Wrapping Text

I haven’t really spent much time with applescript lately. Aside from the frustrating syntax, it is my first love and (more or less) my introduction to scripting. But alas, I have since found new life with pure bash scripts (and some javascript) and thus my applescripts have fallen into obsolescence. Today, however, I was reminded of how simple applescripting can sometimes be, particularly when paired with Automator.

Weeks ago, I made a quick service to wrap punctuation around selected text, inspired by the Text Flow Automator service. This is a great tool, but is a bit slow to load. Additionally, I found that I didn’t really use most of the options provided. What I really needed was a quick action to wrap various types of punctuation around selected text.

Thus Wrap was born. During it’s creation, I found that Automator wasn’t very good at handling the Applescript error number -128 when called within a shell script. This is a pretty specific use-case, I know, but I spent a few hours attempting to deug the issue to no avail.

I didn’t really want to spend any time trying to recall Applescript syntax, but I did really really want to avoid seeing an Automator error every time I changed my mind about running the script. Eventually I relented, dug back through some older scripts for reference, and created an Applescript version of Wrap.

Both of these scripts can be run in or outside of automator, provided you are able to select text prior to running the script. I would suggest binding the script(s) to a keyboard shortcut so that they are readily at your disposal.

Regardless of the script you choose, Wrap works as follows:
1. Type some text
2. Select any text you would like to wrap
3. Run Wrap and choose the punctuation, which is one of ", ', {}, [], (), or “
4. The selected text will be replaced with the wrapped text.

If you experience any issues, holler at me.

For Automator:

on run {input}
  
  # this script handles cancellations properly, but is much slower than the shell script version
  try
  set bloog to (choose from list {"double-quote \"\"", "single-quote ''", "parenthesis ()", "curly-brace {}", "brace []",
  "angled-bracket <>"} with title "Select an Item" OK button name "Wrap" default items {"double-quote"} with empty
    selection allowed)
  
    if bloog is false then
    error number -128
    end if
  
    set bloog to do shell script "echo " & bloog & " | sed 's/[[:punct:]]. *$/ /g;s/[[:space:]]//g'"
  
    if bloog contains "double-quote" then
    set wrap to do shell script "echo " & input & " | sed 's/^/\\\"/;s/$/\\\"/'"
    else if bloog contains "single-quote" then
    set wrap to do shell script "echo " & input & " | sed \"s/^/\\'/;s/$/\\'/\""
    else if bloog contains "parenthesis" then
    set wrap to do shell script "echo " & input & " | sed 's/^/\\(/;s/$/\\)/'"
    else if bloog contains "curly-brace" then
    set wrap to do shell script "echo " & input & " | sed 's/^/\\{/;s/$/\\}/'"
    else if bloog contains "brace" then
    set wrap to do shell script "echo " & input & " | sed 's/^/\\[/;s/$/\\]/'"
    else if bloog contains "angled-bracket" then
    set wrap to do shell script "echo " & input & " | sed 's/^/\\/'"
    end if
  
    return wrap
  
    end try
    end run

Shell Script for use with Alfred (or standalone):

which_wrap() {

# this script is much faster than the applescript version, but does not properly handle cancellation

osascript <" 
  } with title "Select an Item" OK 
    button name "Wrap" default
     items {"double-quote"} with empty selection allowed) 
     return bloog 
     if bloog is false then error number -128 
     end if 
  end
  try EOF } 
  which_wrap=$(which_wrap | sed 's/[[:punct:]]. *$/ /g;s/[[:space:]]//g' ) 
  case "$which_wrap" in 
    double-quote)
      sed 's/^/\"/;s/$/\"/' ;; 
    single-quote) 
      sed "s/^/\'/;s/$/\'/" ;; 
    parenthesis) 
      sed 's/^/\(/;s/$/\)/' ;; 
    curly-brace)
      sed 's/^/\{/;s/$/\}/' ;; 
    brace) 
      sed 's/^/\[/;s/$/\]/' ;; 
    angled-bracket) 
      sed 's/^/\/' ;; 
    "false" )
       exit 1 ;;
  esac