Relocate files of type .mp3

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Classic Mac OS
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#1

Let’s say I want to locate all files of type “.mp3” within a home folder and move them somewhere.

So, if I start with:

do shell script "find /Users/anyone -name "*.mp3""

I get a result that I’m not sure how to manipulate. I get this:

“/Users/anyone/Music/Bob Dylan/Blood On The Tracks/Buckets Of Rain.mp3
/Users/anyone/Music/Bob Dylan/Blood On The Tracks/Idiot Wind.mp3
/Users/anyone/Music/Bob Dylan/Blood On The Tracks/If You See Her, Say Hello.mp3
/Users/anyone/Music/Bob Dylan/Blood On The Tracks/Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts.mp3”

I want to be able to move each .mp3 file to a folder I choose earlier in the script. I’m not quite sure how to tell AppleScript or a shell script to move (not copy) those files.

Any help is appreciated!!

#2

If you want to maintain a shell script-level solution, just extend the ‘find’ command using the -exec switch.

-exec runs another command for each hit in the find command.

do shell script "find /Users/anyone -name "*.mp3" -exec mv {} /path/to/dest ;"

For each find the mv command moves the file to /path/to/dest

#3

There are faster ways of doing this, as Camelot rightly demonstrates, and you may get a permissions error if this tries to search your hidden trash folders but this should work:

set target_folder to (choose folder with prompt "Where should the files be moved:") as alias
set the_files to paragraphs of (do shell script "find ~/ -name "*.mp3"")
set the_errors to {}
tell application "Finder"
    repeat with this_file in the_files
        try
            move ((contents of this_file) as POSIX file) to target_folder
        on error the_error
            set end of the_errors to the_error
        end try
    end repeat
end tell
if the_errors = {} then
    display dialog "All done." buttons {"OK"} with icon 1 giving up after 10
else
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to return
    set the_errors to the_errors as string
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
    display dialog "All done with errors:" & return & the_errors buttons {"OK"} with icon 2
end if

Jon