Moving files to the Trash with Automator

Question

I'm having some problems with Automator, and I'm hoping it's just a simple step I'm missing.
I have a list (text file) of a group of files I wish to remove from a folder (about 650 or so files, from a folder of about 8000). I have been able to get Automator to read the text file, and show me the result.
(Ask for Finder Items (Files & Folders), Combine Text Files (Text), Filter Paragraphs [Return Paragraphs That Are Not Empty] (text))
This results in showing me my list of files I wish to remove.
I don't quite get how to pass this list on to the Finder to tell it to select these files, and move them to the trash.
Any assistance would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Since your text file just has the names, an action is needed to build the complete file path. Most of Apple's text and file actions don't use variables, but a Run AppleScript action can be used to fill in the blank. Give this workflow a try (I haven't tested it with a large number of files, so I don't know how slow it will be):
1) Ask for Finder Items {Files} -- choose the text file
2) Combine Text FIles
3) Filter Paragraphs {Return paragraphs that are not empty}
4) Run AppleScript -- paste the following script:
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
font-weight: normal;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #FFEE80;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into an Automator 'Run AppleScript' action">
on run {input, parameters} -- build file paths from a list of names
set output to {}
set SkippedItems to {}
set TheFolder to (choose folder with prompt "Select the folder containing the files:") as text
repeat with AnItem in the input
try
set AnItem to (TheFolder & AnItem)
get AnItem as alias -- test
set the end of the output to the result
on error
set the end of SkippedItems to AnItem
end try
end repeat
if SkippedItems is not {} then
display alert "Error with AppleScript action" message ((count SkippedItems) as text) & " items were skipped (file not found)"
end if
return output
end run</pre>
5) Move Finder Items to Trash