Is there a command to get the location of a file which is selected in nautilus?

Question

I want to be able to select a file, enter a command and have it return the current location of the file selected in a terminal.

I have just clicked on it in nautilus, it has the orange selection, I haven't opened it. — Tim, Jun 02 '14 at 16:20
What is the use case? Are you trying to automate something, or is it just a convenience? — l0b0, Jun 02 '14 at 16:26
It is to copy the file to a shared folder when I drag it to the side of the screen. — Tim, Jun 02 '14 at 16:27
@Tim, What's the deference, adding that shared folder to bookmakes on side panel. It seems same, you just need to drag it (with Ctrl key pressed for copying) — user.dz, Jun 02 '14 at 16:43
Simply user preference, and it would be more in keeping with the way I have my desktop set up. — Tim, Jun 02 '14 at 16:46
To reference a previous thread - linkenter link description here
Hope this helps! — 48656c6c6f2c20776f726c6421, Jun 02 '14 at 17:23

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 02 '14 at 16:18

0

If you want to get a file name into a terminal program, you should be able to use either mouse drag'n'drop or Ctrl-c and Ctrl-(Shift-)v to copy/paste it into an editor/terminal.

answered Jun 02 '14 at 16:18

l0b0

8,819

Is there a way without dragging it to the terminal, just having it selected, then executing a command to display the location there? – Tim Jun 02 '14 at 16:19

user.dz · Answer 2 · 2014-06-10T13:31:37.810

I think the best thing to fit here is a nautilus plugin.

Install python-nautilus
```
sudo apt-get install python-nautilus
```

Create a plugin "TestExtension.py"

sudo nano /usr/share/nautilus-python/extensions/TestExtension.py

This extension will call your script whenever the selection changes and pass the selection one by one as second command argument $1:

from gi.repository import Nautilus, GObject
import os

class ColumnExtension(GObject.GObject, Nautilus.MenuProvider):
    def __init__(self):
        pass

    def menu_activate_cb(self, menu, file):
        print "menu_activate_cb",file

    def get_file_items(self, window, files):

        for file in files:
            uri = file.get_uri()
            if uri.startswith("file:///"):
                os.system("yourscript_path"+" \""+uri[7:]+"\"")

        return

Or you may make a list, combine them as single string, then export it as env variable. So current selection will be accessible for all other scripts. (security hole)

Kill nautilus
```
pkill nautilus
```

Reference:

nautilus-python Reference Manual

Is there a command to get the location of a file which is selected in nautilus?

2 Answers2