ellmos-ai English — Official English version of
folder-flattening.
Workflow: Folder Flattening
Goal: Convert nested folder structures into a flat, machine-readable structure. Advantage: No more clicking through directories — search via database (Verzeichnis.db) instead. Duplicates are allowed when thematically meaningful.
Phase Overview
| Phase | Description | Script Section |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flatten: Pull all subfolders to one level | phase_flatten |
| 2 | Shorten: Truncate long path names to last segment, merge on conflicts | phase_shorten |
| 3 | Clean up: Resolve multiple underscores (___), remove trailing _ |
phase_cleanup_underscores |
| 4 | Group: Move numbered folders, CD folders, and short names into collection folders | phase_group_problematic |
| 5 | Triplet analysis: Sliding groups of 3, shortest name as merge target | phase_tripel_merge |
| 6 | Media format merge: Consolidate folders by file type (template) | phase_media_merge |
| 7 | Clean up: Delete empty folders | phase_cleanup_empty |
Important Rules
Triplet Analysis Matching
- Substring:
EducationinEducationalBrochures-> merge intoEducation - Plural/Umlaut:
Room=Rooms,Part=Parts,Book=Books - First word:
Autism ADHDmatchesAutism Career(same beginning)
Minimum Length
- Single-word name without spaces: at least 8 characters (prevents
Hand,House,Form) - With spaces (e.g.,
ICF Catalog): from 3 characters OK - This keeps
ICF,ASD Womenetc. permitted
Restart After Merge
After each merge, the folder list is reloaded and restarted at the merge target.
This way, e.g., Autism collects all extensions before moving on.
Media Format Merge (Template System)
Phase 6 uses a template array MEDIA_TYPES. Each entry defines:
- Target folder (with
_prefix) - File extensions belonging to this type
MEDIA_TYPES=(
"_Audio|mp3|m4a|wav|flac|ogg|wma|aac|opus|aiff"
"_Video|mp4|avi|mkv|mov|wmv|flv|webm|m4v|mpg|mpeg|3gp"
"_Images|jpg|jpeg|png|gif|bmp|tiff|tif|webp|svg|ico|heic|heif|raw|cr2|nef"
# Extensible:
# "_Spreadsheets|xlsx|xls|csv|ods"
# "_Presentations|pptx|ppt|odp"
# "_Code|py|js|ts|sh|bat|ps1"
# "_CAD|dwg|dxf|step|stl"
# "_3D|obj|fbx|blend|gltf|glb"
# "_Fonts|ttf|otf|woff|woff2"
)
Only folders containing exclusively files of one type are moved. Folders with subfolders are skipped.
Adding a New Media Type
Simply add a new line to the MEDIA_TYPES array:
"_TargetFolder|ext1|ext2|ext3"
Execution
# Complete run: (Deutsch)
cd /path/to/target/directory
bash ordner_flattening_komplett.sh
# Or individual phases: (Deutsch)
bash ordner_flattening_komplett.sh --phase flatten
bash ordner_flattening_komplett.sh --phase tripel
bash ordner_flattening_komplett.sh --phase media
bash ordner_flattening_komplett.sh --phase cleanup
Experience Values (Session 2026-01-26)
- Start: 206 folders + 252 loose files, ~5600 nested subfolders
- After flatten: ~2200 folders on one level
- After shorten + clean up: ~2005 folders
- After grouping (numbers, CDs): ~2005 -> collection folders created
- After triplet v1: ~1561 folders
- After triplet v2 (8-character rule): further reduction
- Media format phase: Audio/video/image folders consolidated