Rename Files

[thriftinkid]

Hey guys. I want to convert all the file names within a folder to the following:

My First Movie.mov

to

my_first_movie.mov

I know you can do this easily within automator with the “make web friendly” action.

I have an automator workflow that uses way to many programs to accomplish my goal, so I am trying to write as much as I can in applescript form. I would like to stay out of automator because I don’t find it very dependable.

Does anyone know how I would do this using applescript, or do you know a shell command to use within my script?

I’m assuming you would just use the the line “do shell command…”, but I’m not sure.

Thanks Guys.

[Craig_Williams]

Save this as rename_files.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby -w

if ARGV.size != 1
puts “USAGE: Supply a folder path to files to rename.”
exit
end

dir_path = ARGV[0]
DIR_TO_IGNORE = [‘.’, ‘…’, ‘.DS_STORE’]

(Dir.entries(dir_path) - DIR_TO_IGNORE).each do |file_name|
begin
file_path = “#{dir_path}#{file_name}”
u_name = file_name.downcase.gsub(/\s/, ‘_’)
new_name = “#{dir_path}#{u_name}”
File.rename(file_path, new_name)
rescue
puts “Error renaming: #{file_name}”
end
end

Call it with this.

do shell script "/usr/bin/ruby '/path/to/rename_files.rb' '/path/to/folder/'"

[thriftinkid]

Thanks so much. Is there anywhere in particular I have to store the file “rename_files.rb”?

[thriftinkid]

Also, in looking at the shell script, it says puts “USAGE: Supply a folder path to files to rename.”. Does a normal applescript command work here? Such as:

puts "USAGE: ((path to movies folder as text) & MyFolder)"

[Craig_Williams]

Not really. If you are going to use it a lot then put it someplace it won’t get deleted and where you will remember it.

[Craig_Williams]

@thriftinkid

Also, in looking at the shell script, it says puts “USAGE: Supply a folder path to files to rename.”. Does a normal applescript command work here? Such as:

puts "USAGE: ((path to movies folder as text) & MyFolder)"

The script above is a Ruby script. You cannot use ‘puts’ inside AppleScript.

You can get a POSIX path by saying

set thePath to quoted form of (POSIX path of ((path to movies folder as text) & MyFolder))
do shell script "/usr/bin/ruby '/path/to/rename_files.rb' " & thePath

[thriftinkid]

Do I have to change it in the ruby script as well? Or should the ruby script stay exactly as you have posted it?

[Craig_Williams]

Yea, the Ruby script stays the way it is.

To see what the Ruby script does when you do not supply a path do this.

set theResult to do shell script "/usr/bin/ruby '/path/to/rename_files.rb' "

theResult will now contain

USAGE: Supply a folder path to files to rename.

This is the error message when no folder path is supplied.

[thriftinkid]

I saved the “.rb” file to my desktop, and ran the following 2 scripts and got the following 2 errors:

Applescript Error:

set thePath to ((path to movies folder as text) & "MyFolder")
do shell script "/usr/bin/ruby '/path/to/rename_files.rb' " & thePath

/usr/bin/ruby: No such file or directory – /path/to/rename_files.rb (LoadError)

and

set thePath to quoted form of (POSIX path of ((path to movies folder as text) & Upload))
do shell script "/usr/bin/ruby '/path/to/rename_files.rb' " & thePath

Applescript Error:

The variable MyFolder is not defined.

Any ideas?

[thriftinkid]

Is it my path to the ruby script that is wrong or the path to my folder?

[Craig_Williams]

Ok, change the /path/to/rename_files.rb to the actual path. This is just a place holder.

set rubyFile to quoted form of POSIX path of ((path to desktop as Unicode text) & "rename_files.rb")
do shell script "/usr/bin/ruby " & rubyFile & space & thePath

Make sure to use quoted form of POSIX path of when creating the path. This is the type of path the Shell uses.

[thriftinkid]

It did not find ruby. If returned “/usr/bin/ruby”. Am I maybe missing some software? I’m running tiger 10.4.11.

[thriftinkid]

I ran the following script and got the following return:

set thePath to quoted form of (POSIX path of ((path to movies folder as text) & "myFolder"))
set rubyFile to quoted form of POSIX path of ((path to desktop as Unicode text) & "rename_files.rb")
do shell script "/usr/bin/ruby " & rubyFile & space & thePath

Returned:

“Error renaming: .DS_Store”

[thriftinkid]

Well my genious just realized I didn’t put a file in the folder. So I place one in there and ran it again. But got a similar return:

set thePath to quoted form of (POSIX path of ((path to movies folder as Unicode text) & "MyFolder"))
set rubyFile to quoted form of POSIX path of ((path to desktop as Unicode text) & "rename_files.rb")
do shell script "/usr/bin/ruby " & rubyFile & space & thePath

Returned:

“Error renaming: .DS_Store
Error renaming: My First Movie.mov”

[Craig_Williams]

Change this line in the Ruby file. The .DS_Store has all caps in the current Ruby file.

DIR_TO_IGNORE = [‘.’, ‘…’, ‘.DS_Store’]

[thriftinkid]

Ok, did that. I’m a little closer. It got rid of the “.ds” error, but the second error still remains. I know nothing of ruby. I copied your ruby script into text editor and saved it out under your file name. Is that the correct way to do that, or should I be saving that file in a different manner?

set thePath to quoted form of (POSIX path of ((path to movies folder as Unicode text) & "myFolder"))
set rubyFile to quoted form of POSIX path of ((path to desktop as Unicode text) & "rename_files.rb")
do shell script "/usr/bin/ruby " & rubyFile & space & thePath

Returned:

“Error renaming: My First Movie.mov”

[Craig_Williams]

Try this one.

#!/usr/bin/env ruby -w

if ARGV.size != 1
puts “USAGE: Supply a folder of files to rename.”
exit
end

dir_path = ARGV[0]

Dir.entries(dir_path).each do |file_name|
next if file_name =~ /^\./
begin
file_path = “#{dir_path}#{file_name}”
u_name = file_name.downcase.gsub(/\s/, ‘_’)
new_name = “#{dir_path}#{u_name}”
File.rename(file_path, new_name)
rescue => e
puts “Error renaming: #{file_name}\nError: #{e}”
end
end

[Craig_Williams]

@thriftinkid

I copied your ruby script into text editor and saved it out under your file name. Is that the correct way to do that, or should I be saving that file in a different manner?

That is correct as long as you are using a text editor like TextMate, BBEdit, TextRangler, etc. If you are using TextEdit make sure that you turn the document into a Plain Text doc. Format->Make Plain Text. If it is already plain text then the menu will display Format->Make Rich Text.

[thriftinkid]

Eh, I got a bigger list on my return this time:

set thePath to quoted form of (POSIX path of ((path to movies folder as Unicode text) & "myFolder"))
set rubyFile to quoted form of POSIX path of ((path to desktop as Unicode text) & "rename_files.rb")
do shell script "/usr/bin/ruby " & rubyFile & space & thePath

Returned:

“here
Error renaming: .
here
Error renaming: …
here
Error renaming: .DS_Store
here
Error renaming: My First Movie.mov”

[Craig_Williams]

I made a minor change to the last script. Copy it and try again. It will give a better error message.