When moving files, and a file already exists, add a number to it's name

[leuce]

G'day everyone

I'm writing a script that will move files on my hard drive. In 99% of cases, there will not be a file in the target directory with the same name as the file that I'm moving towards that directory, but in 1% of cases, there will be an existing file in that directory with the same name. Instead of either skipping the file or replacing it, I would like to rename it with a number. Is that easily done?

I can easily rename the file using a date/time stamp (_NowCalc), or with a random number, but it will look more elegant if I can simply rename it with a single digit, that increments by 1 every time the same file name is being copied again.

It doesn't matter to me which file is renamed -- the existing file or the file that I'm moving -- as long as it becomes possible for both files to be in the same directory with highly similar names.

For example, if I move "file.txt" to a folder and "file.txt" already exists, I'd like to rename one of them to "file1.txt", and the next time I try to move another "file.txt" to that folder, I'd like to rename one of them "file2.txt", etc.

Tis a pity FileExists doesn't take regex :-)

Added: I'm trying to see if I can use _FileListToArray for this, but _FileListToArray only supports wildcards within the actual file name, and in my script the file name is a variable. How does one combine variables with wildcards? For example, if $filename1stpart is "foo" and $filename2ndpart is "bar", how can I specify "foo*bar" in _FileListToArray?

Thanks

Samuel

Edited December 1, 2012 by leuce

[water]

You need something like this. I use FileCopy for easier testing. Replace it with FileMove if it works for you.

#include <File.au3>
Global $sFileFrom = "C:temptest.txt"
Global $sFileTo = "C:temptest.txt"
$vResult = _SecureFileMove($sFileFrom, $sFileTo)
If $vResult == 0 Then ; 0 = error
    MsgBox(0, "", "Error moving file to: " & $sFileTo)
Else ; on success the name of the moved file is returned
    MsgBox(0, "", "File successfully moved to: " & $vResult)
EndIf
Exit

Func _SecureFileMove($sFileFrom, $sFileTo)

    Local $iIndex = 0, $sFileTemp, $iResult
    Local $sDrive, $sDir, $sFName, $sExt

    If FileExists($sFileTo) Then
        _PathSplit($sFileTo, $sDrive, $sDir, $sFName, $sExt)
        While 1
            $iIndex = $iIndex + 1
            $sFileTemp = $sDrive & $sDir & $sFName & "_" & $iIndex & $sExt
            If Not FileExists($sFileTemp) Then ExitLoop
        WEnd
        $sFileTo = $sFileTemp
    EndIf
    $iResult = FileCopy($sFileFrom, $sFileTo)
    If $iResult = 1 Then Return $sFileTo
    Return 0

EndFunc   ;==>_SecureFileMove

[guinness]

Or if you use WinAPIEx then >> _WinAPI_PathYetAnotherMakeUniqueName

[Chance]

Here's how I'd generate a new name for an existing file.

I just made this for an example I guess, I haven't tested much and am unsure of bugs that might exist under certain circumstances.

rename it with a single digit, that increments by 1 every time the same file name is being copied again.

But if you want to do that, you have to edit this code to check for that string, possibly using regular expression like regexpreplace, should be very simple.

how can I specify "foo*bar" in _FileListToArray?

I have no experience with that function so I wouldn't know either :/

Global $Result = _UniqueName(@AutoItExe)
ConsoleWrite("File : " & $Result & @CR)

$Result = _UniqueName(@SystemDir)
ConsoleWrite("Directory : " & $Result & @CR)

Func _UniqueName($FilePath)
    If FileExists($FilePath) Then
        Local $Split = StringSplit($FilePath, "")
        $FileName = $Split[$Split[0]]

        Local $Path
        For $I = 1 To $Split[0] - 1
            $Path &= $Split[$I] & ""
        Next

        If StringInStr($FileName, ".", 2) Then
            $FileName = StringReplace($FileName, ".", "(%s)." , -1);If you have a file like "C:testname.with.many.dots.txt", it will be renamed to "C:testname.with.many.dots(1).txt" if the file existed..
            Local $TempName
            For $I = 1 To 10e+100
                $TempName = StringFormat($FileName, $I)
                If Not FileExists($Path & $TempName) Then ExitLoop
            Next
            $FilePath = $Path & $TempName
        Else
            $FileName &= "(%s)"
            Local $TempName
            For $I = 1 To 10e+100
                $TempName = StringFormat($FileName, $I)
                If Not FileExists($Path & $TempName) Then ExitLoop
            Next
            $FilePath = $Path & $TempName
        EndIf
    EndIf
    Return $FilePath
EndFunc

Edit: stupid tag formatting...

Edit2: OMG WHY DOES THE FORUM KEEP FORMATTING CODE IN AUTOIT TAGS D:<

Edited December 1, 2012 by FlutterShy

[leuce]

Thanks, everyone, for your ideas. The solution I used is the While loop in It was simple enough to borrow and rework for my purposes. Thanks again.

[water]

I'm glad we could help to solve your problem

[AZJIO]