FlEd

fled lets you organise your files and folders in your favourite editor

Introduction

fled enumerates a folder and its files, and generates a text listing. You can then edit that listing in your favourite editor, and save changes. fled then reloads those changes, and prints a shell script that would move your files and folders around as-per your edits.

You should review that shell script very carefully before running it.

Install

You can install using gem install fled.

Philosophy

fled only generates text, it does not perform any operation directly.

The design optimises for making the edits very simple. This means that very small edits can have large consequences, which makes this a very dangerous tool. But so is rm and the rest of the shell anyway...

Caveats

fled is only aware of files it scanned. It will not warn for overwrites, nor use temporary files in those cases, etc.

fled's editing model is rather complex and fuzzy. While there are some test cases defined, any help is much appreciated.

You should be scared when using fled.

Test status

Examples

Print help text and option list

fled --help

Edit current folder

fled

Edit all files directly in path folder

fled -a path -d 0

Save default options

fled --options > fled.config.yaml

Edit current folder using options

fled --load fled.config.yaml

Add options to a command (mkdir, mv, rm or rmdir)

fled | sed 's/^mv/mv -i/'

Listing Format

folder/                 :0
  file_one              :1
  folder_two/           :2
    file_three          :3

Each line of the listing is in the format [indentation] name: uid

• The indentation must consist of only spaces, and is used to indicate the parent folder
• The name must not use colons (:). If it is cleared, it is assumed the file/folder is to be deleted The name has a / appended if it is a directory.
• The uid is used by FlEd to recognise the original of the edited line. Do not assume a uid does not change between runs. It is valid only for the current run. Spaces before the uid are only cosmetic.

Operations

Creating a new folder

Add a new line (therefore with no uid):

Original listing	Edited listing
folder/ :0 file_one :1 folder_two/ :2 file_three :3	folder/ :0 new_folder folder_two/ :2
Generates the script:
mkdir folder/new_folder

Moving

Change the indentation and/or line order to change the parent of a file or folder:

Original listing	Edited listing
folder/ :0 file_one :1 folder_two/ :2 file_three :3	folder/ :0 folder_two/ :2 file_one :1 file_three :3
Generates the script:
mv folder/file_one folder/folder_two/file_one

Moving an item below itself or its children is not recommended, as the listing may not be exhaustive

Renaming

Edit the name while preserving the uid to rename the item

Original listing	Edited listing
folder/ :0 file_one :1 folder_two/ :2 file_three :3	folder_renamed/ :0 file_one :1 folder_two/ :2 file_changed :3
Generates the script:
mv folder folder_renamed mv folder_renamed/folder_two/file_three folder_renamed/folder_two/file_changed

Deleting

Clear a name but leave the uid to delete that item

Original listing	Edited listing
folder/ :0 file_one :1 folder_two/ :2 file_three :3	folder_renamed/ :0 :1 :2 :3
Generates the script:
mv folder folder_renamed rm folder_renamed/folder_two/file_three rm folder_renamed/file_one rmdir folder_renamed/folder_two

No-op

If a line (and all child-lines) is removed from the listing, it will have no operation.

Original listing	Edited listing
folder/ :0 file_one :1 folder_two/ :2 file_three :3	folder/ :0
Generates the script:
No operation

Note that removing a folder without removing its children will move its children:

Original listing	Edited listing
folder/ :0 file_one :1 folder_two/ :2 file_three :3	folder/ :0 file_one :1 file_three :3
Generates the script:
mv folder/folder_two/file_three folder/file_three

If an indent is forgotten:

Original listing	Edited listing
folder/ :0 file_one :1 folder_two/ :2 file_three :3	folder/ :0 file_one :1 file_three :3
Generates the script:
mv folder/folder_two/file_three folder/file_three

All together

Original listing	Edited listing
folder/ :0 file_one :1 folder_two/ :2 file_three :3	folder_new/ :0 new_folder/ first :1 second :3 :2
Generates the script:
mv folder folder_new mkdir folder_new/new_folder mv folder_new/file_one folder_new/new_folder/first mv folder_new/folder_two/file_three folder_new/new_folder/second rmdir folder_new/folder_two

Edge cases

These sort-of work, but are still rather experimental

Swapping files

folder/             :0
  file_one          :1
  file_two          :2

When applying

Original listing	Edited listing
folder/ :0 file_one :1 file_two :2	folder/ :0 file_two :1 file_one :2
Generates the script:
mv folder/file_two folder/file_one.tmp mv folder/file_one folder/file_two mv folder/file_one.tmp folder/file_one

Swapping file names may not work in cases where the generated intermediary file exists but was not included in the listing

Tree swapping

folder/                      :0
  sub_folder/                :1
    sub_sub_folder/          :2
      file.txt               :3

When applying

Original listing	Edited listing
folder/ :0 sub_folder/ :1 sub_sub_folder/ :2 file.txt :3	sub_sub_folder/ :2 sub_folder/ :1 folder/ :0 file.txt :3
Generates the script:
mv folder/sub_folder/sub_sub_folder sub_sub_folder mv folder/sub_folder sub_sub_folder/sub_folder mv folder sub_sub_folder/sub_folder/folder mv sub_sub_folder/file.txt sub_sub_folder/sub_folder/folder/file.txt

Changelog

Version v0.0.4

• New: Sort file listing (if gem naturalsort is installed, it is used too)
• Fix: Non interactive run mode had a bug

Version v0.0.3

• New: Interactive mode with -u
• New: Error and warning reporting with line numbers
• New: Default configuration file at ~/.fled.yaml
• New: Editor and diff tool are configurable from configuration files
• Meta: Refactoring of code

Version v0.0.2

• Fix: Unreadable directories now ignored
• Fix: Version display and DRYed
• Fix: Moving files under files now moves up to parent folder of destination
• Meta: Travis-CI integration

Version v0.0.1

• First version

Disclaimer

Warning: This is a very dangerous tool. The author recommends you do not use it. The author cannot be held responsible in any case.

Contributors

• Eric Doughty-Papassideris

Licence

GPLv3