vbscript - Loop through ALL files in a folder based on 'Last Modified Date'

Question

I need to loop through the files in a given folder in descending order of 'Last Modified Date'.

In the first iteration of the loop I need to be able to open the most recently modified file for reading and close it. In the second iteration, I need to be able to open the 2nd most recently updated file for reading and close it etc.

1. Is there a built in method that allows a FileSystemObject to sort the files or do we absolutely have to write custom sorting routine?

2. If we have to go with a custom sorting routine, is it possible to write this without having multiple functions? i.e. all code in the a main function.

3. Speed is a concern since there are to be a lot of files to sort through. Therefore any custom procedures should be efficient.

Answer 1

You could read the file names and dates into a disconnected recordset and sort that by date:

Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

Set list = CreateObject("ADOR.Recordset")
list.Fields.Append "name", 200, 255
list.Fields.Append "date", 7
list.Open

For Each f In fso.GetFolder("C:somewhere").Files
  list.AddNew
  list("name").Value = f.Path
  list("date").Value = f.DateLastModified
  list.Update
Next

list.MoveFirst
Do Until list.EOF
  WScript.Echo list("date").Value & vbTab & list("name").Value
  list.MoveNext
Loop

list.Sort = "date DESC"

list.MoveFirst
Do Until list.EOF
  WScript.Echo list("date").Value & vbTab & list("name").Value
  list.MoveNext
Loop

list.Close