JSL: Filtering files by Creation Date with Files In Directory and Filter Each

[#1]

Hi all,

I am working with JSL to collect and filter files from a directory.
The basic filtering logic (name, extension, size) works correctly, but I am running into issues when trying to add a reliable Creation Date filter.

This code correctly finds non‑empty .txt files whose names contain "result":

Names Default To Here(1);

folderPath = "C:/Users/.../test";
fileListOrig = Files In Directory(folderPath, Recursive(1));
fileList = Filter Each({v, i}, fileListOrig,
    Contains(v, "result") &
    Ends With(v, ".txt") &
    File Size(folderPath || v) > 0
);

// Data Cleaning
For( i = 1, i <= N Items( fileList ), i++,
    fileName = fileList[i];
...

What is the recommended or reliable way in JSL to filter files by creation date on Windows when combining Files In Directory with Filter Each?

Thanks,

[#2]

Use Creation Date()

Difficult to give any suggestion on what to combine it with as you didn't provide any ideas of the logic you are going for.

[#3]

Thanks Jarmo — let me clarify.

What I am trying to do is filter files by a creation date range on top of the other filters (for example, files created between 2026‑01‑01 and 2026‑03‑31).

I have tried using Creation Date() in several ways (including examples from the User Community), but I was not sure how to combine it with Files In Directory() and Filter Each(), hence none of those worked.

Could you please show an example of how this should be done correctly?

-Aron

[#4]

Something like:

Names Default To Here(1);

folderPath = "C:/Users/.../test";
fileListOrig = Files In Directory(folderPath, Recursive(1));
fileList = Filter Each({v, i}, fileListOrig,
    Contains(v, "result") &
    Ends With(v, ".txt") &
    creation date(v) < informat("01052026", "MMDDYYYY") &
    creation date(v) >= informat("01052025", "MMDDYYYY") &
    File Size(folderPath || v) > 0
);

// Data Cleaning
For( i = 1, i <= N Items( fileList ), i++,
    fileName = fileList[i];
...

[#5 · Accepted solution]

Build your dates (different ways, see date-time functions: JSL Syntax Reference > JSL Functions, Operators, and Messages > Date and Time Functions ), use file path with creation date (note if your folder ends with "/" or not when building the path) and add comparison

Names Default To Here(1);

folder = Convert File Path("$SAMPLE_DATA");

sdate = Date DMY(1,1,2025);
edate = Date DMY(31,3,2026);

flist = Files In Directory(folder, Recursive(1));

filtered_files = Filter Each({filename}, flist,
	Contains(filename, "Data") &
	Ends With(filename, ".jmp") &
	File Size(folder || filename) > 0 &
	sdate <= Creation Date(folder || filename) <= edate
);