Templates

Templates allow you to use dynamic values in action parameters like destination paths and new filenames. Variables are replaced with actual values when the action executes.

Syntax

Template variables use the ${variable} syntax:

- move: ~/Archive/%Y/%m
- rename: "${name}_backup${ext}"

File variables

variable	description	example
`${name}`	Filename without extension	`document`
`${ext}`	File extension (with dot)	`.pdf`

Examples

For a file named report.pdf:

template	result
`${name}`	`report`
`${ext}`	`.pdf`
`${name}${ext}`	`report.pdf`
`${name}_copy${ext}`	`report_copy.pdf`
`backup_${name}${ext}`	`backup_report.pdf`

Time variables

Time variables use strftime format tokens:

token	description	example
`%Y`	Year (4 digits)	`2024`
`%m`	Month (01-12)	`03`
`%d`	Day (01-31)	`15`
`%H`	Hour (00-23)	`14`
`%M`	Minute (00-59)	`30`
`%S`	Second (00-59)	`45`

Common Patterns

pattern	example output
`%Y-%m-%d`	`2024-03-15`
`%Y%m%d`	`20240315`
`%Y/%m/%d`	`2024/03/15`
`%H:%M:%S`	`14:30:45`
`%Y%m%d_%H%M%S`	`20240315_143045`

Additional Time Tokens

token	description	example
`%y`	Year (2 digits)	`24`
`%B`	Month name (full)	`March`
`%b`	Month name (abbr)	`Mar`
`%A`	Weekday name (full)	`Friday`
`%a`	Weekday name (abbr)	`Fri`
`%j`	Day of year (001-366)	`074`
`%U`	Week number (00-53)	`11`
`%W`	Week number (Monday start)	`10`

Examples

Organize by date

rules:
  - name: Organize Downloads
    locations: ~/Downloads
    actions:
      - move: ~/Archive/%Y/%m/%d

Files are organized into folders like ~/Archive/2024/03/15/.

Add timestamp to filename

rules:
  - name: Timestamp Files
    locations: ~/Documents
    filters:
      - extension: pdf
    actions:
      - rename: "${name}_%Y%m%d${ext}"

report.pdf becomes report_20240315.pdf.

Create dated copies

rules:
  - name: Daily Backup
    locations: ~/Documents
    actions:
      - copy: "${name}_%Y%m%d${ext}"

Creates a timestamped copy of each file in the same directory.

Organize photos by date

rules:
  - name: Organize Photos
    locations: ~/Downloads
    filters:
      - extension: [jpg, jpeg, png, heic]
    actions:
      - move: ~/Pictures/%Y/%B

Photos organized into folders like ~/Pictures/2024/March/.

Archive old files

rules:
  - name: Archive Old Downloads
    locations: ~/Downloads
    filters:
      - date_modified:
          before:
            days_ago: 30
    actions:
      - move: ~/Archive/Downloads/%Y-%m

Unique filenames with timestamp

rules:
  - name: Rename Duplicates
    locations: ~/Downloads
    actions:
      - rename: "${name}_%Y%m%d_%H%M%S${ext}"

Combining variables

Mix file and time variables:

- move: ~/Archive/%Y/${name}/%m
- rename: "${name}_%Y%m%d_%H%M%S${ext}"
- copy: "${name}_backup_%Y%m%d${ext}"

Where templates work

Templates are supported in:

action	fields
`move`	`dest`
`copy`	`new_name`
`rename`	`new_name`
`log`	`msg`

Notes

Time values are evaluated at action execution time
File variables (${name}, ${ext}) come from the matched file
Unknown variables are left unchanged in the output
Paths are created automatically if they don’t exist

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