To keep the most recent of each month, we need to expand the grouping to also include year and month. This will create more groups which is what we want:

C#

var deleteFiles =
    inFiles.Select(x => new
                    {
                        date = DateTime.Parse(Regex.Match(x, @"\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}").Value),
                        file = x
                    })
            .Select(x => new
                    {
                        id = x.file.Replace(x.date.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd"), ""),
                        year = x.date.Year,
                        month = x.date.Month,
                        date = x.date,
                        file = x.file
                    })
            .OrderByDescending(x => x.date)
            .GroupBy(x => new { id = x.id, year = x.year, month = x.month })
            .SelectMany(x => x.Skip(1).Select(y => y.file));

Now the output is:

Report 3 2017-09-09 blabla.xls
Report 3 2017-09-01 blabla.xls
Report 2 2017-09-09.xls
Report 2 2017-09-01.xls
Report 1 2017-09-09.xls
Report 1 2017-09-01.xls
Report 1 2017-08-09.xls
Report 1 2017-08-01.xls
Report 2 2017-08-09.xls
Report 2 2017-08-01.xls
Report 3 2017-08-09 blabla.xls
Report 3 2017-08-01 blabla.xls

Here is a bonus piece of code for you... It will tell you which files are being kept:

C#

Console.WriteLine("-- Keeping:");
foreach (var file in inFiles.Except(deleteFiles))
{
    Console.WriteLine(file);
}

Which outputs:

-- Keeping:
Report 1 2017-08-27.xls
Report 1 2017-09-18.xls
Report 2 2017-08-27.xls
Report 2 2017-09-22.xls
Report 3 2017-08-27 blabla.xls
Report 3 2017-09-30 blabla.xls

Delete the latest file of each filename each month

2 solutions

Solution 1

Solution 2

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Delete the latest file of each filename each month

2 solutions

Solution 1

Solution 2

Add your solution here

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