Arrange files according to a text file

[Ric at rdo]

Hello Emile ,

Thank you for the code below as I have not encountered SequenceMatcher
before and would have to take a look at it closer.

My question would it work for a text file list of names about 25k
lines and a directory with say 100 files inside?

Thank you once again. 


On Sat, 27 Aug 2011 11:06:22 -0700, Emile van Sebille <emile at fenx.com>
wrote:

>On 8/27/2011 10:03 AM Ric at rdo.python.org said...
>> Hello,
>>
>> What would be the best way to accomplish this task?
>
>I'd do something like:
>
>
>usernames = """Adler, Jack
>Smith, John
>Smith, Sally
>Stone, Mark""".split('\n')
>
>filenames = """Smith, John - 02-15-75 - business files.doc
>Random Data - Adler Jack - expenses.xls
>More Data Mark Stone files list.doc""".split('\n')
>
>from difflib import SequenceMatcher as SM
>
>
>def ignore(x):
>     return x in ' ,.'
>
>
>for filename in filenames:
>     ratios = [SM(ignore,filename,username).ratio() for username in 
>usernames]
>     best = max(ratios)
>     owner = usernames[ratios.index(best)]
>     print filename,":",owner
>
>
>Emile
>
>
>
>> I have many files in separate directories, each file name
>> contain a persons name but never in the same spot.
>> I need to find that name which is listed in a large
>> text file in the following format. Last name, comma
>> and First name. The last name could be duplicate.
>>
>> Adler, Jack
>> Smith, John
>> Smith, Sally
>> Stone, Mark
>> etc.
>>
>>
>> The file names don't necessary follow any standard
>> format.
>>
>> Smith, John - 02-15-75 - business files.doc
>> Random Data - Adler Jack - expenses.xls
>> More Data Mark Stone files list.doc
>> etc
>>
>> I need some way to pull the name from the file name, find it in the
>> text list and then create a directory based on the name on the list
>> "Smith, John" and move all files named with the clients name into that
>> directory.
>