• appendfilename.py
  • Why
  • Usage
  • Installation
  • Bonus: integrating into Geeqie (or similar file browsers)
• Related tools and workflows
• How to Thank Me

## Time-stamp: <2017-08-29 17:55:01 vk> ## -- coding: utf-8 -- ## This file is best viewed with GNU Emacs Org-mode: http://orgmode.org/

appendfilename.py

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 filetag, the string gets added right before the separator between file name and tags.

Examples for adding the string "foo bar":

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

• Target group: users who are able to use command line tools and who are using tags in file names.
• Hosted on github: https://github.com/novoid/appendfilename

Why

Besides the fact that I am using 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 separator ~ – ~ (space dash dash space).

For people familiar with Regular Expressions:

(<ISO date/time stamp>)? <descriptive file name> -- <list of tags separated by spaces>.extension

For tagging, please refer to 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 not 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 geeqie which is my favorite image viewer on GNU/Linux.

Usage

appendfilename.py --text foo a_file_name.txt

… adds "foo" such that it results in a_file_name foo.txt

appendfilename.py a_file_name.txt

… (implicit) interactive mode: asking for the string to add from the user

appendfilename.py --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.py --help

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

---

./appendfilename.py --help

Usage:
    ./appendfilename.py [<options>] <list of files>

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  <NEW TEXT HERE>.pptx
  2013-05-16T15.31.42 Error message <NEW TEXT HERE> -- 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.py --text="of projectA" "the presentation.pptx"
      ... results in "the presentation of projectA.pptx"
  ./appendfilename.py "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/filetag
:bugreports: via github or <tools@Karl-Voit.at>
:version: 2017-08-29


Options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -t TEXT, --text=TEXT  the text to add to the file name
  -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

Installation

Get it from GitHub or install it via «pip install appendfilename».

Bonus: integrating into Geeqie (or similar file browsers)

I am using geeqie for browsing/presenting image files. For quickly adding descriptive text to image file(s), I mapped this script to r. This way, I can go through my image files very quickly and do not have to worry about placing cursor in the rename dialog of geeqie.

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:

#!/bin/sh

/usr/bin/gnome-terminal \
    --geometry=90x5+330+5  \
    --tab-with-profile=big \
    --hide-menubar \
    -x /home/vk/src/appendfilename/appendfilename.py "${@}"

#end

In $HOME/.config/geeqie/applications I wrote a desktop file such that geeqie shows the wrapper script as external editor to its image files:

$HOME/.config/geeqie/applications/appendfilename.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 r, 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 :-)

Related tools and workflows

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 this blog posting you might like to read.

In short:

For tagging, please refer to filetag and its documentation.

See 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 appendfilename (once more) and filetag.

Moving to the archive folders is done using move2archive.

Having tagged photographs gives you many advantages. For example, I automatically choose my desktop background image according to the current season.

Files containing an ISO time/date-stamp gets indexed by the filename-module of Memacs.

How to Thank Me

I'm glad you like my tools. If you want to support me:

• Send old-fashioned postcard per snailmail - I love personal feedback!

  • see my address
• Send feature wishes or improvements as an issue on GitHub
• Create issues on GitHub for bugs
• Contribute merge requests for bug fixes
• Check out my other cool projects on GitHub