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backslash in applescript variable

I've a windows file path which uses backslashes and I want to add to a variable but applescript will not treat the slash as a text character. I want to pass to the variable from the clipboard and replace with the forward slashes so I can use the go to folder in finder. The windows file path is not always the same, so I can't manually edit to a double backslash. thanks

Posted on Jul 5, 2011 4:17 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 5, 2011 4:25 PM

Try using:


set the_string to the clipboard

set new_string to ""

repeat with this_char from 1 to (count the_string)

if item this_char of the_string is not "\\" then

set new_string to new_string & item this_char of the_string

else

set new_string to new_string & "/"

end if

end repeat


(59194)

8 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 5, 2011 4:25 PM in response to John H

Try using:


set the_string to the clipboard

set new_string to ""

repeat with this_char from 1 to (count the_string)

if item this_char of the_string is not "\\" then

set new_string to new_string & item this_char of the_string

else

set new_string to new_string & "/"

end if

end repeat


(59194)

Jul 5, 2011 4:45 PM in response to John H

Applescript strings use the backslash as an escape character (mostly for quotes, so that you can have a command like set bob to "he said\"Wow!\"" which includes the quote character. In most cases applescript will quote this for you, for instance if you copy a backslashed path onto the clipboard and use a command like set txt to the clipboard, applescript will get a properly escaped version of the string from the clipboard. about the only time you will ever see this backslash problem is when you manually type a backslash into an applescript string. just type \\ anywhere you would normally type \. or instance, to pass a window's string to the clipboard, use something like the following


set the clipboard to "C:\\user\\docs\\Letter.txt"


It looks a little odd, but you get used to it. 😝

Nov 6, 2014 6:25 AM in response to Niel

How would you do this with the following applescript code (which causes a syntax error: selection of {application "Finder", "\""} can't be transformed into text type):


tell application "Finder" & quote

set sel to the selection as text


set the clipboard toPOSIX path of sel

end tell

end tell

My goal is to create a automator workflow using applescript which copies the path of a finder object to the clipboard. In Yosemite.

backslash in applescript variable

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