I am using this batch script to give me output of the last modified date using the Date and time format:

forfiles /M "my file.txt" /C "cmd /c echo @file @fdate @ftime" > ".\Logs\my file.txt"

But instead of date and time, I want it to show me when it was updated by hours, minutes and seconds.

For example, the above code output looks like this:

"my file.txt" 6/12/2022 2:44:58 AM

my desired result is:

"my file.txt" was updated 1 hours 3 minutes 2 seconds ago

How can get this result and which language is more convenient for this?

CodePudding user response：

A PowerShell solution:

The example uses:

• Get-ChildItem to list the files of interest

• New-TimeSpan to determine the time span that has elapsed since the file was last written to.

• -f, the format operator, to synthesize the output string, in combination with an expandable (double-quoted) string ("...").

• -replace, the regular-expression-based string replacement operator, to remove unused units from the friendly time-stamp description.

Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath . -Filter *.txt | 
  ForEach-Object {
    $timeSpan = New-TimeSpan -Start $_.LastWriteTime
    "`"$($_.Name)`" was last updated {0} day(s), {1} hour(s), {2} minute(s), {3} second(s) ago" -f 
      $timeSpan.Days, $timeSpan.Hours, $timeSpan.Minutes, $timeSpan.Seconds -replace
        '\b0 day\(s\), (0 hour\(s\), (0 minute\(s\), )?)?'
  }

CodePudding user response：

As per my comment:

Get-ChildItem -Path 'D:\Temp\appsettings.txt' | Select-Object -Property '*' 
# These are all the possible properties in Windows for a file.
# Results
<#
 PSPath            : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::D:\Temp\appsettings.txt
PSParentPath      : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::D:\Temp
PSChildName       : appsettings.txt
PSDrive           : D
PSProvider        : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem
PSIsContainer     : False
Mode              : -a----
VersionInfo       : File:             D:\Temp\appsettings.txt
                    InternalName:     
                    OriginalFilename: 
                    FileVersion:      
                    FileDescription:  
                    Product:          
                    ProductVersion:   
                    Debug:            False
                    Patched:          False
                    PreRelease:       False
                    PrivateBuild:     False
                    SpecialBuild:     False
                    Language:         
                    
BaseName          : appsettings
Target            : {}
LinkType          : 
Name              : appsettings.txt
Length            : 190
DirectoryName     : D:\Temp
Directory         : D:\Temp
IsReadOnly        : False
Exists            : True
FullName          : D:\Temp\appsettings.txt
Extension         : .txt
CreationTime      : 25-Mar-21 10:38:14
CreationTimeUtc   : 25-Mar-21 17:38:14
LastAccessTime    : 17-Oct-22 23:00:44
LastAccessTimeUtc : 18-Oct-22 06:00:44
LastWriteTime     : 25-Mar-21 10:38:14
LastWriteTimeUtc  : 25-Mar-21 17:38:14
Attributes        : Archive
#>

Formatting dates is just this:

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/scripting/formatting-date-strings-with-powershell/

You can add any other string you want in that formatted output as well.

Get-ChildItem -Path 'D:\Temp\appsettings.txt' | 
Select-Object -Property FullName, LastWriteTime
# Results
<#
FullName                LastWriteTime     
--------                -------------     
D:\Temp\appsettings.txt 25-Mar-21 10:38:14
#>

Clear-Host
Get-ChildItem -Path 'D:\Temp\*.txt' | 
Select-Object -Last 1 | 
ForEach-Object {
    $FileTime = New-TimeSpan -Start $PSItem.LastWriteTime
    "$($PSItem.Name) was updated $($FileTime.Days) days $($FileTime.Hours) hours $($FileTime.Minutes) minutes $($FileTime.Seconds) Seconds ago"
}
# Results
<#
[abc] - Copy.txt was updated 930 days 9 hours 2 minutes 35 Seconds
#>