Renaming files in the Finder, help please...

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
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#1

Hi there,

I know this is pretty easy but I’m making a bit of hash of it, one of those days I think.
I’m trying to rename a file named like this Fred Bloggs - CS to this XYZ-Bloggs_Fred-CS using the name that is already there.

This is the code so far:-

tell application "Finder"
	set x to get selection as text
end tell
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ":"
set fname to x as text
set yy to (text items 1 thru -2) of fname
--display dialog yy as text
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ":"
set filename to last text item of x
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to " "
set newFilename to "XYZ-" & (text item 2 of filename) & "_" & (text item 1 of filename) & "-" & (text item 4 of filename) as text
display dialog x as text
display dialog newFilename

set name of x to newFilename

When I run this all works fine apart from the last line - the renaming. I get an error 'Can’t set name of “this file” to “XYZ-Bloggs_Fred-CS” '.

Please can someone point me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance,

Nick

#2

Hi Nick,

you forgot first to tell the Finder to do the job and second to coerce your path to an alias or file reference

tell application "Finder"
	set x to get selection as text
end tell
set filename to name of (info for alias x) -- easier way to get the filename
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to " "
set newFilename to "XYZ-" & (text item 2 of filename) & "_" & (text item 1 of filename) & "-" & (text item 4 of filename) as text
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {""}
display dialog x as text
display dialog newFilename
tell application "Finder" to set name of alias x to newFilename
#3

Hi Stefan,

Thanks for helping me out with this one, it’s spot on. :slight_smile:

Should have seen the Finder one, d’oh!

Regards,

Nick