I'm trying to create a batch file that will delete multiple files, then append a log with those deleted files. This batch file will need to run via Windows Task Scheduler daily.
I have started off with this batch file with the ffg content (the list will be lengthy as there are lots of user files to remove)
del "[John Doe]*.wav" /s
del "[Pete Pan]*.wav" /s
To ensure logging of file deletion is active the batch file should start with,
Setlocal ENABLEEXTENSIONS
To use a list of variable names, use a for loop of list and redirect output to log.
for /f "tokens=*" %%f in (names.txt) do del /S "[%%f]*.wav" >>Deleted.txt
Thus the CMD file is at its simplest
Setlocal ENABLEEXTENSIONS
for /f "tokens=*" %%f in (names.txt) do del /S "[%%f]*.wav" >>Deleted.txt
Where the names.txt is
John Doe
Joe Blogs
Pete Pan
ETC. Etc.
Note good practice before deletion is use a test folder to ensure it is confined to one area. And ensure the file system is good perhaps by running CHKDSK once in a while!
For those who also need to /Recurse folders. A rough outline is to wrap the loop in another, so something like:
Setlocal ENABLEEXTENSIONS
for /R "%~dp0" %%d in (.) do (
cd /d "%%d"
for /f "tokens=*" %%f in (%~dp0names.txt) do del /S "[%%f]*.wav" >>"%~dp0Deleted.txt"
)