Automator action "Run Shell Script" input

A folder action is triggered whenever something is added to a watched folder, with a list of the added items getting passed as arguments to the action. You can use dirname to get the directory portion of a pathname (the containing folder would be the same for all of the passed items), for example:

Run Shell Script { Shell: /bin/bash/ Pass Input: as arguments }:

for f in "$@"
do
  parent="$(dirname "$f")"
  echo $parent  # or whatever
done

Instead of a Run Shell Script action used within an Automator Folder Action workflow, do it in AppleScript which will give you access to the explicit folder name that the files are dropped on. When you save the .scpt from the Script Editor, put it in ~/Library/Workflows/Applications/Folder\ Actions, and then assign this .scpt to your target drop folder.

on adding folder items tothis_folderafter receivingthese_items

set drop_folder to this_folder's POSIX path

do shell script "bash -s <<'EOF' - " & drop_folder's quoted form & "

# AppleScript HERE docs require double-quotes and backslashes to be escaped

# which makes for some harsh syntax reading

OIFS=$IFS ; IFS=

root_directory=\"$1\"

for next_file in $(find ${root_directory} -maxdepth 1 -type f -not -path '*/\\.*' -print0)

do

extension=${next_file##*.}

if [ ! -e \"${root_directory}/${extension}\" ] # no matching directory

then

mkdir ${root_directory}/${extension}

fi

mv -n \"$next_file\" \"$root_directory\"/\"$extension\" # move the file

done

IFS=$OIFS

EOF"

return

end adding folder items to

A folder action will only fire if something is dropped into the watched folder, and the folder action script attached to any given folder is passed the paths for the items that have just been dropped into the folder, so the parent path would have to be that of the assigned/watched folder. I would also think that the AppleScript folder action handler does something similar to get the watched folder.

Your solution gets the parent path of each file that is dropped on the folder, but does not get the actual path to the name of the folder that the Folder Action script is assigned too. Unless I read Scott's request incorrectly, he wants to dynamically obtain the name of the folder that the Folder Action is assigned too, in order to avoid hardcoding it.

If I have a folder on my Desktop by the name of Remove_Words, and I drop a file from my Desktop onto that folder, the dirname path reported within the folder action script will be the original source path of the dropped file. There is no reference to the enclosing drop folder name.

One can tell Folder Actions Setup to get the name, or path of its folder action, or its script. If there is only one assigned folder in use, the name of the folder action is the drop folder's name as a list item.