I was wondering if it was possible to use Automator to move files based on the filename.

Question

Hi,
I'm kind of new to Automator and I'm trying to come up with a sequence that will severely save me a few hours a day moving files from two larger folders into smaller folders. Basically the setup is that I have two folders, one constantly being populated with images and the other with video files. They each have file names starting with a two digit number (i.e. 12, 11, 10...) or "BG" and then a two digit number (i.e. BG12, BG11, BG10...) with the digits corresponding to a year. Essentially, I'd need to move the files into folders corresponding to the year (i.e. files starting with BG12 and 12 would be moved to 2012, files starting with BG11 and 11 would be moved to 2011, etc). As it stands now, I've only been able to get the 2012 folder populated. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi,
Here's a solution that uses a script, because it is not possible, at least to make twenty or more Workflows
In Automator :
Create a new worflow.
Add the action "Run Shell Script", select "/bin/bash" in the popup menu
Cut the text in the action.
Copy/paste this script in the action :
targetsDir=('/Users/jack/Desktop/MyImagesFolder' '/Users/jack/Desktop/MyVideosFolder')
destDir=('/Users/jack/Desktop/yearImageFolder' '/Users/jack/Desktop/yearVideoFolder')
for i in 0 1;do
      subfolder="${destDir[$i]}"/20
      for each in "${targetsDir[$i]}"/*;do
            if [ ! -d "$each" ];then ## not a directory
                  name=${each##*/};
                  if [[ $name =~ ^([0-9]{2})|^..([0-9]{2}) ]]; then
                        [[ $name =~ ([0-9]{2}) ]] && year=${BASH_REMATCH[1]};
                        /bin/mv -n "$each" "$subfolder$year"
                  fi
            fi
      done
done
Replace the paths in the first line by the path of your Images Folder  and Video Folder, use drag/drop between the simple quote ''
Replace the paths in the second line by the path of your destibation Folders, use drag/drop between the simple quote ''.
This script will not overwrite existing files, If you want to replace the existing file, use the /bin/mv -f instead of /bin/mv -n
That's it.