How to calculate the number of files in nested folders>

In Terminal (replace ~/Documents with directory to count)

find ~/Documents/ ! -type d ! \( -name ".*" -or -name "Icon*" \) | wc -l

In Applescript:

set x to choose folder with prompt "Choose Folder to Count Files"

set filecount to do shell script "find " & POSIX path of x & " ! -type d ! \\( -name \".*\" -or -name \"Icon*\" \\) | wc -l"

display dialog "File Count:" & filecount

This Applesctipt will add comma's to the file count:

(Copy into Applescript Editor, and Save as File Format: App, then just click the App to run)

set x to choose folder with prompt "Choose Folder to Count Files" default location alias (the path to pictures folder as text)

set filecount to do shell script "find " & POSIX path of x & " ! -type d ! \\( -name \".*\" -or -name \"Icon*\" \\) | wc -l"

display dialog "File Count: " & comma_delimit(trim(filecount))

on trim(someText)

repeat until someText does not start with " "

set someText to text 2 thru -1 of someText

end repeat

repeat until someText does not end with " "

set someText to text 1 thru -2 of someText

end repeat

return someText

end trim

on comma_delimit(this_number)

set this_number to this_number as string

if this_number contains "E" then set this_number to number_to_text(this_number)

set the num_length to the length of this_number

set the this_number to (the reverse of every character of this_number) as string

set the new_num to ""

repeat with i from 1 to the num_length

if i is the num_length or (i mod 3) is not 0 then

set the new_num to (character i of this_number & the new_num) as string

else

set the new_num to ("," & character i of this_number & the new_num) as string

end if

end repeat

return the new_num

end comma_delimit

If you just want to find out or calculate the number of files nested within nested folder, or get a rough estimate of the number of photos you have in your Pictures album, then you could use this very simple script:

set theFolder to choose folder

tell application "Finder" to count files in the entire contents of theFolder

Message was edited by: Pierre L.

Yes, that's better, but might as well give the OP a dialog box with the count so that it could be saved as an App:

set theFolder to choose folder with prompt "Choose Folder to Count Files" default location alias (the path to pictures folder as text)

tell application "Finder"

set filecount to count files in the entire contents of theFolder

end tell

display dialog "File Count: " & comma_delimit(filecount)

on comma_delimit(this_number)

set this_number to this_number as string

if this_number contains "E" then set this_number to number_to_text(this_number)

set the num_length to the length of this_number

set the this_number to (the reverse of every character of this_number) as string

set the new_num to ""

repeat with i from 1 to the num_length

if i is the num_length or (i mod 3) is not 0 then

set the new_num to (character i of this_number & the new_num) as string

else

set the new_num to ("," & character i of this_number & the new_num) as string

end if

end repeat

return the new_num

end comma_delimit

A very nice handler indeed. That's even more than the OP was asking for.

I just realized that the OP could get almost the same info by just highlighting the folder in Finder and ⌘I

(⌘I will count a Folder as a file, so your Applescript solution is more accurate)

Here is a comma delimited AppleScript handler that uses Ruby as its engine. AppleScript wants to change Ruby quotes and \ characters, so these need an extra \ escape. What you see below is the Ruby code before AppleScript reformats it with additional newlines and tabs.

set value1 to "123456789.50" as string

set value2 to "123456789" as string

display dialog commify(value1) & return & commify(value2)

on commify(nbr)

if nbr contains "." then

set rb to "num = ARGV.join(\"\").to_f\n

snum = sprintf('%0.2f', num).gsub(/(\\d)(?=\\d{3}+\\.)/, '\\1,')\n

puts snum"

else

set rb to "num = ARGV.join(\"\").to_i\n

snum = sprintf('%d', num).gsub(/(\\d)(?=\\d{3}+$)/, '\\1,')\n

puts snum"

end if

do shell script "/usr/bin/ruby -e " & rb's quoted form & space & nbr

end commify

Really, as Tony mentioned in his last post just do a Get Info on the top level folder with the Finder

You could also just create a Smart Folder in Finder, set it to search from the top level and restrict it to finding image files if that is what you are interested in.

1 - Install tree - see install instructions

2 - Copy the following to Terminal:

cd folder-of-interest; tree | tail -1

3 - Hit return key

Typical output:

44 directories, 453 files

Install instructions:

1. Download tree from: ftp://mama.indstate.edu/linux/tree/
2. Decompress file
3. Edit Makefile as instructed by INSTALL file
4. Type cd followed by a space in Terminal
5. Drag downloaded tree folder to Terminal window
6. Type make in Terminal
7. Hit return key
8. Type sudo make install in Terminal
9. Hit return key
10. Supply admin password
11. Hit return key
12. Use tree as above

Allow sufficient time for each Terminal instruction to complete.

Frank Caggiano wrote:

Really, as Tony mentioned in his last post just do a Get Info on the top level folder with the Finder

There's the easy way (this) and the hard way (any other way 🙂)

graphiclizard wrote:

I want to find out or calculate the number files nested within nested folders.

I'm looking to get a rough estimate of the number of photos I have in my Pictures album.

Highlight the folder in Finder and ⌘I

(⌘I will count a Folder as a file, so your file count will be slightly higher)

I noted a 10% error across a wide range of OS X folders.

Highlighting the folder in Finder and ⌘I is accurate for what the OP is looking for.

You might be getting hidden files and Disk Image bands (as well as App Folder contents) in your count with tree.

I'd just go with the smart folder, this is the kind of thing Finder is designed to do.

Another advantage of the smart folder is it can be saved so you can get a count anytime you need it and you can easily switch the type of the file you are counting.