Is there a non-brute force way to separate files on clipboard?

[Mbee]

I'm developing a script that will accept one or more files either from the command line or from the clipboard. When the list comes in from the command line, there's no issue because they're not only already split into array elements, they're also all already enclosed in quotes (whether needed or not, I think).

If the clipboard is to be used as the source of the file list, the user first simply selects all the files to be processed and copies the selection to the clipboard. But in this case, none of them are enclosed in quotes -- whereas if they were, that would make it quite easy to separate them. I can eventually manage to code up a brute-force solution using a many string function calls and keeping track of all the many substring positions and lengths involved, but I dread the idea.

I considered StringSplit(), but the list on the clipboard merely separates the files by a space; but you certainly can't use a space as a delimiter. I've eventually been able to construct a few regular expressions of fair complexity, but I haven't begun to try that because I'm not at all sure such a RegExp can be constructed for this situation.

So does anyone know of some less arduous approach to separating a list of files with no quotes and nothing but a space to delimit them? Is there a UDF that might help what you're aware of?

Thanks!

[mikell]

Could you provide an example of such a list ?

[Mbee]

Well, now I'm pleasantly surprised. I was confused because when I looked at the resulting variable from ClipGet(), there were no quotation marks and were only separated with spaces, as I indicated. But now it appears that the contents are newline separated, which is perfect!

Here's what happened: I selected several files and copied the selection to the clipboard using Explorer's Copy Path(s) button, and examined the return from ClipGet() from within the Graphical Debugger. It certainly appeared that the files were separated only by a space, but after using the debugger's Watch tool to copy the value to the clipboard and then paste in my text editor, only then did the terminating newlines show up (which is simply due to the fact that my editor always shows newlines and the debugger doesn't).

So, kind @mikell, your query led me to discover my mistake and see a trivially simple solution. THANKS!

Edited May 21, 2020 by Mbee

[mikell]

The very first time I provide help so easily. Glad I could do so ! 

[Mbee]

1 minute ago, mikell said:

The very first time I provide help so easily. Glad I could do so ! 

I think you're being somewhat too modest, friend 😉 You've got 950 Likes and this is the first time it's been easy for you? With that record, I suspect few questions stumped you very long!

You have my high regard, and thanks again

[TheXman]

@Mbee

Just in case you were wondering if there was a way to get a list of files that were copied to the clipboard (not copy path), the example below shows how it can be done.  It could easily be modified to work with either a text list (like files/folders copied as paths) or actual files/folders that were copied.

 

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#include <Constants.au3>
#include <Clipboard.au3>
#include <Array.au3>
#include <WinAPISysWin.au3>
#include <WinAPIMisc.au3>

#cs
    Below is an example of how to display a list of files/folders that were copied
    to the clipboard, not "copy path" but actually highlighted and copied.
    One benefit of doing it this way is that you can confirm that there
    is a file list in the clipboard before proceeding.  $CF_HDROP will only
    be available when there is a list of files in the clipboard.
#ce

display_copied_file_list()

Func display_copied_file_list()
    Const $tagDROPFILES = _
              "struct;"        & _
              "dword offset;"  & _
              $tagPoint & ";"  & _
              "boolean fNC;"   & _
              "boolean fWide;" & _
              "endstruct;"

    Local $tByteBuffer = "", $tDropFiles = "", $tFileArray = ""
    Local $iFileArrayLength = 0

    ;If clipboard does not contain a list of copied files, then exit with msg
    If Not _ClipBoard_IsFormatAvailable ($CF_HDROP) Then Exit MsgBox($MB_ICONERROR, "ERROR", "No files in clipboard")

    ;Get file list data from clipboard (data is binary)
    $xData = _ClipBoard_GetData($CF_HDROP)

    ;Create a byte buffer structure to hold the data and copy the data to it
    $tByteBuffer = DllStructCreate(StringFormat("byte data[%i]", BinaryLen($xData)))
    $tByteBuffer.data = $xData

    ;Create a DROPFILES structure to access clipboard data
    $tDropFiles       = DllStructCreate($tagDROPFILES, DllStructGetPtr($tByteBuffer))

    ;Create a file list array structure to access the file list array
    $iFileArrayLength = BinaryLen($xData) - DllStructGetSize($tDROPFILES)
    $tFileArray       = DllStructCreate(StringFormat("byte data[%i]", $iFileArrayLength), _
                                        DllStructGetPtr($tDropFiles) + $tDropFiles.offset)

    ;Convert file list array struct to an array and display it
    $aFiles = _WinAPI_StructToArray($tFileArray)
    _ArrayDisplay($aFiles, "List of files copied to clipboard")
EndFunc

 

Edited May 21, 2020 by TheXman
Typos

[careca]

Very nice.

[mikell]

Nice, but I will personally (in this particular case) keep on using ClipGet(), as "When multiple selecting file/dir are stored in the clipboard, the filename/dirname are returned as texts separated by @LF"