WinSCP - How to download only folders/files 1 day old while excluding empty folders/files? [duplicate] - winscp

Question

I am limited to PuTTY and WinSCP only.
I am trying to download log directories with log files. For example, I want to grab all log_files 6 days old or newer. log_dir2 and log_dir3 including the folders match the criteria, while log_dir1 and its files does not.
DIR/log_dir1/log_files % older than 6 days
DIR/log_dir2/log_files % meets criteria
DIR/log_dir3/log_files % meets criteria
My problem is that while the log_files of log_dir1 are not downloaded, the syntax I am currently using downloads the log_dir1 folder. Normally, not a big deal, but we are talking hundreds of log_dir folders (all empty as the files are older than 6 days). For reasons beyond my control, I cannot move or archive these old log directories with their log files.
My question is simply, how do I change my syntax to ignore folders that are older than 6 days as well as files.
get -filemask="*>6D" /DIR/* C:\temp
I have tried several different combinations of parameters and I have read the support page about Directory Masks and Path Masks. I cannot get any of them working (version issue?). Can anyone explain their syntax better than the help page. I will update tomorrow with the current version of WinSCP that I am using.

Answer 1

Time constraint in WinSCP file mask cannot be used for directories.
But you can prevent WinSCP from creating the empty folders. Use -rawtransfersettings switch with ExcludeEmptyDirectories setting.
get -rawtransfersettings ExcludeEmptyDirectories=1 -filemask="*>6D" /DIR/* C:\temp
This is the original answer, before WinSCP supported ExcludeEmptyDirectories. It might still be useful as a basis for implementations that have even more specific constraints.
You can implement this custom logic easily in PowerShell script with a use of WinSCP .NET assembly:
# Load WinSCP .NET assembly
Add-Type -Path "WinSCPnet.dll"
# Set up session options
$sessionOptions = New-Object WinSCP.SessionOptions -Property #{
Protocol = [WinSCP.Protocol]::Sftp
HostName = "example.com"
UserName = "username"
Password = "password"
SshHostKeyFingerprint = "..."
}
$remotePath = "/remote/path"
$localPath = "C:\local\path"
$limit = (Get-Date).AddDays(-6)
$session = New-Object WinSCP.Session
# Connect
$session.Open($sessionOptions)
# Enumerate files to download
$fileInfos =
$session.EnumerateRemoteFiles(
$remotePath, $Null, [WinSCP.EnumerationOptions]::AllDirectories) |
Where-Object { $_.LastWriteTime -gt $limit }
foreach ($fileInfo in $fileInfos)
{
$localFilePath =
[WinSCP.RemotePath]::TranslateRemotePathToLocal(
$fileInfo.FullName, $remotePath, $localPath)
# If the corresponding local folder does not exist yet, create it
$localFileDir = Split-Path -Parent $localFilePath
if (!(Test-Path -Path $localFileDir))
{
Write-Host "Creating local directory $localFileDir..."
New-Item $localFileDir -ItemType directory | Out-Null
}
Write-Host "Downloading file $($fileInfo.FullName)..."
# Download file
$sourcePath = [WinSCP.RemotePath]::EscapeFileMask($fileInfo.FullName)
$transferResult = $session.GetFiles($sourcePath, $localFilePath)
# Did the download succeeded?
if (!$transferResult.IsSuccess)
{
# Print error (but continue with other files)
Write-Host ("Error downloading file ${remoteFilePath}: " +
$transferResult.Failures[0].Message)
}
}
$session.Dispose()
Write-Host "Done."
Run the script (download.ps1) like:
powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -File download.ps1