create and destroy

Ok, so I had to create a script recently that deletes all files in specific locations that are older than a time limit (14days in this instance) and then clean up all the empty folders.

But to test, firstly you need to create files and folders

<#
.SYNOPSIS
   <A brief description of the script>
.DESCRIPTION
   <A detailed description of the script>
.PARAMETER <paramName>
   <Description of script parameter>
.EXAMPLE
   <An example of using the script>
#>

New-Item "C:\data\A\Shared Transfer\Yes" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\B\Shared Transfer\No" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\C\Shared Transfer\Maybe" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\D\Shared Transfer\qwerty" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\E\Shared Transfer\asdf" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\F\Shared Transfer\zxcv" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\G\Shared Transfer\hi" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\H\Shared Transfer\bye" -type directory

New-Item "C:\data\A\Shared Transfer\potato" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\B\Shared Transfer\potato" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\C\Shared Transfer\potato" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\D\Shared Transfer\potato" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\E\Shared Transfer\potato" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\F\Shared Transfer\potato" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\G\Shared Transfer\potato" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\H\Shared Transfer\potato" -type directory

New-Item "C:\data\A\Shared Transfer\jkl" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\B\Shared Transfer\jkl" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\C\Shared Transfer\jkl" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\D\Shared Transfer\jkl" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\E\Shared Transfer\jkl" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\F\Shared Transfer\jkl" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\G\Shared Transfer\jkl" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\H\Shared Transfer\jkl" -type directory

New-Item "C:\data\A\Shared Transfer\blah.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\B\Shared Transfer\blah.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\C\Shared Transfer\blah.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\D\Shared Transfer\blah.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\E\Shared Transfer\blah.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\F\Shared Transfer\blah.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\G\Shared Transfer\blah.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\H\Shared Transfer\blah.txt" -type file

New-Item "C:\data\A\Shared Transfer\!!README!!.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\B\Shared Transfer\!!README!!.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\C\Shared Transfer\!!README!!.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\D\Shared Transfer\!!README!!.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\E\Shared Transfer\!!README!!.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\F\Shared Transfer\!!README!!.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\G\Shared Transfer\!!README!!.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\H\Shared Transfer\!!README!!.txt" -type file

New-Item "C:\data\A\Shared Transfer\!!This Location Will Be Cleared Daily Files And Folders Older than 14 days will be removed.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\B\Shared Transfer\!!This Location Will Be Cleared Daily Files And Folders Older than 14 days will be removed.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\C\Shared Transfer\!!This Location Will Be Cleared Daily Files And Folders Older than 14 days will be removed.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\D\Shared Transfer\!!This Location Will Be Cleared Daily Files And Folders Older than 14 days will be removed.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\E\Shared Transfer\!!This Location Will Be Cleared Daily Files And Folders Older than 14 days will be removed.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\F\Shared Transfer\!!This Location Will Be Cleared Daily Files And Folders Older than 14 days will be removed.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\G\Shared Transfer\!!This Location Will Be Cleared Daily Files And Folders Older than 14 days will be removed.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\H\Shared Transfer\!!This Location Will Be Cleared Daily Files And Folders Older than 14 days will be removed.txt" -type file

start-sleep -s 2

New-Item "C:\data\A\Shared Transfer\Yes\a" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\B\Shared Transfer\No\b" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\C\Shared Transfer\Maybe\c" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\D\Shared Transfer\qwerty\d" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\E\Shared Transfer\asdf\e" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\F\Shared Transfer\zxcv\f" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\G\Shared Transfer\hi\g" -type directory
New-Item "C:\data\H\Shared Transfer\bye\h" -type directory

New-Item "C:\data\A\Shared Transfer\Yes\blaht.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\B\Shared Transfer\No\blaht.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\C\Shared Transfer\Maybe\blaht.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\D\Shared Transfer\qwerty\blaht.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\E\Shared Transfer\asdf\blaht.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\F\Shared Transfer\zxcv\blaht.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\G\Shared Transfer\hi\blaht.txt" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\H\Shared Transfer\bye\blaht.txt" -type file

start-sleep -s 2

New-Item "C:\data\A\Shared Transfer\Yes\a\dfg.docx" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\B\Shared Transfer\No\b\meh.docx" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\C\Shared Transfer\Maybe\c\asd.docx" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\D\Shared Transfer\qwerty\d\asdf.docx" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\E\Shared Transfer\asdf\e\tyu.docx" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\F\Shared Transfer\zxcv\f\fghjk.docx" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\G\Shared Transfer\hi\g\hk.docx" -type file
New-Item "C:\data\H\Shared Transfer\bye\h\eh.docx" -type file

So you can set the creation date of files doing something like the below to make it older than 14 days. Or just change it to 0 days.

Get-ChildItem 'C:\data\A\Shared Transfer\blah.txt' | % { $_.CreationTime = '01/10/2008 1:00' }

Anyway, deletion script is below.

<#
.SYNOPSIS
   Deleting files that are older then a certain time period
   There is a list of exclusions files and folders
.DESCRIPTION
   This script has been created to delete files and which are greater than 14 days old and remove empty folders
.PARAMETER 
	- $filesToSave
		List of files that will be kept in the directory
	- $folderlocations
		locations that the script will be run
	- $timeLimit
		Sets how old the files have to be before they are deleted by the script.
#>

# Name of files which should not be deleted
$filesToSave = @("!!README!!.txt","!!This Location Will Be Cleared Daily Files And Folders Older than 14 days will be removed.txt")

# List of folder locations to delete from
$folderlocations = @("C:\data\A\Shared Transfer","C:\data\B\Shared Transfer","C:\data\C\Shared Transfer","C:\data\D\Shared Transfer","C:\data\E\Shared Transfer","C:\data\F\Shared Transfer","C:\data\G\Shared Transfer","C:\data\H\Shared Transfer")


# time limit to delete files
$timeLimit = (Get-Date).AddDays(14)

cls

Function DeleteFileAndFolders([String]$folder){
    #recursion has been set up so it will go through the all of the folders and delete the ones which have been emptied after the files have been deleted
    foreach ($childDirectory in Get-ChildItem -Force -LiteralPath $folder -Directory) {
        DeleteFileAndFolders $childDirectory.FullName
    }
    $currentChildren = Get-ChildItem -Force -LiteralPath $folder
    #Gets all currently empty folders
    $isEmpty = $currentChildren -eq $null
    #deletes all currently empty folders
    if ($isEmpty) {
        Write-Verbose "Removing empty folder at path '${folder}'." -Verbose
        Remove-Item -Force -LiteralPath $folder
    }Else{
        #Deletes files older than the set time limit
        foreach ($file in $currentChildren){
            If ($file.CreationTime -lt $timeLimit){
                if(!$file.PSIsContainer -and $filesToSave -contains $file -eq $false){
                write-host "Deleting file $file" -foreground "magenta"
                Remove-Item -exclude $filesToSave -literalpath $file.fullname -Recurse -Force
                }
            }
        }
        #Deleting the folders which have been emptied of files
        foreach ($emptyFolder in $currentChildren){
            If ($emptyFolder.PSIsContainer -eq $true){
                $updatedchildren = Get-ChildItem -Force -LiteralPath $emptyFolder.fullname -File
                if ($updatedchildren.count -eq 0){
                    write-host "Deleting folder $emptyFolder" -foreground "green"
                    Remove-Item -exclude $filesToSave -path $emptyFolder.fullname -Recurse -Force
                }
            }
        }
    }    
}

Foreach($path in $folderlocations){
    DeleteFileAndFolders $path
}