Subject: Re: [Name Mangler Talk] What exactly is a "sequence identifier"?

From: Martin Gauffin <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 1 May 2014 16:05:24 +0200

Thanks for clearing this up. :)

Cheers!

-Martin

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From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 1 May 2014 07:03:44 -0700

On May 1, 2014, at 7:00 AM, Martin Gauffin <[email-masked]> wrote:

> So are you able to use functions as identifiers as well? For example, if I had files beginning with different numbers (01, 02, 03 and so on...) I might want to use the function [truncate <name> "2"] as an identifier...

Yes, that should work just fine -- as long as it evaluates to something Name Mangler understands, it should work. As always, experiment on copies of your files :).

regards,
-rob.

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From: Martin Gauffin <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 1 May 2014 07:00:09 -0700 (PDT)

Aha, I get it!

So are you able to use functions as identifiers as well? For example, if I 
had files beginning with different numbers (01, 02, 03 and so on...) I 
might want to use the function [truncate <name> "2"] as an identifier...

Thanks!

---

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 1 May 2014 06:55:12 -0700

On May 1, 2014, at 1:10 AM, Martin Gauffin <[email-masked]> wrote:

> I have posted here before, with great success, so I figured I should try it once more. Could someone please explain to me, how to use this identifier?

A sequence identifier is an expression that determines when the sequence numbering should reset. For example, let's say you had a folder full of PNG, JPG, TIF, and GIF images. You want to rename and sequence them, but you want the sequencing to reset every time the extension changes. This bit of Advanced code would do that:

[concatenate
	
	"My_Image_Name_"
		
	[sequence
		from "01"
		increment by "1" 
		sleep ""
		maximum index ""
		minimum number of digits "3"
		identifier <extension>
	]
	
	<.extension>

]

You can use almost anything as the sequence identifier, as long as it's a value that changes (otherwise, there wouldn't be anything to reset). You could use <parent folder> when doing multi-folder renames, for instance.

Does that help?

regards,
-rob.

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From: Martin Gauffin <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 1 May 2014 01:10:43 -0700 (PDT)

Sometimes, when in advanced mode, I notice some strange behavior in the 
sequence function, such as it ignoring the order of the items in the file 
list. I usually solve this by just inputting a value as a "sequence 
identifier". However, having no idea what the identifier actually does, 
this means that I loose control of the final result, and I would like to 
avoid this "trial and error"-method of doing things.

At first I thought the identifier was some kind of a boolean that you turn 
on or off (when I tamper with it I just give it a value of 0 or 1), but 
reading the post "How can I change the file name to date+time<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/name-mangler-talk/zz9dvgO0_SQ/HV3m5J18LJQJ>" 
made me realize that the identifier is a completely different thing. Even 
so, how to use it is still not clear to me, and reading the Name Mangler 
Help doesn't bring much clarity to the confusion either.

I have posted here before, with great success, so I figured I should try it 
once more. Could someone please explain to me, how to use this identifier?

Thanks!

/Martin