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novoid / appendfilename

Intelligent appending text to file names, considering file extensions and file tags
GNU General Public License v3.0
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files filesystem personal-information-management pim shell

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[[file:bin/screencast.gif]]

This Python script adds a string to a file name. The string gets added between the original file name and its extension.

In case the file name contains tags as handled as with [[https://github.com/novoid/filetag][filetag]], the string gets added right before the separator between file name and tags.

Examples for adding the string "new text":

| old file name | new file name | |----------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------| | a simple file.txt | a simple file new text.txt | | a simple file -- foo bar.txt | a simple file new text -- foo bar.txt | | 2013-05-09.jpeg | 2013-05-09 new text.jpeg | | 2013-05-09T16.17.jpeg | 2013-05-09T16.17 new text.jpeg | | 2013-05-09T16.17_img_00042.jpeg | 2013-05-09T16.17_img_00042 new text.jpeg | | 2013-05-09T16.17_img_00042 -- fun.jpeg | 2013-05-09T16.17_img_00042 new text -- fun.jpeg |

** Why

Besides the fact that I am using [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iso_date][ISO dates and times]] in file names (as shown in examples above), I am using tags with file names. To separate tags from the file name, I am using the four separator characters: space dash dash space.

For people familiar with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regex][Regular Expressions]]:

: (<ISO date/time stamp>)? -- .extension

For tagging, please refer to [[https://github.com/novoid/filetag][filetag]] and its documentation.

If I want to add a descriptive file name to files like , e.g. , photographs, I have to rename the original file and insert the description at the right spot of the existing file name.

This is an error-prone task. If I am not careful, I can overwrite parts of the old file name I wanted to keep. Or I could mess up spacing between the old file name, tags, and the new description.

Therefore, I wrote this script that adds a description to the file name without removing old file name parts or tags.

You may like to add this tool to your image or file manager of choice. I added mine to [[http://geeqie.sourceforge.net/][geeqie]] which is my favorite image viewer on GNU/Linux.

** Usage

: appendfilename --text foo a_file_name.txt ... adds "foo" such that it results in ~a_file_name foo.txt~

: appendfilename a_file_name.txt ... (implicit) interactive mode: asking for the string to add from the user

: appendfilename --text "foo bar" "file name 1.jpg" "file name 2 -- foo.txt" "file name 3 -- bar.csv" ... adds tag "foo" such that it results in ... : "file name 1 foo bar.jpg" : "file name 2 foo bar -- foo.txt" : "file name 3 foo bar -- bar.csv"

For a complete list of parameters, please try: : appendfilename --help

The file names within the current working directory is read in and all found words can be completed via TAB.

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./appendfilename/init.py --help

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Usage: appendfilename []

This tool inserts text between the old file name and optional tags or file extension.

Text within file names is placed between the actual file name and the file extension or (if found) between the actual file namd and a set of tags separated with " -- ". Update for the Boss .pptx 2013-05-16T15.31.42 Error message -- screenshot projectB.png

When renaming a symbolic link whose source file has a matching file name, the source file gets renamed as well.

Example usages: appendfilename --text="of projectA" "the presentation.pptx" ... results in "the presentation of projectA.pptx" appendfilename "2013-05-09T16.17_img_00042 -- fun.jpeg" ... with interactive input of "Peter" results in: "2013-05-09T16.17_img_00042 Peter -- fun.jpeg"

:copyright: (c) 2013 or later by Karl Voit tools@Karl-Voit.at :license: GPL v3 or any later version :URL: https://github.com/novoid/appendfilename :bugreports: via github or tools@Karl-Voit.at :version: 2019-10-19

Options: -h, --help show this help message and exit -t TEXT, --text=TEXT the text to add to the file name -p, --prepend Do the opposite: instead of appending the text, prepend the text --smart-prepend Like "--prepend" but do respect date/time-stamps: insert new text between "YYYY-MM-DD(Thh.mm(.ss))" and rest -s, --dryrun enable dryrun mode: just simulate what would happen, do not modify file(s) -v, --verbose enable verbose mode -q, --quiet enable quiet mode --version display version and exit

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** Installation

Get it from [[https://github.com/novoid/appendfilename][GitHub]] or install it via =pip install appendfilename=

** Smart Prepend

Although =appendfilename= was created mainly to /add text at the end of a file name/, it may also insert text at the beginning of a file name using the =--prepend= parameter.

A variance of that is =--smart-prepend=. Following examples demonstrate the effects on smart prepending "new text" with various file names:

: new text foo bar.txt : 2019-10-20 new text foo bar.txt : 2019-10-20T12.34 new text foo bar.txt : 2019-10-20T12.34.56 new text foo bar.txt

As you can see, =--smart-prepend= does take into account that a given date/time-stamp according to [[https://github.com/novoid/date2name][date2name]] and [[https://karl-voit.at/managing-digital-photographs/][this article]] will always stay the first part of a file name, prepending the "new text" between the date/time-stamp and the rest.

** Integration into Windows File Explorer

The easiest way to integrate =appendfilename= into File Explorer ("Send to" context menu) is by using [[https://github.com/novoid/integratethis][integratethis]].

Execute this in your command line environment:

: pip install appendfilename integratethis : integratethis appendfilename --confirm

*** Windows File Explorer for single files (manual method)

Use this only if the [[https://github.com/novoid/integratethis][integratethis]] method can not be applied:

Create a registry file =add_appendfilename_to_context_menu.reg= and edit it to meet the following template. Please make sure to replace the paths (python, =USERNAME= and =appendfilename=) accordingly:

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Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

;; for files:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*\shell\appendfilename] @="appendfilename (single file)"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*\shell\appendfilename\command] @="C:\Python36\python.exe C:\Users\USERNAME\src\appendfilename\appendfilename\init.py -i \"%1\""

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Execute the reg-file, confirm the warnings (you are modifying your Windows registry after all) and cheer up when you notice "appendfilename (single file)" in the context menu of your Windows Explorer.

As the heading and the link name suggests: [[https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6440715/how-to-pass-multiple-filenames-to-a-context-menu-shell-command][this method works on single files]]. So if you select three files and invoke this context menu item, you will get three different filetag-windows to tag one file each.

*** Windows File Explorer for single and multiple selected files (manual method)

Use this only if the [[https://github.com/novoid/integratethis][integratethis]] method can not be applied:

Create a batch file in your home directory. Adapt the paths to meet your setup. The content looks like:

: C:\Python36\python.exe C:\Users\USERNAME\src\appendfilename\appendfilename__init__.py -i %*

If you want to confirm the process (and see error messages and so forth), you might want to append as well following line:

: set /p DUMMY=Hit ENTER to continue ...

My batch file is located in =C:\Users\USERNAME\bin\appendfilename.bat=. Now create a lnk file for it (e.g., via Ctrl-Shift-drag), rename the lnk file to =appendfilename.lnk= and move the lnk file to =~/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/Windows/SendTo/=.

This way, you get a nice entry in your context menu sub-menu "Send to" which is also correctly tagging selection of files as if you put the list of selected items to a single call of appendfilename.

** Integrating into Geeqie

I am using [[http://geeqie.sourceforge.net/][geeqie]] for browsing/presenting image files. After I mark a set of images for adding file name descriptions, I just have to press ~a~ and I get asked for the input string. After entering the string and RETURN, the filenames are modified accordingly.

Using GNU/Linux, this is quite easy accomplished. The only thing that is not straight forward is the need for a wrapper script. The wrapper script does provide a shell window for entering the tags.

~vk-appendfilename-interactive-wrapper-with-gnome-terminal.sh~ looks like:

+BEGIN_SRC sh

!/bin/sh

/usr/bin/gnome-terminal \ --geometry=73x5+330+5 \ --hide-menubar \ -x /home/vk/src/appendfilename/appendfilename/init.py "${@}"

end

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In ~$HOME/.config/geeqie/applications~ I wrote two desktop files such that geeqie shows the wrapper scripts as external editors to its image files:

~$HOME/.config/geeqie/applications/add-tags.desktop~ looks like: : [Desktop Entry] : Name=appendfilename : GenericName=appendfilename : Comment= : Exec=/home/vk/src/misc/vk-appendfilename-interactive-wrapper-with-gnome-terminal.sh %F : Icon= : Terminal=true : Type=Application : Categories=Application;Graphics; : hidden=false : MimeType=image/;video/;image/mpo;image/thm : Categories=X-Geeqie;

In order to be able to use the keyboard shortcuts ~a~, you can define them in geeqie:

  1. Edit > Preferences > Preferences ... > Keyboard.
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the list.
  3. Double click in the ~KEY~-column of ~appendfilename~ and choose your desired keyboard shortcut accordingly.

I hope this method is as handy for you as it is for me :-)

** Integration into Thunar

[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunar][Thunar]] is a popular GNU/Linux file browser for the xfce environment.

Unfortunately, it is rather complicated to add custom commands to Thunar. I found [[https://askubuntu.com/questions/403922/keyboard-shortcut-for-thunar-custom-actions][a good description]] which you might want to follow.

To my disappoinment, even this manual confguration is not stable somehow. From time to time, the IDs of ~$HOME/.config/Thunar/uca.xml~ and ~$HOME/.config/Thunar/accels.scm~ differ.

For people using Org-mode, I automated the updating process (not the initial adding process) to match IDs again:

Script for checking "tag": do it ~tag-ID~ and path in ~accels.scm~ match? : #+BEGIN_SRC sh :var myname="tag" : ID=egrep -A 2 "<name>$myname" $HOME/.config/Thunar/uca.xml | grep unique-id | sed 's#.*<unique-id>##' | sed 's#<.*$##' : echo "$myname-ID of uca.xml: $ID" : echo "In accels.scm: "grep -i "$ID" $HOME/.config/Thunar/accels.scm : #+END_SRC

If they don't match, following script re-writes ~accels.scm~ with the current ID: : #+BEGIN_SRC sh :var myname="tag" :var myshortcut="t" : ID=egrep -A 2 "<name>$myname" $HOME/.config/Thunar/uca.xml | grep unique-id | sed 's#.*<unique-id>##' | sed 's#<.*$##' : echo "appending $myname-ID of uca.xml to accels.scm: $ID" : mv $HOME/.config/Thunar/accels.scm $HOME/.config/Thunar/accels.scm.OLD : grep -v "\"$myshortcut\"" $HOME/.config/Thunar/accels.scm.OLD > $HOME/.config/Thunar/accels.scm : rm $HOME/.config/Thunar/accels.scm.OLD : echo "(gtk_accel_path \"/ThunarActions/uca-action-$ID\" \"$myshortcut\")" >> $HOME/.config/Thunar/accels.scm : #+END_SRC

** Integration into FreeCommander

[[http://freecommander.com/en/summary/][FreeCommander]] is a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_manager#Orthodox_file_managers][orthodox file manager]] for Windows. You can add appendfilename as an favorite command:

So far, we've got =appendfilename= added as a favorite command which can be accessed via menu or icon toolbar and the selected keyboard shortcut. If you want to assign a different keyboard shortcut than =Ctrl-1= like =Alt-a= you might as well follow following procedure:

This tool is part of a tool-set which I use to manage my digital files such as photographs. My work-flows are described in [[http://karl-voit.at/managing-digital-photographs/][this blog posting]] you might like to read.

In short:

For tagging, please refer to [[https://github.com/novoid/filetags][filetags]] and its documentation.

See [[https://github.com/novoid/date2name][date2name]] for easily adding ISO time-stamps or date-stamps to files.

For easily naming and tagging files within file browsers that allow integration of external tools, see [[https://github.com/novoid/appendfilename][appendfilename]] (once more) and [[https://github.com/novoid/filetags][filetags]].

Moving to the archive folders is done using [[https://github.com/novoid/move2archive][move2archive]].

Having tagged photographs gives you many advantages. For example, I automatically [[https://github.com/novoid/set_desktop_background_according_to_season][choose my desktop background image according to the current season]].

Files containing an ISO time/date-stamp gets indexed by the filename-module of [[https://github.com/novoid/Memacs][Memacs]].

Here is [[https://glt18-programm.linuxtage.at/events/321.html][a 45 minute talk I gave]] at [[https://glt18.linuxtage.at/][Linuxtage Graz 2018]] presenting the idea of and workflows related to appendfilename and other handy tools for file management:

[[https://media.ccc.de/v/GLT18_-_321_-_en_-_g_ap147_004_-_201804281550_-_the_advantages_of_file_name_conventions_and_tagging_-_karl_voit/][bin/2018-05-06 filetags demo slide for video preview with video button -- screenshots.png]]

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