How do I rename and move a file downloaded to 'Downloads" using Automator, with or without Applescript, Shell Script or Javascript?

Question

I am a newbie to programming and therefore please excuse my lack of knowledge. I have trawled the site and the internet but have not found an answer to what seems like a simple problem.

I would like to automate the filing and renaming of some personal and business documents - they are bank statements so the numbers are anonymised. I am interested in understanding the code so I can adapt it after too, for further actions (and maybe for others to use).

The documents are downloaded into the (mac) downloads folder. Typically they have this name: "Statement--12345678--98765432--1-06-2020-30-06-2020.pdf" The two sets of numbers at the beginning are not these generic ones but there are 8 figures (though the first number sometimes is not listed as it is a "0"). The second set of two numbers refers to two dates, in day--month--year format. Sometimes the first date starts on the last day of the previous month!

As a newbie I started with Automator - using a Folder Action to move the individual files to a named folder (by year). I then wanted to rename them so that the second date comes first in the name in YYYYMMDD format, so that they will automatically be listed in date order in the year folder. The full name would become "YYYYMMDD 98765432 Month YY".

I can move the files and automatically (thanks to automator); I can even add the current date at the beginning of the name in the right format (but it will be the current date not the date in the file). But I cannot do what I really want: change the name based on the date in the filename.

I then looked at AppleScript. The answers below solve the naming problem - THANK YOU!

But when I try to pick up a bunch of files - there are 25 of them (happily found and moved by Automator (Find files and Move files) the output is not recognised as an input into AppleScript. I get "Can't get files XXXX as alias" or if I try to create a variable, that is not defined (though I have tried numerous times... as {}, as "", as item 1 of input).

I do apologise if this is not clear, but I am trying my best to explain it, and do not understand terms such as 'terminal ls'.

Any help, advice and commentary gratefully received. I really do want to try to understand the code so I can apply the learning, Thank you, John

Answer 1

Okay, your problem is to extract multiple parts of the name. The trick is to explode it into small parts. GREP is a good tool, but tricky with applescript "out of the box".

I use a subroutine called "textSplit" to do the job. Once every part of the filename is available in variables, you should be able to build any file or folder name...

Here's my way to solve this:

set thisFileName to "Document--12345678--98765432--1-06-2020-30-06-2020.pdf"
-- first we split the name using the "--" separator
set mainParts to textSplit(thisFileName, "--")
-- we now copy the result to variables to handle it
copy mainParts to {prefixOne, numberOne, numberTwo, theTwoDates}
--> prefixOne = "Document"
--> numberOne = "12345678"
--> numberTwo = "98765432"
--> theTwoDates = "1-06-2020-30-06-2020.pdf"
-- get rid of the extension
set theDatesWithoutExtension to first item of textSplit(theTwoDates, ".")
-- split the dates 
set splitDates to textSplit(theDatesWithoutExtension, "-")
-- copy result into nice variables
copy splitDates to {dayOne, monthOne, yearOne, dayTwo, monthTwo, yearTwo}
-- and then build the filename with whatever you want
set myNewFileName to yearOne & monthOne & dayOne & space & numberTwo & space & monthTwo & "-" & yearTwo & ".pdf"
--> "2020061 98765432 06-2020.pdf"

-- make folders, move files, rename…
-- ================================================================================================
on textSplit(theText, theDelimiter)
    -- this will split a string and returns a list of substrings
    set saveDelim to AppleScript's text item delimiters
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {theDelimiter}
    set theList to every text item of theText
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to saveDelim
    return (theList)
end textSplit