Automator passing different variables to a shell script

Question

I try to use automator for renaming multiple files

I got this far:

the first variable must be inside the Exiftool command line

in this case I selected 2 files, but that could be 1 or 100 files

how do I make this happen? is it possible to start from array key 1 instead of array key 0 for the filenames?

If you are asking how to shift the arguments, you can use shift, but note that the names and paths should be quoted or characters special to the shell (such as space) escaped. — red_menace
– red_menace, Commented Jun 10, 2022 at 18:49

Gordon Davisson · Accepted Answer · 2022-06-10 19:23:10Z

1

The standard way to do this is to store $1 in a variable, then use shift to remove it from the argument list, and then use "$@" to get all of the remaining arguments (i.e. the original "$2" "$3" "$4" ...) Something like this:

RenameTo="$1"
shift
echo "New name: $RenameTo"
echo "files:" "$@"

I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to to with exiftool, so I won't try to give that full command.

Note that the double-quotes aren't required in zsh, but they make this portable to POSIX-compliant shells. Also, echo isn't a very good way to see what a command would do, because it looses the distinction between spaces within an argument (e.g. spaces in the new name, or within a filename) and spaces between arguments (e.g. between the filenamess in a list of them).

answered Jun 10, 2022 at 19:23

Gordon Davisson

128k16 gold badges141 silver badges168 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Ralph Schipper Over a year ago

Ahh I never new the shift command, that one works, thank you so much. Next step is using the exif tool, but this part works

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Automator passing different variables to a shell script

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related