Is it possible to write an applescript that after 30 days, video files that were copied into my “new” folder
would then be moved into my “old” folder??
My folder locations : volumes/files/NEW and volumes/files/OLD.
The “modified date” doesn’t change by copying the file so I can’t use that. Also I don’t want to have to open the file before or after copying to use the “last opened” date.
Thanks in advance for any help!!
You may use :
# Define your own paths here
set sourceFolder to "volumes/files/NEW"
set destFolder to "volumes/files/OLD"
# paths used here for tests
set sourceFolder to POSIX path of ((path to desktop as text) & "NEW")
set destFolder to POSIX path of ((path to desktop as text) & "OLD")
set limit to (current date) - 30 * days
set limit to date (short date string of limit) # drops the time component -- ADDED
tell application "System Events"
tell folder sourceFolder
set needMove to path of every file whose modification date < limit
end tell
end tell
set quotedDest to quoted form of destFolder
repeat with aPath in needMove
do shell script "mv " & quoted form of POSIX path of aPath & space & quotedDest
end repeat
Yvan KOENIG running El Capitan 10.11.6 in French (VALLAURIS, France) dimanche 7 aout 2016 09:49:36
Hi, thanks for the reply. In your script, you are using the “modification date” which doesn’t change when a file is copied, so when I run the script the video is moved immediately because the date is usually months/years prior. I want the file to remain in the “new” folder for 30 days and then be moved to the “old” folder.
Thanks, Mike.
As is, the script move every files which weren’t modified during the late 30 days.
It’s the way I understood your question.
You may replace modification date by creation date if it fits your real needs.
We may also filter according to date added but doing that requires ASObjC.
I will be back tomorrow.
Yvan KOENIG running El Capitan 10.11.6 in French (VALLAURIS, France) dimanche 7 aout 2016 22:27:41
Hi, I think you may not understand what I’m trying to do. What I want is, when I copy a video file on 8/8/2016 into my “volumes/files/NEW”, I want it to remain there until 9/8/2016 regardless of the file creation date, date modified, or last opened date.
I want to use the copy date (8/8/2016) to start the timer to move it to “volumes/files/OLD” after 30 days.
Could this be done by applescript to create a log file with the filename and date copied and then have the script use the name and date to start the 30 day timer? I’ve been searching to write a script for that, with no luck.
Or you said it could be filtered according to date added but doing that requires ASObjC.
I hope this clarifies what I’m trying to do.
Thanks.
That’s correct.
use AppleScript version "2.4" -- Yosemite (10.10) or later
use framework "Foundation"
use scripting additions
on moveFilesFrom:posixFolderPath toFolder:destPosixPath numberOfDaysOld:numDays
-- get date limit
set dateLimit to current application's NSDate's dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:-(numDays * days)
-- make URLs of POSIX paths
set destFolderURL to current application's |NSURL|'s fileURLWithPath:destPosixPath
set sourceFolderURL to current application's |NSURL|'s fileURLWithPath:posixFolderPath
-- get file manager
set theNSFileManager to current application's NSFileManager's defaultManager()
-- get contents of directory, ignoring invisible items
set theURLs to theNSFileManager's contentsOfDirectoryAtURL:sourceFolderURL includingPropertiesForKeys:{} options:(current application's NSDirectoryEnumerationSkipsHiddenFiles) |error|:(missing value)
-- loop through URLs
repeat with aURL in theURLs
-- get date added
set {theResult, theDate} to (aURL's getResourceValue:(reference) forKey:(current application's NSURLAddedToDirectoryDateKey) |error|:(missing value))
-- test date
if theResult as boolean and (theDate's compare:dateLimit) as integer < 0 then
-- get name of file
set theName to aURL's lastPathComponent()
-- make new URL
set destURL to (destFolderURL's URLByAppendingPathComponent:theName)
-- move file
(theNSFileManager's moveItemAtURL:aURL toURL:destURL |error|:(missing value))
end if
end repeat
end moveFilesFrom:toFolder:numberOfDaysOld:
Hello Shane
Is there a better way to drop the time component in dateLimit ?
use AppleScript version "2.4" -- Yosemite (10.10) or later
use framework "Foundation"
use scripting additions
set dateLimit to current application's NSDate's dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:-(30 * days)
set theCalendar to current application's NSCalendar's currentCalendar()
set theComponents to theCalendar's components:252 fromDate:dateLimit
set theYear to theComponents's |year|()
set theMonth to theComponents's |month|()
set theDay to theComponents's |day|()
set dateLimit to theCalendar's dateWithEra:1 |year|:theYear |month|:(theMonth as integer) |day|:theDay hour:0 minute:0 |second|:0 nanosecond:0
--dateLimit as date
Yvan KOENIG running El Capitan 10.11.6 in French (VALLAURIS, France) lundi 8 aout 2016 15:01:46
You mean to start from the beginning of the day? Sure:
set dateLimit to current application's NSDate's dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:-(30 * days)
set dateLimit to current application's NSCalendar's currentCalendar()'s startOfDayForDate:dateLimit
Thanks Shane.
From my point of view it would be fine to do that in the move handler because I feel that it would be a bit odd to take the time component in account for such a maintenance feature. This is why I dropped the time in my proposed code.
Yvan KOENIG running El Capitan 10.11.6 in French (VALLAURIS, France) lundi 8 aout 2016 15:46:26
Hi again and thanks very much for the replies. You’ll have to help me a little more to put both of your replies together as I am a rookie when it comes to scripting. Where do I put in the source volumes/files/NEW
and the destination volumes/files/OLD
use AppleScript version "2.4" -- Yosemite (10.10) or later
use framework "Foundation"
use scripting additions
on moveFilesFrom:posixFolderPath toFolder:destPosixPath numberOfDaysOld:numDays
-- get date limit
set dateLimit to current application's NSDate's dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:-(numDays * days)
set dateLimit to current application's NSCalendar's currentCalendar()'s startOfDayForDate:dateLimit
-- make URLs of POSIX paths
set destFolderURL to current application's |NSURL|'s fileURLWithPath:destPosixPath
set sourceFolderURL to current application's |NSURL|'s fileURLWithPath:posixFolderPath
-- get file manager
set theNSFileManager to current application's NSFileManager's defaultManager()
-- get contents of directory, ignoring invisible items
set theURLs to theNSFileManager's contentsOfDirectoryAtURL:sourceFolderURL includingPropertiesForKeys:{} options:(current application's NSDirectoryEnumerationSkipsHiddenFiles) |error|:(missing value)
-- loop through URLs
repeat with aURL in theURLs
-- get date added
set {theResult, theDate} to (aURL's getResourceValue:(reference) forKey:(current application's NSURLAddedToDirectoryDateKey) |error|:(missing value))
-- test date
if theResult as boolean and (theDate's compare:dateLimit) as integer < 0 then
-- get name of file
set theName to aURL's lastPathComponent()
-- make new URL
set destURL to (destFolderURL's URLByAppendingPathComponent:theName)
-- move file
(theNSFileManager's moveItemAtURL:aURL toURL:destURL |error|:(missing value))
end if
end repeat
end moveFilesFrom:toFolder:numberOfDaysOld:
#=====
# Define your own paths here
set posixFolderPath to "volumes/files/NEW"
set destPosixPath to "volumes/files/OLD"
my moveFilesFrom:posixFolderPath toFolder:destPosixPath numberOfDaysOld:30
Yvan KOENIG running El Capitan 10.11.6 in French (VALLAURIS, France) lundi 8 aout 2016 16:45:28
Hi again, thank you very much Yvan, this script worked very well for what I wanted to do. Also thanks to Shane Stanley for his input.
Thanks, Mike.
Thanks for the feedback.
The main component of the script was written by Shane STANLEY !
Yvan KOENIG running El Capitan 10.11.6 in French (VALLAURIS, France) mercredi 10 aout 2016 16:16:30
Hi again, I hope this will be my last question. The computer I will be using this script on has very little user interaction so I’m trying to make everything automatic. I have found that this script below does not give any indication if the file already exists in the destination folder. What would the code be and where would it be added, to move the file to trash if it already exists?
Then display a dialog box such as this only if it was moved to the trash:
tell application "Finder"
display dialog "File Already Exists" {"OK", "No"} default button 1 with title "Move to Trash?" giving up after 60
if button returned of result is "OK" or gave up of result then
empty trash
end tell
Thank you for your help.
use AppleScript version "2.4" -- Yosemite (10.10) or later
use framework "Foundation"
use scripting additions
on moveFilesFrom:posixFolderPath toFolder:destPosixPath numberOfDaysOld:numDays
-- get date limit
set dateLimit to current application's NSDate's dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:-(numDays * days)
set dateLimit to current application's NSCalendar's currentCalendar()'s startOfDayForDate:dateLimit
-- make URLs of POSIX paths
set destFolderURL to current application's |NSURL|'s fileURLWithPath:destPosixPath
set sourceFolderURL to current application's |NSURL|'s fileURLWithPath:posixFolderPath
-- get file manager
set theNSFileManager to current application's NSFileManager's defaultManager()
-- get contents of directory, ignoring invisible items
set theURLs to theNSFileManager's contentsOfDirectoryAtURL:sourceFolderURL includingPropertiesForKeys:{} options:(current application's NSDirectoryEnumerationSkipsHiddenFiles) |error|:(missing value)
-- loop through URLs
repeat with aURL in theURLs
-- get date added
set {theResult, theDate} to (aURL's getResourceValue:(reference) forKey:(current application's NSURLAddedToDirectoryDateKey) |error|:(missing value))
-- test date
if theResult as boolean and (theDate's compare:dateLimit) as integer < 0 then
-- get name of file
set theName to aURL's lastPathComponent()
-- make new URL
set destURL to (destFolderURL's URLByAppendingPathComponent:theName)
-- move file
(theNSFileManager's moveItemAtURL:aURL toURL:destURL |error|:(missing value))
end if
end repeat
end moveFilesFrom:toFolder:numberOfDaysOld:
#=====
# Define your own paths here
set posixFolderPath to "volumes/files/NEW"
set destPosixPath to "volumes/files/OLD"
my moveFilesFrom:posixFolderPath toFolder:destPosixPath numberOfDaysOld:30
You check if it already exists like this:
if (destURL's checkResourceIsReachableAndReturnError:(missing value)) as boolean then
And you move to the trash like this:
theNSFileManager's trashItemAtURL: destURL resultingItemURL:(missing value) |error|:(missing value)
Edited to make it delete the correct file.
As the asker used “empty trash” he may be interested by an other instruction which delete the file without passing thru the trash :
theNSFileManager's removeItemAtURL:aURL |error|:(missing value)
Yvan KOENIG running El Capitan 10.11.6 in French (VALLAURIS, France) vendredi 12 aout 2016 12:37:21
Sorry for bumping the old post, but I think this is script will do what I’m looking for if I can figure out one issue.
When I tested it on my desktop computer it worked perfectly and moved the correct files. I’m now trying to test it on folders on my server and I’m getting the following error:
Script Error
missing value doesn’t understand the “compare_” message.
Is this error related to me trying to use it on folders that are on a server? (can it not tell how long a file has been in a folder if that folder is located on a server?)
I never stored files on servers so I have no idea of the way they are treated.
You may try to edit the instruction:
if theResult as boolean and (theDate's compare:dateLimit) as integer < 0 then
as
if theResult as boolean and (theDate as text is not "missing value") and (theDate's compare:dateLimit) as integer < 0 then
Yvan KOENIG running High Sierra 10.13.6 in French (VALLAURIS, France) jeudi 13 juin 2019 19:45:58
Thanks Yvan.
I don’t get the error anymore, but it does not move any files regardless of the value I enter for number of days old.
Curious if this means that the script is unable to tell how long a file has been in a folder if it’s not housed on the HD of the computer running the script?
Yes, it appears that the instruction supposed to return the date returns in fact missing value.
With a bit of luck Shane STANLEY will see this thread and will be able to help you.
Yvan KOENIG running High Sierra 10.13.6 in French (VALLAURIS, France) jeudi 13 juin 2019 21:11:42