Automator: how to clear ‘got’ items

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I've created an Automator workflow which (should) create a copy of a particular file in the currently selected folder. (i.e. select a folder, run the Quick Action, get a copy of the file in the folder.

However, when I run the Quick Action, I get the file and TWO copies of the folder itself, within itself. They are not links (I think), but I get a couple of iterations.

Here's the workflow:

I'm thinking that the variable "Path" is copying itself, for some reason. Possibly because it's been "Got". Is there a way to clear the "get"?

Even if I remove the "Get Selected Finder Items" action, I still get one copy of the folder.

Best Answer

In the options for each Action, there is a checkbox "Ignore this action's input", which means that nothing from the previous actions goes through.
Doing this on the "Get Specifed Items in Finder" action means that the folder path itself does not 'trickle down' to the Copy action.

The "Get Selected Finder Items" action is unnecessary, as the workflow already receives folders as an argument.

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Automator “Filter Finder Items” issues with spotlight

You add a shell script as the first automator task to run sudo mdutil -E /. This will rebuild the index.

How to create an Automator service to run a script on all files in a folder

If you're creating a Service using RunShell Script which you want to pass the selected Folder(s) to the RunShell Script and have additional actions take place in the script on them, then start with these settings.

Create the Service:

Open Automator and select Service or File > New > Service If Automator is already open.
Set Service receives selected to folders and in to Finder.
Add a Run Shell Script Action, setting Shell: to /bin/bash and Pass input: to
as arguments. This changes the default code to from cat to:
```
for f in "$@"
do
    echo "$f"
done
```

Now you can use $f to act on the target Folder(s), e.g. cd $f and now you're in the directory of $f and can add additional code to act upon the files/folders within $f, etc.

Update:

Use the following working code as an example:

for d in "$@"; do
    cd "$d"
    for f in *.log; do    
        rm "$f"
    done
done

Within the Test and Test copy folders there were a number of .log files and files with other extensions as well. When the above code was run it deleted only the *.log files within the target folders as show in the images below using two folders or one folder and both files and folders with/without spaces in their names.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Automator “Filter Finder Items” issues with spotlight

How to create an Automator service to run a script on all files in a folder

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