sort_downloads - 

Script to sort content of a folder in many folders according to their names.

This scripts sorts files from a given directory to subfolders in the destination directory. It uses directory names as patterns to sort the files and thus moves each file to a directory with a similar name. Multiple directories may be used to specify the patterns to look for, but the files will only be copied to subfolders in the target directory. This features ensures a clean support for a multi-disk system.

Installation and usage

If you're lucky enough to have a Nit interpreter, directly run src/sort_downloads.nit.

Otherwise, compile with make and run with bin/sort_downloads.

Check sort_downloads --help for command line options.

Configuration

The main configuration is in the header of sort_downloads.nit, in the config class. You may modify it as you need. Notice that the ~ is supported.

You can also have alternative configurations by adding another Nit module, refining the Config class and calling super as main. See the scenario "Sort only older files" for an example.

Scenarios

Here are some usage scenario.

Music downloads

You download all of your music to the ~/Downloads directory but want to sort them in the subfolders of ~/Music. You must first make sure that there are the appropriate folders in the ~/Music directory, probably one per artist. Then modify the Config class in sort_downloads.nit with something like this:

class Config
    var source_dir = "~/Downloads/"
    var dest_dir = "~/Music/"
    var regex_source_dirs: Array[String] = ["~/Music/"]
    var elapsed_days = 0
end

New hard drive

Your old hard drive is full and you bought a new one. You now want to copy your music only on the new hard drive without having to recreate all the folders. You can still use the old folders as a reference for patterns and only copy to the new hard drive. Modify the Config class like so:

class Config
    var source_dir = "~/Downloads/"
    var dest_dir = "/media/new-drive/Music/"
    var regex_source_dirs: Array[String] = ["~/Music/", dest_dir] # here we use the local variable dest_dir
    var elapsed_days = 0
end

Multiple configurations, sort videos

If you need more than one configuration, let's say to sort videos, you can use Nit class refinement. Create a separate Nit module next to src/sort_downloads.nit named sort_videos.nit and use something like:

import sort_downloads

redef class Config
    redef fun source_dir do return "/media/new-drive/video-downloads"
    redef fun dest_dir do return "/media/new-drive/Videos"
    redef fun regex_source_dirs do return ["~/Videos", dest_dir]
    redef fun elapsed_days do return 0
end

super

Sort only older files

You want to automate the process with a cron entry, but still want to have your files available in the download directory for a few days. You can use the elapsed_days attribute of the Config class. When set to 7, only files that have not been modified for 7 days will be sorted and moved.

Author and license

Created by Alexis Laferrière

Licensed under the Apache License Version 2.0

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