{"id":8241,"date":"2021-03-23T13:06:15","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T17:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/?p=8241"},"modified":"2021-03-23T13:06:20","modified_gmt":"2021-03-23T17:06:20","slug":"cleaning-with-powershell-revisited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jdhitsolutions.com\/blog\/powershell\/8241\/cleaning-with-powershell-revisited\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleaning with PowerShell Revisited"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Springtime is approaching in North America. Where I live, the snow has finally melted and we have blue skies with warmer temperatures. Of course, this means Spring Cleaning. Time to clear out the winter debris and spruce up the house. For me, this is also a good time for some computing housecleaning as well. I don't know about your Windows environment, but I tend to accumulate a lot of junk. Most of the time I don't see it, but I know it's there. While the junk normally doesn't have a negative impact, I think mentally, I like clearing things out and tidying up. So I pulled out some older PowerShell code, freshened it up, and now I have a set of tools for clearing out junk and temporary folders. Let me show you what I came up with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remove Old Files<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first task is to delete files that are older than a given date. I typically want to clean out files from my temp folders. I know that some of these files might still be in use so I don't necessarily want to broadly delete all files. I want to only delete files where the last modified date is older than a given date. Eventually, I will use the last boot up time. Any file older than the last boot up time, should be safe to delete from any temp folder. Here's my PowerShell function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Function\u00a0Remove-File\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[cmdletbinding(SupportsShouldProcess)]\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[Alias(\"rfi\")]\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Param(\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[Parameter(Position\u00a0=\u00a00)]\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[ValidateScript(\u00a0{\u00a0Test-Path\u00a0$_\u00a0})]\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[string]$Path\u00a0=\u00a0$env:temp,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[Parameter(Position\u00a0=\u00a01,\u00a0Mandatory,\u00a0HelpMessage\u00a0=\u00a0\"Enter\u00a0a\u00a0cutoff\u00a0date.\u00a0All\u00a0files\u00a0modified\u00a0BEFORE\u00a0this\u00a0date\u00a0will\u00a0be\u00a0removed.\")]\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[ValidateScript(\u00a0{\u00a0$_\u00a0-lt\u00a0(Get-Date)\u00a0})]\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[datetime]$Cutoff,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[Switch]$Recurse,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[Switch]$Force\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0)\n\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Verbose\u00a0\"Starting\u00a0$($MyInvocation.MyCommand)\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Verbose\u00a0\"Removing\u00a0files\u00a0in\u00a0$path\u00a0older\u00a0than\u00a0$cutoff\"\n\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0#clean\u00a0up\u00a0PSBoundParameters\u00a0which\u00a0will\u00a0be\u00a0splatted\u00a0to\u00a0Get-ChildItem<\/em>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[void]$PSBoundParameters.Add(\"File\",\u00a0$True)\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[void]$PSBoundParameters.Remove(\"CutOff\")\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0if\u00a0($WhatIfPreference)\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[void]$PSBoundParameters.Remove(\"Whatif\")\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0}\n\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Verbose\u00a0\"Using\u00a0these\u00a0parameters:\u00a0`n\u00a0$($PSBoundParameters\u00a0|\u00a0Out-String)\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Try\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0$files\u00a0=\u00a0Get-ChildItem\u00a0@PSBoundParameters\u00a0-ErrorAction\u00a0Stop\u00a0|\u00a0Where-Object\u00a0{\u00a0$_.lastwritetime\u00a0-lt\u00a0$cutoff\u00a0}\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0}\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Catch\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Warning\u00a0\"Failed\u00a0to\u00a0enumerate\u00a0files\u00a0in\u00a0$path\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Warning\u00a0$_.Exception.Message\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0#Bail\u00a0out<\/em>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Return\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0}\n\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0if\u00a0($files)\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Verbose\u00a0\"Found\u00a0$($files.count)\u00a0file(s)\u00a0to\u00a0delete.\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0$stats\u00a0=\u00a0$files\u00a0|\u00a0Measure-Object\u00a0-Sum\u00a0length\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0$msg\u00a0=\u00a0\"Removing\u00a0{0}\u00a0files\u00a0for\u00a0a\u00a0total\u00a0of\u00a0{1}\u00a0MB\u00a0({2}\u00a0bytes)\u00a0from\u00a0{3}.\"\u00a0-f\u00a0$stats.count,\u00a0($stats.sum\u00a0\/\u00a01MB\u00a0-as\u00a0[int]),\u00a0$stats.sum,\u00a0$path.toUpper()\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Verbose\u00a0$msg\n\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0#only\u00a0remove\u00a0files\u00a0if\u00a0anything\u00a0was\u00a0found<\/em>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0$files\u00a0|\u00a0Remove-Item\u00a0-Force\n\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0#Display\u00a0a\u00a0WhatIf\u00a0Summary<\/em>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0if\u00a0($WhatIfPreference)\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Host\u00a0\"What\u00a0if:\u00a0$msg\"\u00a0-ForegroundColor\u00a0CYAN\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0}\n\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0}\u00a0#if\u00a0$files<\/em>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0else\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Warning\u00a0\"No\u00a0files\u00a0found\u00a0to\u00a0remove\u00a0in\u00a0$($path.ToUpper())\u00a0older\u00a0than\u00a0$Cutoff.\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0}\n\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Verbose\u00a0\"Ending\u00a0$($MyInvocation.MyCommand)\"\n}\u00a0#close\u00a0function<\/em><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
I have support for -WhatIf in cmdletbinding. I don't need to code anything special to use it. Remove-Item supports -WhatIf so if I run the function with the parameter, Remove-Item will automatically detect it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
My function has a snippet of code that gives me a summary of what the function would do. I even make it look like WhatIf output, except that I use Write-Host and display the message in Cyan so it stands out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remove Empty Directories<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Next, I want to remove empty directories. I've written a variety of functions and scripts over the years to do this. Here's my current iteration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Function\u00a0Remove-EmptyFolder\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0[cmdletbinding(SupportsShouldProcess)]\n\u00a0\u00a0[alias(\"ref\")]\n\u00a0\u00a0[outputType(\"None\")]\n\u00a0\u00a0Param(\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[Parameter(Position\u00a0=\u00a00,\u00a0Mandatory,\u00a0HelpMessage\u00a0=\u00a0\"Enter\u00a0a\u00a0root\u00a0directory\u00a0path\")]\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[ValidateScript(\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Try\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Convert-Path\u00a0-Path\u00a0$_\u00a0-ErrorAction\u00a0stop\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0if\u00a0((Get-Item\u00a0$_).PSProvider.Name\u00a0-ne\u00a0'FileSystem')\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Throw\u00a0\"$_\u00a0is\u00a0not\u00a0a\u00a0file\u00a0system\u00a0path.\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0}\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0$true\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0}\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Catch\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Warning\u00a0$_.exception.message\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Throw\u00a0\"Try\u00a0again.\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0}\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0})]\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[string]$Path\n\u00a0\u00a0)\n\n\u00a0\u00a0Write-Verbose\u00a0\"Starting\u00a0$($myinvocation.mycommand)\"\n\n\u00a0\u00a0Write-Verbose\u00a0\"Enumerating\u00a0folders\u00a0in\u00a0$Path\"\n\n\u00a0\u00a0$folders\u00a0=\u00a0(Get-Item\u00a0-Path\u00a0$Path\u00a0-force).EnumerateDirectories(\"*\",\u00a0[System.IO.SearchOption]::AllDirectories).foreach(\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0if\u00a0($((Get-Item\u00a0$_.FullName\u00a0-force).EnumerateFiles(\"*\",\u00a0[System.IO.SearchOption]::AllDirectories)).count\u00a0-eq\u00a00)\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0$_.fullname\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0}\u00a0})\n\n\u00a0\u00a0If\u00a0($folders.count\u00a0-gt\u00a00)\u00a0{\n\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0$msg\u00a0=\u00a0\"Removing\u00a0$($folders.count)\u00a0empty\u00a0folder(s)\u00a0in\u00a0$($path.ToUpper())\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Verbose\u00a0$msg\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0#Test\u00a0each\u00a0path\u00a0to\u00a0make\u00a0sure\u00a0it\u00a0still\u00a0exists and\u00a0then\u00a0delete\u00a0it<\/em>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0foreach\u00a0($folder\u00a0in\u00a0$folders)\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If\u00a0(Test-Path\u00a0-Path\u00a0$Folder)\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Verbose\u00a0\"Removing\u00a0$folder\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Remove-Item\u00a0-Path\u00a0$folder\u00a0-Force\u00a0-Recurse\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0}\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0}\n\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0#Display\u00a0a\u00a0WhatIf\u00a0Summary<\/em>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0if\u00a0($WhatIfPreference)\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Host\u00a0\"What\u00a0if:\u00a0$msg\"\u00a0-ForegroundColor\u00a0CYAN\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0}\n\u00a0\u00a0}\n\u00a0\u00a0else\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Warning\u00a0\"No\u00a0empty\u00a0folders\u00a0found\u00a0under\u00a0$($path.ToUpper()).\"\n\u00a0\u00a0}\n\n\u00a0\u00a0Write-Verbose\u00a0\"Ending\u00a0$($myinvocation.mycommand)\"\n\n}\u00a0#end\u00a0Remove-EmptyFolder<\/em><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Instead of getting a child listing of each folder , I'm calling the EnumerateDirectories() and EnumerateFiles() methods. This appears to perform a bit faster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
$folders\u00a0=\u00a0(Get-Item\u00a0-Path\u00a0$Path\u00a0-force).EnumerateDirectories(\"*\",\u00a0[System.IO.SearchOption]::AllDirectories).foreach(\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0if\u00a0($((Get-Item\u00a0$_.FullName\u00a0-force).EnumerateFiles(\"*\",\u00a0[System.IO.SearchOption]::AllDirectories)).count\u00a0-eq\u00a00)\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0$_.fullname\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0}\u00a0})<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
The first part of this expression is getting all directories in the search path. Then I'm testing for any files in each folder. if there are no files, the full path to the empty directory is saved to $folders. This becomes the list of items to delete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
foreach\u00a0($folder\u00a0in\u00a0$folders)\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If\u00a0(Test-Path\u00a0-Path\u00a0$Folder)\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Verbose\u00a0\"Removing\u00a0$folder\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Remove-Item\u00a0-Path\u00a0$folder\u00a0-Force\u00a0-Recurse\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0}\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
I'm doing a quick test of each path because I may have already deleted an empty parent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Using a Control Script<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
While I can run the functions separately, I wrote a simple control script. The functions are the tools and the controller script \"orchestrates\" their use. The controller script becomes a re-usable tool itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#requires\u00a0-version\u00a05.1<\/em>\n\n<#<\/em>\n\u00a0\u00a0CleanTemp.ps1<\/em>\n\u00a0\u00a0A\u00a0control\u00a0script\u00a0to\u00a0clean\u00a0temp\u00a0folders\u00a0of\u00a0files\u00a0since\u00a0last\u00a0boot<\/em>\n\u00a0\u00a0and\u00a0empty\u00a0folders.<\/em>\n#><\/em>\n[cmdletbinding(SupportsShouldProcess)]\nParam(\n\u00a0\u00a0[Parameter(Position\u00a0=\u00a00,HelpMessage\u00a0=\u00a0\"Specify\u00a0the\u00a0temp\u00a0folder\u00a0path\")]\n\u00a0\u00a0[string[]]$Path\u00a0=\u00a0@($env:temp,\u00a0'c:\\windows\\temp',\u00a0'D:\\Temp')\n)\n\n#dot\u00a0source\u00a0functions<\/em>\n.\u00a0C:\\scripts\\Remove-EmptyFolder.ps1\n.\u00a0C:\\scripts\\Remove-File.ps1\n\n#get\u00a0last\u00a0boot\u00a0up\u00a0time<\/em>\n$bootTime\u00a0=\u00a0(Get-CimInstance\u00a0-ClassName\u00a0Win32_OperatingSystem).LastBootUpTime\nWrite-Verbose\u00a0\"Last\u00a0boot\u00a0=\u00a0$boottime\"\n#delete\u00a0files\u00a0in\u00a0temp\u00a0folders\u00a0older\u00a0than\u00a0the\u00a0last\u00a0bootup\u00a0time<\/em>\nforeach\u00a0($folder\u00a0in\u00a0$Path)\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0if\u00a0(Test-Path\u00a0$Folder)\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Remove-File\u00a0-path\u00a0$folder\u00a0-cutoff\u00a0$bootTime\u00a0-recurse\u00a0-force\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Remove-EmptyFolder\u00a0-path\u00a0$folder\n\u00a0\u00a0}\n\u00a0\u00a0else\u00a0{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Write-Warning\u00a0\"Failed\u00a0to\u00a0validate\u00a0$($folder.toUpper())\"\n\u00a0\u00a0}\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
The script parameters have default values that make this very simple for me to run. I could, and probably should, put the cleaning functions in a module since they are related. But until then, I'll simply dot-source the files. The controller script passes the necessary parameters to the underlying commands. Within seconds, my temp folders are cleaned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schedule the Task<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Now that I think about it, what I should probably do, is create a PowerShell scheduled job to run this script at logon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$params\u00a0=\u00a0@{\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0FilePath\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0=\u00a0\"C:\\scripts\\CleanTemp.ps1\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Name\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0=\u00a0\"ClearTemp\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Trigger\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0=\u00a0(New-JobTrigger\u00a0-AtLogOn)\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0MaxResultCount\u00a0=\u00a01\n}\n\nRegister-ScheduledJob\u00a0@params<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Now I never need to worry about Spring cleaning!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Springtime is approaching in North America. Where I live, the snow has finally melted and we have blue skies with warmer temperatures. Of course, this means Spring Cleaning. Time to clear out the winter debris and spruce up the house. For me, this is also a good time for some computing housecleaning as well. 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