Create list of symbolic-link-names and original-item-names?

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
#1

I am writing a script in which I want to display a list of symbolic links in a folder, together with the name of the original item of the link, something like this:

link1 → /Users/myname/Documents
link2 → /Users/myname/FolderA
link3 → /Users/myname/Folder B

I want the user to be able to select an item on the list and delete the “link1” symbolic link.

All the files in the folder are symbolic links; no other files will be present. I think the most efficient way is to filter the output from “ls -a” but I don’t know how to reduce the output to this simplified form.

I imagine that unix experts can answer this question in thirty seconds. I’ll be very grateful for any help.

#2

Hi,

try this, it puts all selected items into the trash. If an alias could not be resolved, “n/a” is displayed


set theFolder to (choose folder)
tell application "Finder" to set aliasFiles to alias files of theFolder
set aliasList to {}
if (count aliasFiles) > 0 then
	repeat with anAliasFile in aliasFiles
		try
			tell application "Finder" to set originalItem to POSIX path of (original item of anAliasFile as text)
		on error
			set originalItem to "n/a"
		end try
		set end of aliasList to name of anAliasFile & tab & originalItem
	end repeat
	set chosenItems to choose from list aliasList with multiple selections allowed
	if chosenItems is false then return
	set {TID, text item delimiters} to {text item delimiters, tab}
	repeat with anItem in chosenItems
		set fileName to text item 1 of anItem
		tell application "Finder" to delete item ((theFolder as text) & fileName)
	end repeat
	set text item delimiters to TID
else
	display dialog "no alias files found"
end if
#3

Alias is better than using symbolic links in this situation. Symbolic links can contained absolute or relative path references. A 30 second Unix solution but with a chance containing relative paths is not better.

#4

Stefan - that solution worked beautifully, far better than anything I could come up with. Thank you!

Unfortunately, the application that I’m working with (Wineskin Winery) uses symbolic links in a special folder, and I have no way of changing that. It’s built into the application that I’m including in my AppleScript application.

#5

Then, if you want to make sure if the symbolic link contains relative and absolute paths and make an distinction between them you can stat like this:

set theFolder to POSIX path of ((choose folder) as string)
do shell script "stat -f '%T%N -> %Y'  " & quoted form of theFolder & "* | grep '^@' | cut -b " & ((length of theFolder) + 2) & "-"