This should be an easy google but I can't ******* find it.
When I use the ls command on a directory I always want to show the hidden files. So basically ls -a but I don't want to type the -a everytime.
All I find is the -a solution, or things about the finder.
Maybe add an alias to your ~/.bash_aliases file. Something like alias la="ls -a" would work.
Then you can call $> la on your command line after running source ~/.bash_aliases to show all files, incl. hidden ones.
I know I can trigger actions when a specific file is added to a folder, but I like to do the same when a file is renamed, e.g. remotely (Dropbox, etc)
How can I do that? Thanks
Updated Answer
Here is a little script that will fire Applescript to display a dialog box every time any file changes in your current directory:
#!/bin/bash
fswatch -x . | while read f; do
osascript <<EOF
tell application "System Events" to display dialog "$f"
EOF
done
So, you would save it as monitor, then make it executable (only necessary once) with:
chmod +x monitor
and run it with:
./monitor
You will see that it fires Applescript each time with the name of any files that change in your directory.
Original Answer
You can maybe use fswatch. I install it with homebrew, using:
brew install fswatch
Then you can run fswatch on your Dropbox account like this:
fswatch -x -r ~/Dropbox
and it will print a line each time anything happens in your Dropbox and you can pass that to a script for processing.
Here are a couple of examples:
and
I just during the weekend decided to try out zsh and have a bit of fun with it. Unfortunately I'm an incredible newbie to shell scripting in general.
I have this folder with a file, which filename is a hash (4667e85581f80b6936f8811f0a7493c70eae4ee7) without a file-extension.
What I would like to do is copy this file to another folder and rename it to "screensaver.png".
I've tried with the following code:
#!/usr/bin/zsh
KUVVA_CACHE="$HOME/Library/Containers/com.kuvva.Kuvva-Wallpapers/Data/Library/Application Support/Kuvva"
DEST_FOLDER="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Kuvva/$USERNAME/screensaver.png"
for wallpaper in ${KUVVA_CACHE}; do
cp -f ${wallpaper} ${DEST_FOLDER}
done
This returns the following error:
cp: /Users/Morten/Library/Containers/com.kuvva.Kuvva-Wallpapers/Data/Library/Application Support/Kuvva is a directory (not copied).
And when I try to echo the $wallpaper variable instead of doing "cp" then it just echo's the folder path.
The name of the file changes every 6 hour, which is why I'm doing the for-loop. So I never know what the name of the file will be, but I know that there's always only ONE file in the folder.
Any ideas how I can manage to do this? :)
Thanks a lot!
Morten
It should work with regular filename expansion (globbing).
KUVVA_CACHE="$HOME/Library/Containers/com.kuvva.Kuvva-Wallpapers/Data/Library/Application Support/Kuvva/"
And then copy
cp -f ${KUVVA_CACHE}/* ${DEST_FOLDER}
You can add the script to your crontab so it will be run at a certain interval. Edit it using 'crontab -e' and add
30 */3 * * * /location/of/your/script
This will run it every third hour. First digit is minutes. Star indicates any. Exit the editor by pressing the escape-key, then shift+: and type wq and press enter. These vi-commands.
Don't forget to 'chmod 0755 file-name' the script so it becomes executable.
Here is the script.
#!/bin/zsh
KUVVA_CACHE="$HOME/Library/Containers/com.kuvva.Kuvva-Wallpapers/Data/Library/Application Support/Kuvva"
DEST_FOLDER="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Kuvva/$USERNAME/screensaver.png"
cp "${KUVVA_CACHE}/"* "${DEST_FOLDER}"
When I compress files with the built in zip compressor in Mac OSX, it causes an extra folder titled "__MACOSX" to be created in the extracted zip.
Can I adjust my settings to keep this folder from being created or do I need to purchase a third party compression tool?
UPDATE: I just found a freeware app for OSX that solves my problem: "YemuZip"
UPDATE 2: YemuZip is no longer freeware.
Can be fixed after the fact by zip -d filename.zip __MACOSX/\*
And, to also delete .DS_Store files: zip -d filename.zip \*/.DS_Store
When I had this problem I've done it from command line:
zip file.zip uncompressed
EDIT, after many downvotes: I was using this option for some time ago and I don't know where I learnt it, so I can't give you a better explanation. Chris Johnson's answer is correct, but I won't delete mine. As one comment says, it's more accurate to what OP is asking, as it compress without those files, instead of removing them from a compressed file. I find it easier to remember, too.
Inside the folder you want to be compressed, in terminal:
zip -r -X Archive.zip *
Where -X means: Exclude those invisible Mac resource files such as “_MACOSX” or “._Filename” and .ds store files
source
Note: Will only work for the folder and subsequent folder tree you are in and has to have the * wildcard.
This command did it for me:
zip -r Target.zip Source -x "*.DS_Store"
Target.zip is the zip file to create. Source is the source file/folder to zip up. The -x parameter specifies the file/folder to exclude.
If the above doesn't work for whatever reason, try this instead:
zip -r Target.zip Source -x "*.DS_Store" -x "__MACOSX"
I'm using this Automator Shell Script to fix it after.
It's showing up as contextual menu item (right clicking on any file showing up in Finder).
while read -r p; do
zip -d "$p" __MACOSX/\* || true
zip -d "$p" \*/.DS_Store || true
done
Create a new Service with Automator
Select "Files and Folders" in "Finder"
Add a "Shell Script Action"
zip -r "$destFileName.zip" "$srcFileName" -x "*/\__MACOSX" -x "*/\.*"
-x "*/\__MACOSX": ignore __MACOSX as you mention.
-x "*/\.*": ignore any hidden file, such as .DS_Store .
Quote the variable to avoid file if it's named with SPACE.
Also, you can build Automator Service to make it easily to use in Finder.
Check link below to see detail if you need.
Github
The unwanted folders can be also be deleted by the following way:
zip -d filename.zip "__MACOSX*"
Works best for me
The zip command line utility never creates a __MACOSX directory, so you can just run a command like this:
zip directory.zip -x \*.DS_Store -r directory
In the output below, a.zip which I created with the zip command line utility does not contain a __MACOSX directory, but a 2.zip which I created from Finder does.
$ touch a
$ xattr -w somekey somevalue a
$ zip a.zip a
adding: a (stored 0%)
$ unzip -l a.zip
Archive: a.zip
Length Date Time Name
-------- ---- ---- ----
0 01-02-16 20:29 a
-------- -------
0 1 file
$ unzip -l a\ 2.zip # I created `a 2.zip` from Finder before this
Archive: a 2.zip
Length Date Time Name
-------- ---- ---- ----
0 01-02-16 20:29 a
0 01-02-16 20:31 __MACOSX/
149 01-02-16 20:29 __MACOSX/._a
-------- -------
149 3 files
-x .DS_Store does not exclude .DS_Store files inside directories but -x \*.DS_Store does.
The top level file of a zip archive with multiple files should usually be a single directory, because if it is not, some unarchiving utilites (like unzip and 7z, but not Archive Utility, The Unarchiver, unar, or dtrx) do not create a containing directory for the files when the archive is extracted, which often makes the files difficult to find, and if multiple archives like that are extracted at the same time, it can be difficult to tell which files belong to which archive.
Archive Utility only creates a __MACOSX directory when you create an archive where at least one file contains metadata such as extended attributes, file flags, or a resource fork. The __MACOSX directory contains AppleDouble files whose filename starts with ._ that are used to store OS X-specific metadata. The zip command line utility discards metadata such as extended attributes, file flags, and resource forks, which also means that metadata such as tags is lost, and that aliases stop working, because the information in an alias file is stored in a resource fork.
Normally you can just discard the OS X-specific metadata, but to see what metadata files contain, you can use xattr -l. xattr also includes resource forks and file flags, because even though they are not actually stored as extended attributes, they can be accessed through the extended attributes interface. Both Archive Utility and the zip command line utility discard ACLs.
You can't.
But what you can do is delete those unwanted folders after zipping. Command line zip takes different arguments where one, the -d, is for deleting contents based on a regex. So you can use it like this:
zip -d filename.zip __MACOSX/\*
Cleanup .zip from .DS_Store and __MACOSX, including subfolders:
zip -d archive.zip '__MACOSX/*' '*/__MACOSX/*' .DS_Store '*/.DS_Store'
Walkthrough:
Create .zip as usual by right-clicking on the file (or folder) and selecting "Compress ..."
Open Terminal app (search Terminal in Spotlight search)
Type zip in the Terminal (but don't hit enter)
Drag .zip to the Terminal so it converts to the path
Copy paste -d '__MACOSX/*' '*/__MACOSX/*' .DS_Store '*/.DS_Store'
Hit enter
Use zipinfo archive.zip to list files inside, to check (optional)
I have a better solution after read all of the existed answers. Everything could done by a workflow in a single right click.
NO additional software, NO complicated command line stuffs and NO shell tricks.
The automator workflow:
Input: files or folders from any application.
Step 1: Create Archive, the system builtin with default parameters.
Step 2: Run Shell command, with input as parameters. Copy command below.
zip -d "$#" "__MACOSX/*" || true
zip -d "$#" "*/.DS_Store" || true
Save it and we are done! Just right click folder or bulk of files and choose workflow from services menu. Archive with no metadata will be created alongside.
IMAGE UPDATE: I chose "Quick Action" when creating a new workflow - here’s an English version of the screenshot:
do not zip any hidden file:
zip newzipname filename.any -x "\.*"
with this question, it should be like:
zip newzipname filename.any -x "\__MACOSX"
It must be said, though, zip command runs in terminal just compressing the file, it does not compress any others. So do this the result is the same:
zip newzipname filename.any
Keka does this. Just drag your directory over the app screen.
Do you mean the zip command-line tool or the Finder's Compress command?
For zip, you can try the --data-fork option. If that doesn't do it, you might try --no-extra, although that seems to ignore other file metadata that might be valuable, like uid/gid and file times.
For the Finder's Compress command, I don't believe there are any options to control its behavior. It's for the simple case.
The other tool, and maybe the one that the Finder actually uses under the hood, is ditto. With the -c -k options, it creates zip archives. With this tool, you can experiment with --norsrc, --noextattr, --noqtn, --noacl and/or simply leave off the --sequesterRsrc option (which, according to the man page, may be responsible for the __MACOSX subdirectory). Although, perhaps the absence of --sequesterRsrc simply means to use AppleDouble format, which would create ._ files all over the place instead of one __MACOSX directory.
This is how i avoid the __MACOSX directory when compress files with tar command:
$ cd dir-you-want-to-archive
$ find . | xargs xattr -l # <- list all files with special xattr attributes
...
./conf/clamav: com.apple.quarantine: 0083;5a9018b1;Safari;9DCAFF33-C7F5-4848-9A87-5E061E5E2D55
./conf/global: com.apple.quarantine: 0083;5a9018b1;Safari;9DCAFF33-C7F5-4848-9A87-5E061E5E2D55
./conf/web_server: com.apple.quarantine: 0083;5a9018b1;Safari;9DCAFF33-C7F5-4848-9A87-5E061E5E2D55
Delete the attribute first:
find . | xargs xattr -d com.apple.quarantine
Run find . | xargs xattr -l again, make sure no any file has the xattr attribute. then you're good to go:
tar cjvf file.tar.bz2 dir
Another shell script that could be used with the Automator tool (see also benedikt's answer on how to create the script) is:
while read -r f; do
d="$(dirname "$f")"
n="$(basename "$f")"
cd "$d"
zip "$n.zip" -x \*.DS_Store -r "$n"
done
The difference here is that this code directly compresses selected folders without macOS specific files (and not first compressing and afterwards deleting).
I have a desktop shortcut e.g /home/user/Desktop/myfolder/link.desktop which invokes a bash script located somewhere else, e.g. /tmp/myscript.sh
Within my script, how can I find the path of the shortcut which invoked my script? Is it possible at all?
What I actually want to achieve is that there is a subfolder where the shortcut link is, e.g. /home/user/Desktop/myfolder/subfolder. And in my script I would like to be able to access the subfolder.
I have tried readlink -f but that will always return /home/user no matter where the shortcut icon lies.
I cannot set the work path as the shortcut link is generated and dynamically placed in different locations.
Well at least you can do something like this in your script:
find / -iname '*desktop' -exec fgrep -l $0 \{\} \; 2>/dev/null
That will travell your filesystem and searches every .desktop file for your script in it... But note, this can be misleading, as Someone can put comments in a .desktop... so you might create a searchstring first like ^Exec=/PATH/TO/$0 and use egrep instead of fgrep.
Or you can do a copy function which edits the .desktop files when it copies it to it's location and adds it's new location as a parameter to the Exec line, e.g.:
mycp() {
sed "s/^Exec=.*/& $2/" $1 > $2
}
Or (and I'd go with it) use the %k param in your Exec line, according to the spec.