using wildcard in file exists statement

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
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#1

I have a folder that gets a lot of text files and jpegs dropped in it and wanted to write a script to move them out of the folders and to the correct spots. I started using this…

if exists file “PathToFiles/*.txt” then…

The only constants are the two extension .jpg and .txt. I was hoping there was a wildcard like “*” or anything else that could be used.

Thanks
Kerry

#2

there’s an extension property for files.


set myFiles to files of PathToFiles
repeat with currFile in myFiles
  if name extension of currFile = "txt" then...

  end if
  if name extension of currFile ="jpg" then...

  end if
end repeat
#3

Thanks, i will give it a try.

Kerry

#4

You can also use the Finder’s bulk references to group the files for action, which saves having to check each extension individually:

tell application "Finder"
  set textFiles to files of folder "pathToFiles" whose name extension is "txt"
  repeat with thisFile in textFiles
    -- Do something with thisFile.
    -- If there are no ".txt" files, this repeat simply won't execute.
  end repeat
  
  -- Similarly with the jpg's.
end tell

If you simply want to move the text files, say, to another folder — and you don’t need to do any safety checks first — you can use a bulk reference for that too:

tell application "Finder"
  move (files of folder "pathToFile" whose name extension is "txt") to folder "somewhereElse" with replacing
end tell