Ray, Wow thanks for that...it works on my test data too except if there is not a zip file in the directory it crashes out with a "File not found" error message. Not sure how to fix it. Thanks again Ray!!! Steve ________________________________ From: windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Costanzo, Ray Sent: 09 November 2006 13:02 To: windows2000@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [windows2000] Re: Delete Utility Correction to script. This would NOT delete zips in a situation where there's a directory with your special name that contains a subdirectory that SHOULD have its zips deleted. Here is the corrected script: delzips.vbs: Option Explicit Const ROOT_PATH = "R:\temp" Const NO_DELETE = "nodeldir" ''name of directory to keep Dim oFSO Call Main() Sub Main Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") Call Delzips(oFSO.GetFolder(ROOT_PATH)) End Sub Sub Delzips(dir) Dim oSubdir, oFile For Each oSubdir in dir.Subfolders Call Delzips(oSubdir) Next If dir.Name <> NO_DELETE Then 'oFSO.DeleteFile(oFSO.BuildPath(dir.Path, "*.zip")) WScript.Echo "Would delete " & oFSO.BuildPath(dir.Path, "*.zip") End If End Sub Ray at work -----Original Message----- From: windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ray Costanzo Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 7:59 AM To: windows2000@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [windows2000] Re: Delete Utility Here, try this script. Register cscript as the default script handler so that the "wscript.echo" lines don't attack you with a million messageboxes. Notice that the line that would actually delete the files is commented out. If it turns out this would work for you, just uncomment that line by deleting the apostrophe. To register cscript, open a command prompt and enter: cscript //h:cscript delzips.vbs: Option Explicit Const ROOT_PATH = "R:\temp" Const NO_DELETE = "nodeldir" ''name of directory to keep Dim oFSO Call Main() Sub Main Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") Call Delzips(oFSO.GetFolder(ROOT_PATH)) End Sub Sub Delzips(dir) Dim oSubdir, oFile For Each oSubdir in dir.Subfolders If oSubdir.Name <> NO_DELETE Then Call Delzips(oSubdir) Next If dir.Name <> NO_DELETE Then 'oFSO.DeleteFile(oFSO.BuildPath(dir.Path, "*.zip")) WScript.Echo "Would delete " & oFSO.BuildPath(dir.Path, "*.zip") End If End Sub Here's the directory structure I tested it against. It worked as expected. R:\temp>dir /s /b R:\temp\delzips.vbs R:\temp\dir1 R:\temp\dir2 R:\temp\dir3 R:\temp\dir4 R:\temp\zipdelete.cmd R:\temp\dir1\file.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir1 R:\temp\dir1\subdir2 R:\temp\dir1\subdir3 R:\temp\dir1\subdir1\fil23.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir1\filaassd.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir1\filasd.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir1\file.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir1\file3.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir1\fsd.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir2\fil23.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir2\filaassd.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir2\filasd.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir2\file.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir2\file3.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir2\fsd.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir3\fil23.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir3\filaassd.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir3\filasd.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir3\file.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir3\file3.zip R:\temp\dir1\subdir3\fsd.zip R:\temp\dir2\file.zip R:\temp\dir2\file2.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir1 R:\temp\dir2\subdir2 R:\temp\dir2\subdir3 R:\temp\dir2\subdir1\fil23.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir1\filaassd.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir1\filasd.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir1\file.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir1\file3.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir1\fsd.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir2\fil23.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir2\filaassd.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir2\filasd.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir2\file.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir2\file3.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir2\fsd.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir2\nodeldir R:\temp\dir2\subdir2\subsubdir1 R:\temp\dir2\subdir2\nodeldir\fil23.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir2\nodeldir\filaassd.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir2\nodeldir\fsd.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir2\subsubdir1\filaassd.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir2\subsubdir1\filasd.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir2\subsubdir1\file.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir2\subsubdir1\file3.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir3\fil23.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir3\filaassd.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir3\filasd.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir3\file.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir3\file3.zip R:\temp\dir2\subdir3\fsd.zip R:\temp\dir3\fil23.zip R:\temp\dir3\filaassd.zip R:\temp\dir3\filasd.zip R:\temp\dir3\file.zip R:\temp\dir3\file3.zip R:\temp\dir3\fsd.zip R:\temp\dir4\fddile.zip R:\temp\dir4\fdile.zip R:\temp\dir4\fdirle.zip R:\temp\dir4\ffddile.zip R:\temp\dir4\file.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir1 R:\temp\dir4\subdir2 R:\temp\dir4\subdir3 R:\temp\dir4\subdir1\fil23.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir1\filaassd.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir1\filasd.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir1\file.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir1\file3.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir1\fsd.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir2\fil23.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir2\filaassd.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir2\filasd.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir2\file.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir2\file3.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir2\fsd.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir3\fil23.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir3\filaassd.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir3\filasd.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir3\file.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir3\file3.zip R:\temp\dir4\subdir3\fsd.zip Ray at home ________________________________ From: windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Steve Rance Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 7:35 AM To: windows2000@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [windows2000] Re: Delete Utility Thanks Ray, but we are talking hundreds of identically named folders that need excluding... I don't fancy moving them then moving them back. I just though that as the delete functions built into Windows are very limited someone must have written a fancy delete utility. ________________________________ From: windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ray Costanzo Sent: 09 November 2006 12:12 To: windows2000@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [windows2000] Re: Delete Utility Hi Steve, If this is just a one time thing, what you could do is just do a search in Windows Explorer for the directory name that contains files you want to keep. After they're all displayed, cut and paste them above the root of the directory from which you want to start traversing and deleting. After they're safely moved, do a search for *.zip and delete all the results. Then move the directories back. Ray at home ________________________________ From: windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Steve Rance Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 6:37 AM To: Windows2000@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [windows2000] Delete Utility Hi Guys, Anyone know of a freeware utility that allows mass deletion of files based on a criteria that will include exclusions of directories? Basically, I need to delete over 50Gb of Zip files on one of our file servers with hundreds of deep directories, but exclude zip files within directories with a particular name (or which there will be hundreds). I have just spent over an hour on google but didn't find anything that even came close to providing this functionality. Thanks for any help.