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Applescript and filenames
Photodan
Posted: 23 April 2002 07:52 PM [ Ignore ]
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Can anybody tell me if there’s a way to build an applescript to run under OS9 that will replace certain characters in a filename with a single specified character. It would also need to add a .jpg extension to the end.
I’m afraid I don’t know if applescript is that flexible with respect to filenames.

I’m looking to automate a process to replace all ocurrences of spaces, slashes and periods in filenames with an underscore as well as add a .jpg to the end.

Thanks for any help.
-Dan

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tbone1
Posted: 21 April 2002 04:35 PM [ Ignore ] [ # 1 ]
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On 2002-04-21 21:23, Photodan wrote:
Can anybody tell me if there’s a way to build an applescript to run under OS9 that will replace certain characters in a filename with a single specified character. It would also need to add a .jpg extension to the end.
I’m afraid I don’t know if applescript is that flexible with respect to filenames.

I’m looking to automate a process to replace all ocurrences of spaces, slashes and periods in filenames with an underscore as well as add a .jpg to the end.

Thanks for any help.
-Dan

Dan -

If no one steps up to the plate, PM me, and I’ll see what I can do for you by way of a Perl script, if that’s a valid option.

 

 

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EDGar
Posted: 22 April 2002 06:34 AM [ Ignore ] [ # 2 ]
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If you do I’d like to see that perl script, it sounds like about 3 lines of perl code, and I’d love to learn a little more there. 

perhaps this should be a contest, who can do it in the least number of lines (or characters, this is perl after all icon_smile.gif ) just one long regexp…

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Stephen Swift
Posted: 23 April 2002 01:09 PM [ Ignore ] [ # 3 ]
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This sounds like a job for an AppleScript Guru (Can I have some hero music please??  icon_smile.gif )

Okay, this is what I thought up if a few minutes.  I hope it will work.  It’s a droplet.  Drag the files you need changed onto it and it will do its thing.  I have it set to finding the ” ” character and replacing it with the “-” character but you can have it do whatever you want.  Then it tags a .jpg onto the file.  If the new file name is too long, the script does not change the name of the file.  It assumes that all the files are good in length.  I hope this helps you a bit.  If you need any changes, let me know.  There’s the code.  Paste it in your script editor and then save as an application (make sure to check Never Show Startup Screen):

on run
    display dialog "To use this script drop a file onto its icon." buttons ["OK"] default button 1
end run
(*What do I do if the user double-clicks me?*)
on open TheFiles
    repeat with file1 in TheFiles
        tell application "Finder"
            set the_name to name of file1 as string
        end tell
        (*Get name of file*)
        set num to number of characters in the_name
        set new_name to ""
        repeat with i from 1 to num
            if character i of the_name is " " then
                (*This is the character you want to fine*)
                set new_name to new_name & "-" as string
                (*This is the character you want to replace it with*)
            else
                set new_name to new_name & character i of the_name as string
            end if
        end repeat
        (*Find replace, find replace, find replace*)
        set new_name to new_name & ".jpg" as string
        (*Add .jpg*)
        tell application "Finder"
            try
                set name of file1 to new_name
                (*Change the name*)
            on error
            end try
            (*Woops the file name was too long.  Oh well. Move on.*)
        end tell
    end repeat
end open 

 
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EDGar
Posted: 23 April 2002 06:42 PM [ Ignore ] [ # 4 ]
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c’mon tbone, are you going to take that sitting down?  I want to see a five line perl script that does all that in half the time and 1/10 the code readability icon_biggrin.gif

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Photodan
Posted: 23 April 2002 07:44 PM [ Ignore ] [ # 5 ]
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Very cool Burnum!

I made a slight modification to make the script search out 3 different characters (space, period and slash) to replace.

if character i of the_name is " " or character i of the_name is "/" or character i of the_name is "." then 

Thanks a lot!

-Dan

 

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"ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" - Charles Darwin

What’s the difference between a Mac and a PC? Macs are designed, PCs are assembled.

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Photodan
Posted: 23 April 2002 07:52 PM [ Ignore ] [ # 6 ]
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Don’t beat up on tbone too badly. We actually tried working on it for a little bit the other night. He almost got it to work. It would run but it didn’t change anything in the filename.
Here’s the code that we have so far:

$directory = "Macintosh HD:Convertfilenames";

chdir $directory or die "can't change to directory $directory : $!";

opendir S_DIR, $directory or die "Could not open directory $directory : $!
";

foreach (<S_DIR>)
{
   $new = $_;
   $new =~ s/ /_/g;
   $new =~ s/./_/g;
   $new =~ s///_/g;
   rename $_, $new . ".jpg" or print "Could not rename file $_ to $new .jpg:
  $!";
}

closedir S_DIR; 

Anybody perl-people see the problem?

(BTW, Thanks a lot for trying tbone!)
-Dan

_________________
“Ok, you people! Sit tight, hold the fort and keep the home fires burning. And if we’re not back by dawn… call the president.” - Kurt Russell, from Big Trouble in Little China

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Photodan on 2002-04-24 00:53 ]</font>

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