Text file manipulation

[admdev]

Hi all,

Hope somebody can help me with this.

I need to be able to read the contents of a directory and return the file name of the file with the latest date. Then, copy it into a different directory.

Thanks in advance.

 

[DSummZZZ]

Have you tried using the ADIR() command yet?


-Dave Summers-

Even more Fox stuff at:

http://www.davesummers.net/foxprolinks.htm

 

[admdev]

DSummZZZ,

Thanks for replying!

According to the Fox Pro help, the following is the format expected by command.

ADIR(ArrayName [, cFileSkeleton [, cAttribute [, nFlag]]])

Where in here can I type the directory I am trying to browse. Additionally, the file extensions are unique; in other words, the application generates a random extension as file.123, file.234, file.789, file.546, etc.

Thanks.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Admdev,

Where in here can I type the directory I am trying to browse.

This is in the cFileSkeleton parameter.

For example, if the directory is c:\foxpro\data, and you want to get files whose names are like File.123, File.789, etc., the command would be:

ADIR(MyArray, "c:\foxpro\data\file.*")

If the filenames don't follow any particular pattern (e.g. they don't all start with "file"), do this instead:

ADIR(MyArray, "c:\foxpro\data\*.*")

Once you've got the filenames into the array, use ASCAN() to sort it on the third column. The last item in the sorted array will be the most recent file.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk

 

[Stella740pl]

Once you've got the filenames into the array, use ASCAN() to sort it on the third column. The last item in the sorted array will be the most recent file.

Mike,
You, probably, meant ASORT(), because ASCAN() is searching an array for a particular element, not sorting it.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Stella,

You're absolutely right. I did mean ASORT(). This is what comes of working late at night when you should be relaxing.

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk

 

[admdev]

Thanks guys for your help on this!

How would I select the file. Below is the code I am using.
Am I going to assign it to a variable? What I need to do is select the latest file received within this directory and move it into another folder say "D:\Temp\FilesBack".


ADIR(Files, "D:\Testfiles\Incoming\*.*")
ASORT(Files,3)

Thanks in advance.

 

[JRB-Bldr]

After using the ADIR() commsnd, the list of file names is now stored as character strings in the array which you named Files

You merely determine how many files are in the array by either modifying the original ADIR() command to
mnFileCount = ADIR(whatever)
or you can subsequently use the ALEN() command on the resultant array.
example: mnFileCount = ALEN(Files,1)

Now with the filecount you could loop through the array getting the individual filenames and putting them into a variable
example:

FOR FileCntr = 1 to mnFileCount
   mcSourceFile = Files(FileCntr,1)
   <Do Whatever To mcSourceFile>
ENDFOR

And then within the loop, depending on how you wanted to use the file you could

COPY FILE (mcSourceFile) TO <mcDestination>
IF FILE (mcDestination)
  ERASE (mcSourceFile)
ENDIF

Good Luck,
JRB-Bldr

 

[bborissov]

IF ADIR(laFiles, "D:\Testfiles\Incoming\*.*") > 0
   ASORT(laFiles,3)
   lcFileSource = [D:\Testfiles\Incoming\]+laFiles[1,1]
   lcFileTarget = [D:\Temp\FilesBack\]    +laFiles[1,1]
   RENAME (lcFileSource) TO (lcFileTarget)
ENDIF

Borislav Borissov
VFP9 SP1, SQL Server 2000/2005.
MVP VFP

 

[Mike Lewis]

Admdev,

After you've done the sort, the required filename will be in the first column of the last row of the array. So, you can access it like this:

lcRequiredFile = ;
  MyArray(ALEN(MyArray, 1), 1)

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk

 

[bborissov]

Oops, After I saw Mike's answer I understood that I gave you a wrong answer, you must either use Mike's suggestion to get last file either sort array descending:

ASORT(laFiles,3,-1,1)

Borislav Borissov
VFP9 SP1, SQL Server 2000/2005.
MVP VFP

 

[admdev]

Thanks for all your help guys!

It was really helpful. I got it to work.