[SOLVED] Automation of folders/files

[DalekDraco]

Hi all
I am trying to find a way to automate the creation of new folders with the relevant files inside them, for my business.
I run a law firm and each folder is named based on the year and the file number, for example 2024001, 2024002, etc.
Each matter has:
Folder: 20XXXXX
- Sub-folder Admin
-- which contains Timesheet.xlsx
- Sub-folder Client File
- Sub-folder Correspondence
- sub-folder Court
- 20XXXX - Telephone running sheet.docx

Currently I am manually duplicating the main folder and then renaming everything to the next file number.

I have done some searching and it seems I should be able to create a bash command that does this for me (and hopefully renames the telephone sheet to the next file number too?). However, all attempts thus far have been absolute failures. The closest I have come is:

mkdir -p 2024061/{Admin,Client\ File,Correspondence,Court,}

But that means I have to put the timesheet and telephone sheet in manually, and I'm still having to manually run mkdir for each new matter.

Any pointers would be most welcome!

[1000]

This script costs 2 hours of your work - that's how long it took me to write.
Have fun helping the Linux community for 2 hours.
I hope you can help someone for two hours or more.

Edited.
- And don't check the script directly.
Copy the folder with the files and first check if it works.
- I added a dot to the name because it makes the number more readable. If you need to, you can remove the dot.

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash


Debug=ON

F_Debug() {
    if [[ "$Debug" == "ON" ]] ; then
        echo "  DEBUG: $@"
    fi
}

# Get number of the current year
Year=$(date +%Y)
    F_Debug "Year = $Year"

# Get last folder name
SearchedWord="${Year}.*"
Last_Folder=$( find . -maxdepth 1 -type d -name "${Year}.[0-9][0-9][0-9]" | LC_ALL=C sort | tail -n1 )
    F_Debug "Last_Folder = $Last_Folder"


# If folder with Year not exist
if [[ -z "$Last_Folder" ]]; then
    echo "  - We are creating the first folder this year."
    Next_N="001"
    mkdir -p ${Year}.${Next_N}/{Admin,Client_File,Correspondence,Court,Telephone}
    
# If folder with Year exist
else 
    # We need get 3 last number of folder
    Three_N="${Last_Folder: -3}"
        F_Debug "Three_N = $Three_N"
    
    # We need add + 1 to number
    Next_N=$((${Three_N} + 1))
    Next_N=$(printf "%03d" $Next_N)
        F_Debug "Next_N = $Next_N"
        
        if [ ! "${#Next_N}" -eq 3 ]; then
            echo "Error: Next_N not have 3 chars."
            exit 1
        fi
    
    echo "  - We will create next folder with number $Next_N."
    mkdir -p ${Year}.${Next_N}/{Admin,Client_File,Correspondence,Court,Telephone}
fi 

echo "  - The End."

[mikeflan]

Copy these 8 lines to a text file:

Code: Select all

mkdir ./2024003
mkdir ./2024003/Admin
mkdir './2024003/Client File'
mkdir ./2024003/Correspondence
mkdir ./2024003/Court
touch './2024003/Telephone running sheet.docx'
touch './2024003/Court/2024003 - Timesheet.xlsx'

The 8th line is just a blank line.

Open the text file in XED.
Copy all the lines by clicking in the text file, hitting Ctrl-a, and then Ctrl-c.
Paste all 8 lines into a terminal that is open to the location you want the directory structure built. Ctrl-Shift-v will paste the commands into the terminal.
It creates all the files and folders.

Then do a 'Search and Replace' in the text file (Ctrl-h). Replace 2024003 with 2024004.
Then paste all 8 lines into the terminal again.
You get a second set of files and folders.

[DalekDraco]

1000 - I couldn't get your script to work properly - it creates the folder structures but doesn't create a time-sheet or the telephone running sheet (makes a folder called telephone). I will work on it to see if I can get it going.

Mikeflan - your script works perfectly and with some tweaking to pull in the template telephone running sheet it will do the job. Thanks! I don't mind having to change the parameters of the script for new files that way, it is still a heck of a lot faster than manually doing the whole thing.

Thank you both for your answers!

[1000]

1000 - I couldn't get your script to work properly - it creates the folder structures but doesn't create a time-sheet

It's possible I didn't understand you.
1. Creating a sub-folder with the same name as the main one looks strange.

2. Creating empty files looks weird.
2.1 If you want to save some data, a file will simply be created.
2.2 If you really need to create files .docx / .xlsx ,
create a pattern / template and use the copy command [ Sorry " cp " command ] to copy the file to the chosen directory.
This is the easiest way.

3. The script creates folders from scratch.
- You can change the starting number 001 to your last number [ Or better yet, one number higher than last ]
- Or in the script you can remove all dots from the folder name, if you need.

Edited
However you can use tree command to show directory structure

[DalekDraco]

Thank you - I added a cp command for the files required from precedents and I tweaked the naming etc. It seems to be running!