Bash: iTunes CLI

itunes.sh

#!/bin/sh
#
####################################
# iTunes Command Line Control v1.0
# written by David Schlosnagle
# created 2001.11.08
# @edited Mateusz Gachowski
####################################

showHelp () {
    echo "-----------------------------";
    echo "iTunes Command Line Interface";
    echo "-----------------------------";
    echo "Usage: `basename $0` <option>";
    echo;
    echo "Options:";
    echo " status   = Shows iTunes' status, current artist and track.";
    echo " start    = Starts iTunes' if not yet running.";
    echo " play     = Start playing iTunes.";
    echo " pause    = Pause iTunes.";
    echo " next     = Go to the next track.";
    echo " prev     = Go to the previous track.";
    echo " mute     = Mute iTunes' volume.";
    echo " unmute   = Unmute iTunes' volume.";
    echo " vol #    = Set iTunes' volume to # [0-100]";
    echo " albums   = Shows the list of albums with IDs";
    echo " search   = Search for a given album name and tries to play it";
    echo " stop     = Stop iTunes.";
    echo " quit     = Quit iTunes.";
}

if [ $# = 0 ]; then
    showHelp;
fi

while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
    arg=$1;
    case $arg in
        "status" ) state=`osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to player state as string'`;
            echo "iTunes is currently $state.";
            if [ $state = "playing" ]; then
                artist=`osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to artist of current track as string'`;
                track=`osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to name of current track as string'`;
                echo "Current track $artist:  $track";
                echo;
                tracks=`osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to get name of every track in current playlist'`;
                export IFS=','
                for t in ${tracks[@]}; do
                    echo "$t";
                done
            fi
            break ;;
        'start' ) echo 'Launching iTunes'
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to launch';
            break;;
        "play"    ) echo "Playing iTunes.";
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to play';
            break ;;

        "pause"    ) echo "Pausing iTunes.";
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to pause';
            break ;;

        "next"    ) echo "Going to next track." ;
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to next track';
            break ;;

        "prev"    ) echo "Going to previous track.";
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to previous track';
            break ;;

        "mute"    ) echo "Muting iTunes volume level.";
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to set mute to true';
            break ;;

        "unmute" ) echo "Unmuting iTunes volume level.";
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to set mute to false';
            break ;;

        "vol"    ) echo "Changing iTunes volume level.";
            if [ $2 -gt 0 ]; then
                newvol=$2;
            fi
            osascript -e "tell application \"iTunes\" to set sound volume to $newvol";
            break ;;

        "albums" )
            id=`osascript -e "tell application \"iTunes\" to (get database ID of every track in playlist \"Library\")"`
            album=`osascript -e "tell application \"iTunes\" to (get album of every track in playlist \"Library\")"`

            #split IDs based on ','
            export IFS=","

            #get database ID of tracks
            i=0
            for id in $id
            do
            id_a[$i]=`echo $id`
            i=$((i+1))
            done

            echo "Total number of songs in current playlist:" ${#id_a[@]}
            echo "\tFor every album in DB, display album name and first track ID of album."

            #disable separator
            export IFS=""

            ALBUM=( )
            for (( i = 0 ; i < ${#id_a[@]} ; i++ ))
            do
            NEW_ALBUM=`osascript -e "tell application \"iTunes\" to get album of (every track where database ID is ${id_a[$i]})"`
            if [ ${#ALBUM[@]} -eq 0 ]; then

                ALBUM=( "${ALBUM[@]}" "$NEW_ALBUM" )

            else

                MARK=1

                for j in ${ALBUM[@]}; do 

                if [[ $j == "$NEW_ALBUM" ]] ; then 
                    MARK=0
                    break
                fi

                done

                if [ $MARK -ne 0 ]; then
                ALBUM=( "${ALBUM[@]}" "$NEW_ALBUM" )
                echo ${id_a[$i]} $NEW_ALBUM
                fi

            fi
            done

            break;;

        "search"  ) echo 'Searching albums...';
            if [ $# -eq 2 ]; then
                osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes"' -e 'if (exists playlist "temp_playlist") then' -e 'delete playlist "temp_playlist"' -e 'end if' -e 'set name of (make new playlist) to "temp_playlist"' -e 'set theseTracks to every track of playlist "Library" whose artist contains "'"$2"'"' -e 'repeat with thisTrack in theseTracks' -e 'duplicate thisTrack to playlist "temp_playlist"' -e 'end repeat' -e 'set theseTracks to every track of playlist "Library" whose album contains "'"$2"'"' -e 'repeat with thisTrack in theseTracks' -e 'duplicate thisTrack to playlist "temp_playlist"' -e 'end repeat' -e 'set theseTracks to every track of playlist "Library" whose name contains "'"$2"'"' -e 'repeat with thisTrack in theseTracks' -e 'duplicate thisTrack to playlist "temp_playlist"' -e 'end repeat' -e 'play playlist "temp_playlist"' -e 'end tell'
            fi
            break;;

        "stop"    ) echo "Stopping iTunes.";
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to stop';
            break ;;
            
        "quit"    ) echo "Quitting iTunes.";
            osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to quit';
            exit 1 ;;

        "help" | * ) echo "help:";
            showHelp;
            break ;;
    esac
done

Neat script!

I find the command name search weird, when it actually searches AND plays the matched albums.

Cool script, but I'm always getting a "Permission Denied" message with any of the basic itunes commands. Using macOS 10.14.6. Maybe a noob issue, but any help would be greatly appreciated!