How can I use a folder whose pathname contains one or more spaces in Automator?
I have the following workflow. It works on folder's whose names do not include spaces, but fails (though without an error message) when I run it with a folder whose name does include a space.
iMac Line (2012 and Later)
If you are just dragging and dropping the space punctuated folder name containing the AppleWorks documents, then you do not need the first get and set actions — based on what you have shown here. Just make this change:
cd "$1"
Consider using --headless instead of --invisible. That --headless also eliminates the need for --nologo too.
This also works (tested with 30 *.cwk in a space punctuated folder:
#!/bin/bash
shopt -s nullglob
for file in "$1"/*.cwk
do
/Applications/LibreOffice.app/Contents/MacOS/soffice --headless \
--convert-to pdf --outdir "$1" "$file"
done
shopt -u nullglob
exit 0
The zsh shell does not break on file or folder white space, so no quotes would be needed with it.
If you are just dragging and dropping the space punctuated folder name containing the AppleWorks documents, then you do not need the first get and set actions — based on what you have shown here. Just make this change:
cd "$1"
Consider using --headless instead of --invisible. That --headless also eliminates the need for --nologo too.
This also works (tested with 30 *.cwk in a space punctuated folder:
#!/bin/bash
shopt -s nullglob
for file in "$1"/*.cwk
do
/Applications/LibreOffice.app/Contents/MacOS/soffice --headless \
--convert-to pdf --outdir "$1" "$file"
done
shopt -u nullglob
exit 0
The zsh shell does not break on file or folder white space, so no quotes would be needed with it.
I think I've found it: quotes are needed around the $1 variable in the shell script.
Perhaps this will be of help to someone else.
(Incidentally, the "script" is intended to change convert all the .cwk documents (old Claris Works) to PDFs.)
Sure. Look in the Automator Files & Folder Library, and drag/drop the Ask for Finder Items action into your workflow before your Run Shell Script action.
The prompt can be anything you want. Start at: Desktop, and Type: Folders. I would not select Allow Multiple Selection unless you have a for loop construct in your Bash code to process multiple folders.
for file in "$@"
do
...
done
exit
The "$@" is the list of items being passed to the Run Shell Script action, even if it is one item. It will be in POSIX (UNIX) path format.
Review the Automator content here. Take into consideration that some things may have changed from the time this was authored until current implementations of Automator. The bigger picture at this site is here.
As you've probably guessed, I know very little about Automator. Perhaps you can help with something. As it stands, a folder must be dropped onto the workflow icon in order to perform the conversion, but I wonder if the user can instead be asked to select a folder.
Thank you very much!
Unwaith eto…diolch yn fawr. (Once again, thanks very much.) Thanks for the links, too, as I have found it difficult to find any decent learning material for Automator.
You are welcome. As close as I got to Ireland, or Scotland (i.e. Gaelic) for that matter is Ynys Môn (Isle of Anglesey) in Wales.
Automator: use folder pathname with spaces