Can one use Ruby to rename a filename encoded with Windows-1252 format, containing special characters that do not convert to UTF-8, on Windows XP?
Long question, but that's the deal.
I'm sorting EML files. I have a program that scans directories to pull out EMLs, and another that sorts them back into a proper structure. (One I want) That's working fairly well. Or, it was.
Until I got a ton of eml files from a user, with names created from subject lines of the email. This would be fine, if he apparently didn't have a ton of spam with special characters. (No idea what it was, may Cyrillic, Chinese, Japanese. Not sure, doesn't matter) This made Ruby very unhappy.
I'm using Ruby 1.9+, so it will read the file just fine. The problem seems to be that Ruby naturally takes these files and displays them differently. I believe it's converting the original name, which was Windows-1252 into UTF-8. Which would be fine, but when I go to rename the file, Ruby can't find the file, because the conversion changed the filename.
The analog would be you telling me I just got a new employee named Jorge. I decide the employee is actually named 'George'. But when I go to work with 'George', there isn't anyone there named George, but Jorge still exists. The file is there, Ruby just changed the working name.
My problem is that I can't figure out how to Ruby to cut it out. There are several tips on how to encode the data within a file, but little about the file name, namely because I can't reference the file to modify it. And I cannot encode the filename variable to Windows-1252, because it throws an exception regarding characters in UTF-8 that will not convert to Windows-1252. (Which makes me question how it went from Windows-1252 to UTF-8 in the first place; perhaps it's a one-way conversion with substituted letters.)
I can't find a way around this, short of moving the EML files (many gigs) over to a Linux based machine, running the script there, and then bringing them over to the Windows machine for final sorting. I'm hoping that will work, but I'm questioning if there is a better way around this.
I'm sorting EML files. I have a program that scans directories to pull out EMLs, and another that sorts them back into a proper structure. (One I want) That's working fairly well. Or, it was.
Until I got a ton of eml files from a user, with names created from subject lines of the email. This would be fine, if he apparently didn't have a ton of spam with special characters. (No idea what it was, may Cyrillic, Chinese, Japanese. Not sure, doesn't matter) This made Ruby very unhappy.
I'm using Ruby 1.9+, so it will read the file just fine. The problem seems to be that Ruby naturally takes these files and displays them differently. I believe it's converting the original name, which was Windows-1252 into UTF-8. Which would be fine, but when I go to rename the file, Ruby can't find the file, because the conversion changed the filename.
The analog would be you telling me I just got a new employee named Jorge. I decide the employee is actually named 'George'. But when I go to work with 'George', there isn't anyone there named George, but Jorge still exists. The file is there, Ruby just changed the working name.
My problem is that I can't figure out how to Ruby to cut it out. There are several tips on how to encode the data within a file, but little about the file name, namely because I can't reference the file to modify it. And I cannot encode the filename variable to Windows-1252, because it throws an exception regarding characters in UTF-8 that will not convert to Windows-1252. (Which makes me question how it went from Windows-1252 to UTF-8 in the first place; perhaps it's a one-way conversion with substituted letters.)
I can't find a way around this, short of moving the EML files (many gigs) over to a Linux based machine, running the script there, and then bringing them over to the Windows machine for final sorting. I'm hoping that will work, but I'm questioning if there is a better way around this.
FileUtils.move pwd+"/"+f1, $scriptDir+"/"+f1
paulqna
This will allow you to choose source AND destination filename for the file you are converting...
ASKER
Have you worked with this gem in the past? On Windows for that matter?
RubyGems installed; the gem installed but "require 'chilkat'" fails. Maybe the libs are screwed up.
Going to try on another Windows box. That failing, I'll try it on a Linux box. (both before and after installing Chilkat with the linux box)
Failing all that, I'll go back and figure out why the gem isn't being called correctly. (Undoubtedly something I'm doing wrong.)
RubyGems installed; the gem installed but "require 'chilkat'" fails. Maybe the libs are screwed up.
Going to try on another Windows box. That failing, I'll try it on a Linux box. (both before and after installing Chilkat with the linux box)
Failing all that, I'll go back and figure out why the gem isn't being called correctly. (Undoubtedly something I'm doing wrong.)
C:\Ruby192>gem list chilkat -d
*** LOCAL GEMS ***
chilkat (9.1.2)
Platform: x86-mswin32-60
Author: Chilkat Software, Inc.
Homepage: http://www.chilkatsoft.com/ruby.asp
Installed at: C:/Ruby192/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1
Chilkat Ruby library
C:\Ruby192>ruby -rubygems -e 'require "chilkat"'
C:/Ruby192/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.9.1/rubygems/custom_require.rb:36:in `require':
no such file to load -- chilkat (LoadError)
from C:/Ruby192/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.9.1/rubygems/custom_require.rb:36:i
n `require'
from -e:1:in `<main>'
I cannot help you.
ASKER
At present the easiest solution is to use a command line bulk renaming utility (freeware) on the directory structure, and then running the Ruby scripts to perform the tasks. (Anything not renamed properly is skipped to avoid errors)
Wish I had a better solution. Perhaps writing it in JAVA would work better...
Wish I had a better solution. Perhaps writing it in JAVA would work better...
As far as I know, gems need to be activated before requiring (to add them to require paths) in Ruby 1.9.1. I haven't tested with the chilkat gem, but I do similar for other gems:
ruby -rubygems -e "gem 'chilkat' ; require 'chilkat'"ASKER
Well I believe I've deduced why Chilkat isn't working. Thank you for that Kristin. The error I was given after attempting to activate the gem got me thinking and I went to check Chilkat's website a bit more in depth:
So that explains that.
I believe all my code should work with version 1.8 so I'll give that a shot.
Important:
The Chilkat Ruby module works with Ruby v1.8.*. It is not yet compatible with Ruby v1.9.*.
So that explains that.
I believe all my code should work with version 1.8 so I'll give that a shot.
C:\Ruby192>ruby -rubygems -e "gem 'chilkat' ; require 'chilkat'"
C:/Ruby192/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.9.1/rubygems.rb:900:in `report_activate_error':
RubyGem version error: chilkat(9.1.2 not >= 0) (Gem::LoadError)
from C:/Ruby192/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.9.1/rubygems.rb:248:in `activate'
from C:/Ruby192/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.9.1/rubygems.rb:1276:in `gem'
from -e:1:in `<main>'ASKER
Ruby isn't horribly keen on installing older versions. Trying to get 1.8.7 working on Linux was...fun, but I can't even find information regarding which version of RubyGems works with 1.8.7, and the most current certainly doesn't. In fact, I can't even find an older version of RubyGems for linux on their website. They just state you should either use apt-get, yum or link to the SVN. (CentOS doesn't have RubyGems in its repos and at this point I'm not reinstalling Fedora to check.)
I've tried so many routes to get this functional that I'm having to call it quits. It's easier to let the script do the work, have me run another utility to rename the files that didn't convert later, and then run it again.
I'm still skeptical the latest version of Ruby can't do something as simple as renaming a file called "‚¨Œ³‹C‚Å‚·‚©H_66_2010111
You can bet next time I'll just write the program in JAVA.
I've tried so many routes to get this functional that I'm having to call it quits. It's easier to let the script do the work, have me run another utility to rename the files that didn't convert later, and then run it again.
I'm still skeptical the latest version of Ruby can't do something as simple as renaming a file called "‚¨Œ³‹C‚Å‚·‚©H_66_2010111
You can bet next time I'll just write the program in JAVA.
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ASKER
Selected my own solution as no other solution was more complete based upon the initial question.
Grade letter lowered due to incomplete solution.
Grade letter lowered due to incomplete solution.