Script to trim file name to 6 characters

Not exactly what you're asking for, but this will help:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3366373?answerId=16305061022#16305061022

I haven't tested this because I don't have any eps files handy so test it on a scratch folder first, but this should work:

set theFiles to (choose fileof type "com.adobe.postscript" with multiple selections allowed)

tell application "System Events"

repeat with thisFile in theFiles

set fName to (get name of thisFile)

if length of fName > 10 then

set newFName to text 1 thru 6 of fName & text -4 thru -1 of fName

set name of thisFile to newFName

end if

end repeat

end tell

The following uses a general-purpose handler that deals with whatever extension (or none):

on run -- example   set theFile to (choose file)   set {theName, theExtension} to (getNameAndExtension from theFile)   try -- trim name, skipping errors (already short, etc)     set theName to text 1 thru 6 of theName -- keep first 6 characters   end try   set fileName to theName & theExtension   display dialog fileName with title "Shortened File Name" -- or rename, whatever end run on getNameAndExtension from someItem -- return name and extension from a file item   tell application "System Events" to tell disk item (someItem as text)     set {namePart, extensionPart} to {name, name extension}   end tell   if extensionPart is not "" then     set namePart to text 1 thru -((count extensionPart) + 2) of namePart -- just the name     set extensionPart to "." & extensionPart   end if   return {namePart, extensionPart} end getNameAndExtension

Sure - the example run handler I posted can be changed to get multiple files and step through them:

on run -- example with multiple files   set theFiles to (choose file with multiple selections allowed)   repeat with aFile in theFiles     set {theName, theExtension} to (getNameAndExtension from aFile)     try -- trim name, skipping errors (already short, etc)       set theName to text 1 thru 6 of theName -- keep first 6 characters     end try     set fileName to theName & theExtension     display dialog fileName with title "Shortened File Name" -- or rename, whatever   end repeat end run

to make it work with any file, delete the of type "com.adobe.postscript" phrase. then you'll be able to select any file you want. however, if you have file extensions that are not exactly three characters long you need to modify the script:

set theFiles to (choose fileof type "com.adobe.postscript" with multiple selections allowed)

tell application "System Events"

repeat with thisFile in fileList

set fName to (get name of thisFile)

-- extract extension form original name to add to new name

set fExtension to (get name extension of thisFile)

-- only work on file names that are (6 chars plus the period plus the length of the extension) long

if length of fName > 7 + (length of fExtension) then

set newFName to text 1 thru 6 of fName & "." & fExtension

set name of thisFile to newFName

end if

end repeat

end tell

edited by twtwtw to correct oversights

Did you make the change to the script per the comment?

display dialog fileName with title "Shortened File Name" -- or rename, whatever

replace that line with:

tell application "Finder" to set the name of file aFile to fileName

red_menace's also works great if you take the time to read the comments to the code 😉

(and its always better to understand what's happening than to just copy and run scripts, especially those that make changes to files)