How to identify the maximum date of a subfolder in a folder?

Question

I am unable to identify the latest subfolder's date from the a folder which has many subfolders under it.

/abc/data_files/  - Main folder path

it has  subfolders namely :

df_jun_2021

df_jul_2021

df_Aug_2021

Here I need to dynamically pull the date updated/ created of the df_Aug_2021 subfolder.

Everything a new subfolder gets created in the main folder /abc/data_files/

Any solution is much appreciated.

ChrisTX · Answer

You can use the Directory tool to get a list of all files, then use Formula tool(s) with functions like FileGetDir (to get the folder name) and Switch (to convert Jun, Jul to numbers), and Text to Columns to split the folder names into 3 fields, and Summarize to get a list of unique folder names.

The Directory tool won't return the names of empty folders.

See this post to get all folder names: https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/Help-reading-folder-names-not-file-names/m-p/392336#M71896

Chris

BA02 · Answer

Referring to https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/Directory-Tool-Folders-Only-amp-Sub-folder-Depth/td-p/437412 would provide a macro and how to extract the subdirectory data.

Minor tweaks would be required in the macro so as to incorporate the "LastAccessTime" of the subfolder. Make sure to make the changes in all the summarize and cross tab tools in the macro. You will then be able to get the last access time of each of the subfolders and perform further data operations. Hope this helps! Do let me know in case you have any more questions. happy to help!