macOS copy multiple file names > then paste to multiple different files

[maxslomoff]

hello,
i have a two folders each with multiple files and i want to take the file names in folder a and paste them onto the files in folder b.

i have found that in a plain txt doc i can select all the files in folder a, paste it in the doc and i'll get a list of the file names.

i have also used automater before.

but what i can not find out is how to paste a list of names onto multiple files at once...

when organized by "name" the files in both folders will appear in order. but i want the names in each folder to match.

is it possible to take a txt document and apply it to multiple file names?

thanks
max

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I'm not sure I understand your question. Can you give an example of your desired input and output?

 

[maxslomoff]

In folder a I have 15 files

The first 10 of which are similar to the 10 files in folder b.

I want the first 10 files in folder a to be named the same as the 10 files in folder b.

When I say "first" I am referring to the list of files as its organized by name.

Sometimes folders a and b will have 3 files in common, sometimes 20.

The order of operations would be:
Organize folder a by name
Copy all file names
Organize folder b by name
Paste all file names (and any extra file names would be ignored)

Result : folder a and b have common file names and the matching files are the pairs of similar files, which can be found by organizing each folder by name and descending down the list one at a time.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Suppose you have folders A (with the names of its files on the left) and B (with the names of its files on the right):

Folder A Folder B
File ABC File DEF
File DEF File GHI
File JKL File JKL
--------- File MNO

Based on your description, your resulting Folder B should contain:
File ABC (containing what B/DEF contained originally)
File DEF (containing what B/GHI contained originally)
File JKL (containing what B/JKL contained originally)
File MNO (containing what B/MNO contained originally)

Is this correct or am I missing something?

 

[maxslomoff]

No.

It's sorta like this:

Folder a:
Aoo1oo1blabla
Aoo1oo2blabla
Aoo1oo3blabla
Randomfile.xml
Randomfile.html
Randomfile.wtf

Folder b:
A-1_1
A-1_2
A-1_3


And I want an automatic way to take the names of the first 3 files in folder a and replace the names in folder b with them, in that same order WITHOUT changing the files themselves or the .extension

Make more sense?

----------

The result would be:

Folder a:
Aoo1oo1blabla
Aoo1oo2blabla
Aoo1oo3blabla
Randomfile.xml
Randomfile.html
Randomfile.wtf

Folder b: (same original files as folder b, but new names matching folder a)
Aoo1oo1blabla
Aoo1oo2blabla
Aoo1oo3blabla

 

[sonicartist]

This is exactly what I have been looking for

I'm assuming you didn't get an answer to this. So sad because this would be ideal for replacing music in a music library with upgraded or fixed versions. Currently, I do this by hand and iTunes retains all the metadata.

No.

It's sorta like this:

Folder a:
Aoo1oo1blabla
Aoo1oo2blabla
Aoo1oo3blabla
Randomfile.xml
Randomfile.html
Randomfile.wtf

Folder b:
A-1_1
A-1_2
A-1_3


And I want an automatic way to take the names of the first 3 files in folder a and replace the names in folder b with them, in that same order WITHOUT changing the files themselves or the .extension

Make more sense?

----------

The result would be:

Folder a:
Aoo1oo1blabla
Aoo1oo2blabla
Aoo1oo3blabla
Randomfile.xml
Randomfile.html
Randomfile.wtf

Folder b: (same original files as folder b, but new names matching folder a)
Aoo1oo1blabla
Aoo1oo2blabla
Aoo1oo3blabla