read file contents of POSIX path

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
#1

Applescript is great but some things just drive me nuts…

I’m trying to read the contents of a file


set fileLoc to "~/.aFolder/another/file.lua"
set fileContents to (read fileLoc)

It gives me "Can’t make “~/.aFolder/another/file.lua” into type file. Whatever that means. I look around and it seems like it has something to do with POSIX vs. Applescript (old mac os style) file naming conventions.

So I try to convert it first…


set fileLoc to "~/.aFolder/another/file.lua"
set newPath to POSIX file fileLoc
set fileContents to (read newPath)

But I basically get the same error.

Using the terminal is easy and intuitive…


set fileLoc to "~/.aFolder/another/file.lua"
set fileContents to do shell script "cat " & fileLoc

But after looking for way too long for a pure applescript solution that is probably easier (yet not obvious), I post here.

#2

Expanding the tilde character is a shell function, and AppleScript isn’t a shell. Use something like this:

set fileLoc to "~/.aFolder/another/file.lua"
if fileLoc begins with "~" then
	set fileLoc to (POSIX path of (path to home folder)) & text 3 thru -1 of fileLoc
end if

Using a command called cat to read a file is intuitive? Could have fooled me…

#3

Thanks Shane, as always.

Maybe intuitive isn’t the best word. At least it is simple and consistent. “cat” or “less” don’t seem like the best choice either but it’s a language that I can at least write without googling for 5 minutes per line because I can’t figure out whether I’m way off or just forgot a preposition or something.

I’ll get there… Eventually.

#4

Most of the time we say intuitive when we really mean familiar, I suspect.