Using python to filter files on disk

Question

I am using below to remove files from disk.

    def match_files(dir, pattern):
       for dirname, subdirs, files in os.walk(dir):
          for f in files:
             if f.endswith(pattern):
                yield os.path.join(dirname, f)

    # Remove all files in the current dir matching *.txt
    for f in match_files(dn, '.txt'):
       os.remove(f)

What I would to remove files from disk that "was not updated today." List the files from today. Check against to update list.

Answer 1

Besides os.stat you could use os.path.getmtime or os.path.getctime, the pro's / con's of which are discussed on this question. You can use datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp to convert the timestamp returned into a datetime object, and then you can do whatever you want. In this example I'll remove files not modified today, create a list of remaining files:

from datetime import datetime, timedelta

today = datetime.now().date()
remaining = []
for f in match_files(dn, '.txt'):
   mtime = datetime.fromtimestamp(os.path.getmtime(f)).date()
   if mtime != today:
       os.remove(f)
   else:
       remaining.append(f)

Answer 2

What is "pattern" ?

Otherwise, the "os.stat" gives the date of the file. Here a sample with the "last mod" date.

    stats = os.stat(file)
    lastmod_date = time.localtime(stats[8])