I am trying to use Automator to query a file in a foldr, then create a folder based off of the filename, then move the file into the newly created folder. I am not as savvy as I thought that I was when it comes to Automator. Even thinking that Automator might not be the correct tool for the job. Each file has a different name or this would be a lot easier. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
So I found this Script:
tell application "Finder"
set current_folder to folder of front window
set x to (get the selection) as list
repeat with i from 1 to the count of x
set this_file to item i of x
if i is not 1 then
set previous_file to item (i - 1) of x
set prev_ext to cur_ext
set prev_name to new_name
else
set prev_name to ""
end if
set cur_ext to name extension of this_file
set new_name to text 1 thru -((length of cur_ext) + 2) of (name of this_file as text)
if new_name is not equal to prev_name then
set new_folder to makenewfolderwith properties {name:new_name} atcurrent_folder
movethis_filetonew_folder
else
movethis_filetonew_folder
end if
end repeat
end tell
But it only works if the file is selected in the finder window. How can it be modified to select the file/files in a folder to process them ?
The script does not try to match files with a particular folder, they are just moved into a folder that has the same name as the file, with the folder getting created if needed. Since everything does have the same name except for the one with the "LOW" suffix, the modification just removes the suffix before getting the name of the folder.
The statement
setdestinationto (makeNewFolderfor (text1thru-5oftheName) attheContainer)
strips the " LOW" suffix (the last 4 characters) from the file name before moving it to the folder, so if you are getting another folder (such as one with a trailing space), then there is more than one space separating the suffix. If there are multiple spaces separating the "LOW" suffix, give the following statement a try:
setdestinationto (makeNewFolderfor (text1thruword-2oftheName) attheContainer)
This statement will strip off the last word, including however many spaces are separating it (there are other characters used to determine word bountaries, but in this case I am assuming that the words are separated by spaces).
Thank you so very much. Still not working as I wish, but it is at 90% so that's great. I will keep playing with this for a while 🙂
Thansk for your work!
Alex
Sorry!! My mistake! I think I missed something while editing the script. It works great!. It puts all my 4 files into one single folder!.
This is the final script:
on run {input, parameters} -- create folders from file names and move
set output to {} -- this will be a list of the moved files
repeat with anItem in the input -- step through each item in the input
set {theContainer, theName, theExtension} to (getTheNames from anItem)
try
# check for a suffix and strip it off for the folder name
if theName ends with " LOW" then
set destination to (makeNewFolder for (text 1 thru -5 of theName) at theContainer)
else
set destination to (makeNewFolder for theName at theContainer)
end if
tell application "Finder"
move anItem to destination
set the end of the output to the result as alias -- success
end tell
on error errorMessage -- duplicate name, permissions, etc
log errorMessage
# handle errors if desired - just skip for now
end try
end repeat
return the output -- pass on the results to following actions
end run
to getTheNames from someItem -- get a container, name, and extension from a file item
tell application "System Events" to tell disk item (someItem as text)
set theContainer to the path of the container
set {theName, theExtension} to {name, name extension}
end tell
if theExtension is not "" then
set theName to text 1 thru -((count theExtension) + 2) of theName -- just the name part
set theExtension to "." & theExtension
end if
return {theContainer, theName, theExtension}
end getTheNames
to makeNewFolder for theChild at theParent -- make a new child folder at the parent location if it doesn't already exist
set theParent to theParent as text
if theParent begins with "/" then set theParent to theParent as POSIX file as text
try
return (theParent & theChild) as alias
on error errorMessage -- no folder
log errorMessage
tell application "Finder" to make new folder at theParent with properties {name:theChild}
return the result as alias
end try
end makeNewFolder
One more question: Where do I put that your response was the one that solved my question?
Only the creator of a topic can give helpful or solved awards. Normally you should create a new topic of your own (linking to other related topics if needed) instead of tacking on to an existing one, but in this case it was about a slight variation of the original script, so I let you slide 😉
Hi red_menace,
The first post you made with the AppleScript works wounderfully! Thank you!
Could you or perhaps someone else be so kind and help me modify it slightly? I would like the script to do one extra thing.
Once a directory is made(as well as file moved) inside the newly created directory, i need it to create a second directory eg."other-stuff" or possibly even a 3rd dir.
How could this be done?
Thanks very much, in advance!
PS- since its just a small modification, i didint think a new thread was necessary. So i thaught ill keep it in the same place.
You can add statements in the Finder tell statement where the file is being moved into the destination folder. Note that the original script adds the results of the move (the path of the file) to the output of the action so that it is available for further processing. If you want the other folder paths to be output you can use a similar statement to add to the output, otherwise you can just do something like the following:
tellapplication"Finder"
moveanItemtodestination
settheendoftheoutputtotheresultasalias-- success
makenewfolderatdestinationwith properties {name:"other-stuff"}
endtell
Works a -treat! Thank you very much!
Hi guys, can you please help me with the following pattern? So I've got folder with miltiple files named as this:
AP1077-10 blu_green-14L_1.tif
AP1077-10 blu_green-14L_2.tif
AP1077-10 blu_green-14L_3.tif
AP1077-10 blu_green-14L_4.tif
AP1077-10 blu_green-14L_5.tif
AP1077-10 blu_green-14L.tif
AP1090-01 black-14L_1.tif
AP1090-01 black-14L_2.tif
AP1090-01 black-14L_3.tif
AP1090-01 black-14L_4.tif
AP1090-01 black-14L_5.tif
AP1090-01 red-14L_1.tif
AP1090-01 red-14L.tif
AP1090-02 black-14L.tif
- and so on
I need this files to be splitted to corresponding folders, e.g. AP1077-10 blu_green-14L_1.tif - AP1077-10 blu_green-14L_5.tif and AP1077-10 blu_green-14L.tif go to folder AP1077-10 blu_green-14L and so on.
Every sequence containes files and has the same structure, several files with suffixes from _1 up to _5 and one file with no suffix - and this one with no suffix should give a name for a folder (with no extention of course). Sometimes there a sequences containing only one file.
Please note that the filename itself may contain symbol _. Thanks in advance!
I've started using the original script you posted at the top of the thread and it's awesome! Thank you for helping out @red_menace
Hopefully you can help me out with this...
I have a bunch of files that have similar names to them, but I don't want every to be put into its own folder, but all files with the same string of characters should go into the same folder.
For example all of these files names that end with the same integer (003) should be dumped into the same folder:
Any help at all would be incredible!!
Thanks!
Automator: Create folder from filename
