Opening a file from a known path with partial file name.

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
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#1

Hello,

New to the boards and just starting to look at AppleScript.

I’m interested in being able to open a file of which I know the path but that I only know, say, the left 5 characters of the file name.

I’ve tried using the ~ and * characters after the file name as wildcards but I receive and error…

Finder got an error: Can’t get document file “volume:sub_folder1:sub_folder2:file*”.
Unknown Error: -1728.

I can script the path ok so that I can present the window with the proper directory showing but I can’t make the last step of being able to open the file.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

  • Brian
#2

Hi Brian,

the AppleScript equivalent is

tell application "Finder"
	open (get files whose name starts with "file")
	-- or:
	-- open (get 1st file whose name starts with "file")
end tell

Note: if no path is specified, the “root” directory of the Finder (but not of System Events!) is
the desktop folder of the current user

#3

Ok, that furthers me along, although my scripting abilities are painfully lacking.

I was assuming that once the window was presented that AppleScript would remember/know/default to that as the current path for the file I want to open. Oh how wrong I am. :confused:

So, I can get a window open to a specific directory and thanks to Stefan I can open a file on my Desktop. How to I merge the two together so that the “file” part of

open (get files whose name starts with "file")

knows what path I want?

Thanks!

  • Brian
#4

Hi Brian,

you can open files of the active (open) Finder window with

tell application "Finder" to open (get files of (get insertion location) whose name starts with "file")
#5

Alright, seem to be making progress…

I get the error:

Can’t get every file of “volume:sub_folder1:sub_folder2:”.

Here is what my script looks like:

tell application "Finder"
open (get files of (get "volume:sub_folder1:sub_folder2:") whose name starts with "value")
end tell

The path and the file name are variable. The path shows up in the error, though the file names does not. I hard coded the variables to the known path and file name to eliminate the possibility of them being incorrect.

Stefan, thanks for the quick responses. I really appreciate your time, patience and help.

Thanks!

  • Brian
#6

if you specify the folder by a string path, use the syntax

tell application "Finder"
	open (get files of folder "volume:sub_folder1:sub_folder2:" whose name starts with "value")
end tell
#7

Stefan,

Thanks again for the help!

Everything seems to be working now as intended.

  • Brian