Script to rename and replace content depending on filename end

DynV · 01-22-2024, 05:25 AM

I make VLC playlists (.xspf) on my main drive in the same directory as the media contained in those lists. After a while I move everything to a backup drive. Sometimes I make a variation of those playlists pointing to the new drive by

renaming the original with an identifier of the main drive at the end then
changing the parts of the playlist pointing to the old drive to point to the new drive then finally
save the modified content to a name beginning the same but its end is instead an identifier of the new drive;

both file name drive identifiers (at the end) start the same way, with a '-', eg -main_drive.xspf & -backup_drive.xspf
I'd like for the process to be automated, something like: For playlists ending with neither drive identifier, check if one of its location tag content start with the path for the main drive (<location>/path/main/drive/), and if so start by renaming it to identify its for the old drive, then replace the location tag to point to the new drive (<location>/path/backup/drive/), then save the modified content with a name ending with an identifier of the backup drive.

Thank you

rtmistler · 01-22-2024, 10:25 AM

Just to understand, have you written any scripts in the past?

Shell scripts are mostly sequences of commands you can enter into the command line.

One challenge is to derive a command that detects the source drive of a file, and be able to use that in the command to rename the file.

Typically as I develop something like this, I iterate on ideas and variations and what I do is to not rename the file, instead I copy it to the final name, so my input is not modified yet until I've refined my command options and choices.

What's your inklng here? Do you plan to start some form of script or sequence of commands to use?

jayjwa · 01-23-2024, 01:52 PM

This would be a good place for Python. The "os" module has alot of helpful things for this. You could use "os.listdir()" and walk thru the directory. The "re" module can help you match files.

MadeInGermany · 01-23-2024, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jayjwa

This would be a good place for Python. The "os" module has alot of helpful things for this. You could use "os.listdir()" and walk thru the directory. The "re" module can help you match files.

Perl!
Haven't understood your problem yet, but you can solve it in Perl!

goumba · 01-23-2024, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DynV

both file name drive identifiers (at the end) start the same way, with a '-', eg -main_drive.xspf & -backup_drive.xspf

I'd like for the process to be automated, something like: For playlists ending with neither drive identifier,

Quote:

check if one of its location tag content start with the path for the main drive (<location>/path/main/drive/),

grep,

Quote:

then replace the location tag to point to the new drive (<location>/path/backup/drive/),

sed

Quick and dirty,

Code:

find <path> -type f -not -iregex '.*\(main\|backup\)_drive.xspf' -print0 | \
while read -d $'\0' fn
do
  if grep -m 1 'path_to_main' "${fn}'
  then
    <do copy/rename file & replacement of paths>
  fi
done

(1) finds files any playlist without your drive identifier, -print0 will delimit with null for funky file names
(2) goes through the resulting list
(4) check if the playlist has lines pointing to the main drive, -m 1 quits after first match (we only want to know if it's there or not)
(8) do whatever you want to the file