CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pathapplescript
Spy
Spy

Reputation: 149

Applescript write text file to a folder that contains backslash

I am trying to write a text file to a folder named folder_01/01/2000

My code is the following:

set folder_path to " >> ~/Desktop/folder_01/01/2000"
do shell script "echo " & "text" & folder_path & "textfile" & ".txt"

I get an error saying that the directory doesn't exist. I believe that is happening because I have backslashes in the name of the folder and it meshes up the the path.

When I remove the backslashes it works properly.

Is there a way to write to the folder with the backslashes?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 58

Answers (2)

CJK
CJK

Reputation: 6102

As @vadian stated, you ought not to used slashes (/) in your file and folder names, for this very reason. It not only confuses you as a user, but it can confuse a shell, which can lead to anomalous or catastrophic results during file processing.

But, to answer your question, the way to reference that folder in your script is to replace the slashes (/) in the folder name with colons (:):

set folder_path to " >> ~/Desktop/folder_01:01:2000/"
do shell script "echo " & "text" & folder_path & "textfile" & ".txt"

(PS. You also omitted a slash at the end of the folder name, which is needed to form part of the path to the text file. I've inserted it above.)

Upvotes: 2

vadian
vadian

Reputation: 285180

You are talking about slashes (/) not backslashes (\).

Slashes are path separators in macOS. You are discouraged from using slashes in file names

Upvotes: 0

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