brucewoodward · October 12, 2017 21:41 · Oct 12, 2017
diff --git a/vlc b/vlc
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+VLCTMP=/tmp/vlc.out
+QUIET=false
+
+log_vlc() {
+    echo $(date +%s) "$@" >> ~/.vlc
+}
+
+run_vlc() {
+    open -a vlc "$@"
+}
+
+not_valid_file_name() {
+    test -e "$1" && return 1 || return 0
+}
+
+size_check() {
+    local count=$(tee "$VLCTMP" | wc -l)
+    if ((count==0))
+    then
+        echo "Nothing found" 1>&2
+        perl -e "kill -15, $$" # why is Perl being used for this?
+    else
+        cat "$VLCTMP"
+    fi
+}
+
+run_selecta() {
+    local wanted_file_extensions='\.(mkv|avi|mp4|mov|m4v|wmv)$'
+    echo "`find . | grep -i "$1" | egrep -i "${wanted_file_extensions}" | size_check | selecta -a`"
+}
+
+die() {
+    echo $1
+    exit 1
+}
+
+rm -f "$VLCTMP"
+
+# -q as first arg to stop the logging of the file being watched.
+if [[ $# -gt 0 && "$1" = -q ]]
+then
+    QUIET=true
+    shift
+fi
+test $# -eq 0 && die "Missing arg(s)"
+
+# arg isn't a file so use selecta to get the user to pick a file
+# to display with vlc.
+if not_valid_file_name "$1"; then
+    # Use find and grep to come up with a list of files for selecta.
+    files_for_vlc="$( run_selecta "$1" )"
+    test -z "$files_for_vlc" && exit 0 # no files selected.
+else # full filename has been given.
+    files_for_vlc="$@"
+fi
+
+test "$QUIET" = false && log_vlc "$files_for_vlc"
+run_vlc "$files_for_vlc"