All templates
Desktop AutomationBeginner

Add Datetime to File Names

Robomotion•Updated 6 months ago
Add Datetime to File Names

Overview

Renames every file in a directory by appending the current date to its name. A quick way to version artefacts, snapshots, or export batches.

Add Datetime to File Names

Managing locally saved files can be time-consuming for most home and business desktop users. Automate any file-system-related task, such as renaming files, using Robomotion's files and folders nodes.

What Add Datetime to File Names can do

  • Build default folder (Core.Programming.Function) → msg.default_folder = $Home$/templates/.../fixtures.
  • Input Dialog (Core.Dialog.InputBox) titled Add datetime to file names, default msg.default_folder → msg.selected_folder.
  • Branch on cancel (Core.Programming.Function, outputs: 2) — empty input short-circuits to Core.Flow.Stop.
  • List folder (Core.FileSystem.List, optAbsolutePath: true, optSize: true, optIsDir: true, optCreateTime: true, optTop: 0) → msg.files_to_rename, then Core.Flow.GoTo into Loop Start.
  • Iterate (Core.Programming.ForEach) over msg.files_to_rename → msg.current_file.
  • Skip dirs and stamped (Core.Programming.Function, outputs: 2) — directories and names already matching -YYYYMMDD. are routed to Loop Back Skip; otherwise sets msg.source_path = current_file.Name and msg.create_time = current_file.CreateTime.
  • Format stamp (Robomotion.DateTime.Format, custom out layout 20060102) from msg.create_time → msg.stamp.
  • Build new path (Core.Programming.Function) — splits on the last / or \\ and last . to produce msg.target_path = <dir>\\<stem>-<stamp><ext>.
  • Check collision (Core.FileSystem.PathExists) on msg.target_path → msg.target_exists; if true, a Function routes to Loop Back Skip, otherwise Core.FileSystem.Move (continueOnError: true) renames source to target and Core.Flow.GoTo re-enters the loop.
  • When the iterator exits, flow reaches Core.Flow.Stop.

Behind the scenes

  • Core.FileSystem.List with optCreateTime: true provides CreateTime per entry, which is what drives the stamp — modification time and wall-clock Now are intentionally not used so the name reflects the file's own origin.
  • The stamp is placed before the extension (name-YYYYMMDD.ext), which requires splitting on the last .; files with no extension just get name-YYYYMMDD.
  • Name collisions are handled silently: Core.FileSystem.PathExists plus a branch send already-taken targets to the skip label, so the original file is left untouched with no error.
  • The -YYYYMMDD. regex guard prevents repeat runs from re-stamping already-processed files.