New Folder and Name from Finder Selection in Same Directory

[BernSh]

Outcome is a new empty folder created in the current directory of a Finder selected folder using the name of the selected folder and changing the name slightly.

Example: In a folder named Records are a series of folders ending in a year
Records 2022
Records 2023
Records 2024

With this Records 2024 folder selected, the macro creates a new empty folder named Records 2025 in the same directory as all the other Records folders.

There are various other folders with this naming scheme so the base name Records will be changing from folder to folder.

Also, these folder have files inside of them that need to not be moved or recreated, The new folder needs to be empty.

While: (Create new folders in the current directory) and other posts are similar, I haven't been able to use them to get the result.

I started with: New Folder According to the Current Finder-Selected File, Then Move File Inside? then mangled it to death, so it might be better to start from scratch.

I'd also like to keep this "In-House" and not use scripts if possible.

Here's the mess I made trying to get there:

For Each.kmactions (3.3 KB)

Thanks in advance for any help provided and here's to a bright 2025 and beyond!

[Zabobon]

@BernSh

With this Records 2024 folder selected, the macro creates a new empty folder named Records 2025 in the same directory as all the other Records folders.

This is one way to do this, with native Keyboard Maestro Actions.

1. First check that the selected item in the Finder is a folder and has a number at the end of its name. If not, nothing happens.
2. Separate the name and last 4 characters into two Variables.
3. Check that the last 4 characters are all digits.
4. Increase the Number by 1
5. Create a new Folder in the same location with the same name and number increased by 1

You could refine by adding more checks, but this Macro as is works for me for the example you gave.

EXAMPLE New Folder with next year from Selected Folder v02.kmmacros (9.0 KB)

Click to Show Image of Macro

[Nige_S]

@BernSh

With this Records 2024 folder selected, the macro creates a new empty folder named Records 2025 in the same directory as all the other Records folders.

So "create a folder named as the one selected but with trailing number incremented by 1"?

I don't think you can be much more concise than:

Folder Named For Selection and Incremented.kmmacros (1.9 KB)

Of course, that only works for your examples -- and has zero error checking! And while I'm matching "the last 4 digits" then treating them as a number, you can easily change it to "all the digits at the end of the string".

What should happen if a folder with the new name already exists? And what if the selected folder doesn't have a trailing (or any) number? Or is the above good enough?

[Zabobon]

@Nige_S

I don't think you can be much more concise than:

Yes - much better than my many Actions approach! My excuse it that I was feeling my way through the problem in little logical steps

[Nige_S]

@Zabobon

My excuse it that I was feeling my way through the problem in little logical steps

No excuse needed! IMO this is a good example of macro development -- plan it out with multiple, obvious, actions that represent your current thinking; test, verify, tweak until you have a working solution; if it's worth your time, revisit and optimise.

[BernSh]

Hey @Zabobon and @Nige_S

Thank you both for your time, attention, and work on this project. Both work perfectly.

While @Nige_S as noted is eloquent (and who doesn’t enjoy a performance that rises to eloquence?) that, @Zabobon is useful and valuable specifically to me as a learner as it has more surface to approach and picked it apart to ask questions and learn from. From a slightly different direction than @Nige_S points to about macro development, this suggests from the perspective and development level of learning that the listening being spoken into is as important and the solution arrived at. Both are VERY appreciated! (Recognizing that to honor one above the other is to lose the respect of both. I'd mark both as solutions but Discourse doesn't have that option. )

Relatedly, do you have any idea why the Finder sometimes add a sequential number to the end of a file name and sometimes not? Is there a way to evoke this? The only thing I have noticed is the number of files being added to a folder sometimes effects whether a file’s name is addened or the dialog asking if I want to replace the existing file with the new one is shown.

[Nige_S]

@BernSh

Is there a way to evoke this?

Not as far as I know. But it's pretty easy to write your own "make a unique path" routine, complete with choice of suffix ("-v" or "version" or whatever) and (maybe padded) numbering.

Have a go -- "Split Path", the "path" Condition, a loop to increment the version number, and a bit of token concatenation will get you started.