How to copy a files name and spotlight comments to a text file for an entire folder

Use an AppleScript such as:

set the_string to ""

tell application "Finder"

repeat with this_file in (get files of folder "untitled")

set the_string to the_string & name of this_file & tab & comment of this_file & return

end repeat

end tell

the_string

Copy the result and paste it into the desired application.

(102033)

Try this for item 1:

Run Shell Script Action (pass input as arguments) is:

for f in "$@"

do

filename=$(mdls -raw -name kMDItemDisplayName "$f")

filename=${filename##*/}

comment=$(mdls -raw -name kMDItemFinderComment "$f")

echo $filename - $comment

done

Workflow is:

Just realized that since I used kMDItemDisplayName, then filename=${filename##*/} is not needed (it doesn't do anything as the path is not in kMDItemDisplayName )

Any random file or folder I choose in the kMDItemFinderComment part of your solution returns (null). 10.9.2

I tested it on my files and it works. (null) is only returned if no comment:

Ok. Added a comment to a Python script and now it works as you state.

Clendenen02 wrote:

2) It would be equally helpful if there was something that would take the name of the picture file and spotlight comment, copy and paste it to a movie file's comments with the same name but obviously has different extention. For an example

In a Pictures folder

Name: Dark Knight, The.jpeg Comment: (2008) Genre: Action... <- copy comment

In a Movie Folder

Name: Dark Knight, The.m4v Comment: <- paste

and do this for all 700 files

This Bash script will do it.

Edit "PicDir" and "MovDir" to the location of your Folders

(Note: The comment is written to the m4v file using xattr, so the Spotlight comment field appears blank in Finder, but the comment metadata is still indexed by Spotlight (If you add a Spotlight comment from Finder, it is stored both as an extended attribute and in a .DS_Store file)

#!/bin/bash

PicDir=$HOME/Desktop/Pictures
MovDir=$HOME/Desktop/Movies

for f in $PicDir/*
do
     if [ ! -d "$f" -a "${f##*.}" == "jpeg" ]; then
          comment=$(mdls -raw -name kMDItemFinderComment "$f")
          if [[ $comment != "(null)" ]]; then
               picname=${f##*/}
               movname=${picname%.*}.m4v 
               if [ -e "$MovDir"/$movname ]; then
                     xattr -w com.apple.metadata:kMDItemFinderComment "\"$comment\"" "$MovDir"/$movname
               fi
          fi
     fi
done

Run the following AppleScript exactly as written, go to the desired application, and paste the clipboard contents:

set the_string to ""

tell application "Finder"

repeat with this_file in (get files of (choose folder))

set the_string to the_string & name of this_file & tab & comment of this_file & return

end repeat

end tell

set the clipboard to the_string

(102516)