AppleScript in a Nutshell

Name

osacompile

Syntax

osacompile [-l language]  [-o name] [-e save file as execute only] [-d 
place the resulting script in the data fork of the output file] [-r 
type:id place the resulting script in the resource fork of the output 
file, in the resource specified by type:id] [-t the four-character file-type 
code for the script (the default is "osas")] [-c the four-character 
creator  code for the script (the default is "ToyS")] [one or more files 
or standard input]

Description

The osacompile program is located in your startup disk:usr:bin directory (or, /usr/bin/ ). You have to call osacompile using the /usr/bin/osacompile syntax.

Tip

When you enter a new shell or window with Terminal, the default working directory is the home directory of the user that is logged in. For example, my home directory is called bruceper, so when I enter a new shell, the working directory is /users/bruceper/. You can find the name of the working directory from the command line by using the pwd BSD command.

You can provide a filename for the new script by using the optional -o switch, as in:

/usr/bin/osacompile -o newscript scripttext.txt.

This command-line sequence would attempt to compile the file scripttext.txt, located in the current working directory, into a compiled script called newscript. The Terminal depicted in Figure 34-1 did not provide a new filename, so the new script received the default filename of a.scpt. Type the filenames or paths inside the Terminal window without quotation marks (e.g., /users/bruceper/newscript ...