I have an applescript I am able to use to edit the text in any file by replacing an instance of the text with different text.
Essential, this script should do these things in this order.
Pick a folder.
Pick out all the files with the .txt extension
Reach each file individually and find specific text.
Replace the text with new text.
Close the file and move on to the next file.
The code is below
set aFolder to choose folder "Select folder to be processed"
tell application "Finder" to set allFIles to every file of aFolder whose name extension is in {"txt"}
repeat with someFile in allFIles
set SomeText to (read SomeFile)
set {SearchText, ReplaceText} to {"Searches of this", "Replaces with this"}
set {TempTID, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {AppleScript's text item delimiters, SearchText}
set {TextItems, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {text items of SomeText, ReplaceText}
set {SomeText, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {TextItems as text, TempTID}
set OpenFile to open for access SomeFile with write permission
try
set eof of OpenFile to 0
write (text 1 thru -2 of SomeText) to OpenFile as text
close access OpenFile
on error errmess
log errmess
try
close access OpenFile
end try
end try
end repeat
I want to be able to either select multiple files at once or select a folder and use the script to edit all files within the folder that contain the searched text. Any help is appreciated.
EDIT: I know I can get the script to separate out the .txt files from the rest of the folder contents, and I know I can "see" these files (If I do a display dialog, for example, I can add a variable calling the name of SomeFile and see it in a dialog box) I just cannot read the file so I can edit it. What I need is to be able to open a folder, find all .txt files, open them, edit the text by replacing one instance of a specific word/phrase with another, and close the file before moving on to the next one.
You can select folder and process all files in it with this script:
set aFolder to choose folder "Select folder to be processed"
tell application "Finder" to set allFIles to every file of aFolder whose name extension is in {"txt"}
repeat with someFile in allFIles
-- do here what you need for someFile (alias) !!
-- you can cut/paste your current script here
end repeat
Related
This is my very first use of AppleScript. I'm trying to use it to move a 100+ folders (and their content files) from one location to another. I'm not just moving the files because I want to maintain the filing system. So I've got the folders listed in a .txt file in this format:
Macintosh HD:Users:Tom:Music:iTunes:Afrika Bambaataa
Macintosh HD:Users:Tom:Music:iTunes:Air
And then I run the following in AppleScript:
tell application "Finder"
set TextFile to (choose file with prompt "Select your text file" of type {"txt"})
set My_Folder to (choose folder with prompt "Select your destination folder")
set List_files to paragraphs of (read TextFile)
move List_files to My_Folder
end tell
However the error I receive is the following:
error "Finder got an error: Handler can’t handle objects of this class." number -10010
Any help on what I'm doing wrong here?
Much appreciated!
tell application "Finder"
set TextFile to (choose file with prompt "Select your text file" of type {"txt"})
set My_Folder to (choose folder with prompt "Select your destination folder")
set List_files to paragraphs of (read TextFile)
move List_files to My_Folder
end tell
Currently, List_files is just a list of text objects, i.e.
{"Macintosh HD:Users:Tom:Music:iTunes:Afrika Bambaataa",
"Macintosh HD:Users:Tom:Music:iTunes:Air", ...}
so what you're asking Finder to do is move some text to a folder, which doesn't make sense. You need to tell Finder that this text represents a path to a folder, by using the folder specifier. Since this can't be done en masse, you have to iterate through the list:
repeat with fp in List_files
move folder fp to My_Folder
end repeat
However, I wouldn't actually do it like this, as that will require 100+ separate move commands - one for each item in List_files. Instead, we'll edit the list items first by prepending the folder specifier to each item, and then move the list of folders altogether in a single command:
repeat with fp in List_files
set fp's contents to folder fp
end repeat
move List_files to My_Folder
Depending how big the files are and how long the transfer will take, the script might time out before the transfer is complete. I'm not honestly sure what impact this would have on an existing file transfer. I suspect that AppleScript will simply lose its connection with Finder, but that the transfer will continue anyway since the command has already been issued (another benefit of using a single move command instead of multiples). But, if you want to avoid finding out, we can extend the timeout duration to be safe:
with timeout of 600 seconds -- ten minutes
move List_files to alias "Macintosh HD:Users:CK:Example:"
end timeout
The final script looks something like this:
tell application "Finder"
set TextFile to (choose file with prompt "Select your text file" of type {"txt"})
set My_Folder to (choose folder with prompt "Select your destination folder")
set List_files to paragraphs of (read TextFile as «class utf8»)
if the last item of the List_files = "" then set ¬
List_files to items 1 thru -2 of List_files
repeat with fp in List_files
set fp's contents to folder fp
end repeat
move List_files to My_Folder
end tell
The extra line that starts if the last item of... is just a safety precaution in case the last line of the text file is a blank line, which is often the case. This checks to see if List_files contains an empty string as its last item, and, if so, removes it; leaving it in would throw an error later in the script.
EDIT: Dealing with folders that don't exist
If the repeat loop throws an error due to an unrecognised folder name, then we can exclude that particular folder from the list. However, it's easier if we create a new list that contains only the folders that have been verified (i.e. the ones that didn't throw an error):
set verified_folders to {}
repeat with fp in List_files
try
set end of verified_folders to folder fp
end try
end repeat
move the verified_folders to My_folder
This also means we can delete the line beginning if the last item of..., as the check that this performs is now going to be caught be the try...end try error-catching block instead.
Here's our situation:
We have a list of file names and/or full file paths (we can generate either)
The files in our list are all contained under one folder, but scattered across multiple sub-folders. (There are hundreds of items in our select list from thousands of possible files. Selecting manually isn't an option)
We've got the root folder open in list view and all sub-folders, sub-sub etc disclosure-opened (btw thanks to http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20030218164922494 for the shortcut "command, option, control and shift when pressing the right arrow")
With all files visible under one window open we want to automatically select all the items in our file list so that they can then be dragged at once to an application.
I do not believe that with basic AppleScript one can programmatically select multiple items in Finder which span throughout different folders and subfolders within a given folder in one window. Maybe with Cocoa-AppleScript, don't know, however if Avid can open files from file aliases, then the following example AppleScript code is a viable option.
The example AppleScript code makes the following assumptions:
There is a plain text file containing the fully qualified POSIX pathnames of the target files to be processed with Avid and the name of the file is: List of Files to Process with Avid.txt
The name of the folder containing the aliases is: Aliases of Files to Process with Avid
The Desktop is used as the location in the filesystem that the aforementioned file and folder exists, to be processed by Avid.
Obviously these settings can be changed as needed/wanted, see the comments in the code.
Example AppleScript code:
-- # Set the value of the following three property variables:
-- #
-- # The value of 'thisLocation' is an colon-delimited path string, e.g. 'path to desktop as string' returns: "Macintosh HD:Users:me:Desktop:"
-- # NOTE: When not using 'path to (folder)' where 'folder' is a 'folder constant' , the special folder for which to return the path, the value should be in the form of an colon-delimited path string.
-- # See: https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/AppleScript/Conceptual/AppleScriptLangGuide/reference/ASLR_cmds.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40000983-CH216-SW19
-- #
-- # The value of 'theListFilename' is the name of the plain text file containing the fully quilified pathnames of the target files to be opened in Avid.
-- # The value of 'theFolderName' is the name of the temporary folder the temporary aliases will be created in. This folder gets created new each run with new aliases.
-- #
-- # NOTE: For ease of use, as each run is presumed to be temporary to get that job run done, the location of the 'theListFilename' and 'theFolderName' are both in 'thisLocation'.
property thisLocation : (path to desktop as string)
property theListFilename : "List of Files to Process with Avid.txt"
property theFolderName : "Aliases of Files to Process with Avid"
-- # The remaining code is tokenized and should not need to be modified.
tell application "Finder"
if (exists thisLocation & theListFilename) then
tell current application to set theList to read alias (thisLocation & theListFilename)
else
display dialog "The file, \"" & theListFilename & "\", was not found at the expected location." buttons {"OK"} ¬
default button 1 with title "Missing File" with icon 0
return
end if
set theFolderPathname to thisLocation & theFolderName
if not (exists theFolderPathname) then
make new folder at thisLocation with properties {name:theFolderName}
else
move theFolderPathname to trash
make new folder at thisLocation with properties {name:theFolderName}
end if
repeat with i from 1 to length of theList
try
make new alias file at theFolderPathname to POSIX file (paragraph i of theList)
end try
end repeat
reveal theFolderPathname
activate
-- delay 1 -- # In necessary, uncomment and adjust value as appropriate.
select every item of alias theFolderPathname
end tell
In Script Editor, save this script and an application, e.g. Select Files to Process with Avid, and then run as needed after replacing the e.g. List of Files to Process with Avid.txt with the current set of target files to be processed with Avid.
The script does the following:
Checks to see the file e.g. List of Files to Process with Avid.txt exists and if not displays error message and exits.
Checks to see if the folder e.g. Aliases of Files to Process with Avid exist and if not creates it, and if it exists, moves it to the Trash and creates it anew, for the new run of target files to be processed.
Creates an alias of each file listed, as a fully qualified POSIX pathname, in the file e.g.: List of Files to Process with Avid.txt
Opens the folder, e.g. Select Files to Process with Avid, in Finder and selects the aliases.
You are now ready to drag and drop the selected aliases to Avid.
Note: This script assumes the fully qualified POSIX pathnames of the target files to be processes with Avid do not contain linefeeds, carriage returns and or null characters in their pathnames.
This works using the latest version of Sierra.
I was not able to figure out a way to selectively select files in folders with subfolders with subfolders etc. The only solution I was able to come up with was to create folder called “Aliases” and have AppleScript create alias files to all of the ”selected files” and store all of the aliases in the aliases folder. From there you can drag all of the files and drop them into your application as you desired
If you have a plain text file containing POSIX path filenames, each on a separate line like the example in this next image, this version will load the pathnames from the text file directly into the script. Just save this script as an application. You can drag text files directly onto the icon of the app because the code is set up to be a droplet
global theFile
property theInfo : missing value
property theName : missing value
property theList : {}
property theList2 : {}
property aliasFolder : (path to desktop as text) & "Aliases"
on open theFiles
set theInfo to info for theFiles
set theName to POSIX path of theFiles
getLinesofFileAsList(theName)
tell application "Finder"
if not (exists of alias aliasFolder) then
make new folder at (path to desktop as text) with properties {name:"Aliases"}
end if
delete every item of alias aliasFolder
end tell
repeat with i from 1 to count of theList
try
set theResult to POSIX file (item i of theList) as text
set end of theList2 to theResult
tell application "Finder"
set theAliases to make new alias file at aliasFolder to theResult
end tell
end try
end repeat
delay 0.5
tell application "Finder"
activate
delay 0.5
set hmmm to reveal aliasFolder
delay 0.5
set hmmm to select every item of alias aliasFolder
activate hmmm
end tell
end open
on getLinesofFileAsList(theName)
set theFile to theName
set theFile to POSIX path of theName
set theList to read POSIX file theFile as text
set saveTID to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to linefeed
set theList to paragraphs of theList
if last item of theList is "" then
set theList to reverse of rest of reverse of theList
end if
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to saveTID
end getLinesofFileAsList
--on run
-- -- Handle the case where the script is launched without any dropped files
--end run
I am trying to do below in AppleScript.
Concatenate/Merge all *.xxx files found in a particular folder into one new file
Each file contains a header. Strip header from all but 1st file before merging.
Add a footer text to the merged file.
This sounds relatively simple in other languages but I am a beginner to applescript. Any help to find a direction would be appreciated.
TIA
AnuRV
Try this, you are prompted to choose a base folder and a destination file name.
Important: Use a destination location outside the base folder to avoid the file to be included in the merging process.
I assume that your tsv file type is a typo and you mean csv.
If not, change all occurrences of csv in the script.
The text delimiter is linefeed (0A), if you need return (0D) change the occurrence of linefeed to return.
set baseFolder to choose folder
set destinationFile to choose file name with prompt "Choose destination file name" default name "merged.csv"
tell application "Finder" to set tsvFiles to (files of baseFolder whose name extension is "csv") as alias list
set text item delimiters to linefeed
try
set fileDescriptor to open for access destinationFile with write permission
repeat with i from 1 to (count tsvFiles)
set theFile to item i of tsvFiles
set theText to paragraphs of (read theFile as «class utf8»)
if i = 1 then
write (theText as text) to fileDescriptor as «class utf8»
else
write ((items 2 thru -1 of theText) as text) to fileDescriptor as «class utf8»
end if
end repeat
close access fileDescriptor
on error
try
close destinationFile
end try
end try
set text item delimiters to {""}
I use this applescript to Archive episodes to a new location using a smal reference-file "Archived.m4v" which is then renamed to the episodes name.
I keep getting an error message in OSX Yosemite, while under OSX Mavericks it worked perfectly.
error "The variable NewFile is not defined." number -2753 from "NewFile"
All questions related to a script like this have the same code, so I'm going nuts here...
set TheFile to alias "Video:Tools:Archived.m4v"
set Destination to alias "Video:Archives:WIP - TV Shows:"}
set Source to (choose folder with prompt "Pick the folder with the tv episodes...")
tell application "Finder"
set theList to every file of entire contents of Source
repeat with thisFile in theList
set {tid, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {AppleScript's text item delimiters, "."}
set FileName to (text items 1 thru -2 of (get name of thisFile)) as text
set NewFile to duplicate TheFile to folder Destination with replacing
set NewFile's name to (FileName & ".m4v")
end repeat
end tell
The only obvious mistake I see is in your duplicate line. Destination is already an alias so it should not have the word "folder" in front of it. I can't test this right now but try removing "folder" and see if that helps.
The only other thing to try if that didn't fix it is to change your last line to...
set name of file ((destination as text) & "Archive.m4v") to (FileName & ".m4v")
In order to import .MOV files (h.264) to Final Cut Pro I need a correspoding .THM file with the same filename as the .MOV. Is it possible to do this with an AppleScript or Automator? Here is what I want to do:
Create a copy of a "TEMPLATE.THM" file that already exists on my HD
Rename the "TEMPLATE.THM" file using the .MOV filename
Do this to a folder of .MOV files to create a .THM file for every .MOV file both with the same filename.
G'day
This might not be the quickest way — but I see you're still waiting for an answer — so here's something to get you started. Select all your MOV files in the finder and run this in script editor.
set theTemplate to "Macintosh HD:Users:[user name]:[folder:location]:TEMPLATE.THM"
tell application "Finder"
set theFiles to selection
repeat with thisFile in theFiles
set thisName to name of thisFile
set theFolder to container of thisFile
set newFile to duplicate theTemplate to theFolder
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to "."
set thisName to text item 1 of thisName
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to ""
set newName to (thisName & ".THM")
set name of newFile to newName
end repeat
end tell
The easiest way to get the path to the template is to select it in the finder and run this :
tell application "Finder"
set theFile to selection as string
end tell
That will put the path in your results window — just copy it into the first line of the script above.
Hope that helps
m.