Guillotine is a drop box that “decapitates” those ugly all caps DOS-like filenames. Just drop the offending files/folders on it, and the names will become all lowercase with the first letter of each word capitalized. Guillotine processes the complete contents of dropped folders. To make filenames all caps, just hold down the command key while dropping. For all lowercase, hold down the option key. Note: you will have to close and reopen the folder for the new name(s) to appear in the Finder.
Requirements
Guillotine requires System 7 or later. It is a fat binary for optimal performance on PowerMacintoshes and 68K Macs. My goal is to make Guillotine support as many setups as possible, so if it doesn’t work on your Mac, let me know!
You can always check my web page <http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~townsend/programs.html> for the latest version of Guillotine.
Acknowledgements
Guillotine was written in CW8 on an LC 575/PowerPC 20/540, using DropShell by Leonard Rosenthol, Marshall Clow, and Steven Somogyi.
Thanks to W Clark Buchanan for the cool icon.
Reactions to Guillotine
“I love the name of the applet!”
— Lance Chun (via Internet)
“Thanks for this really elegant application. I just signed on to CompuServe, and everything I download has those horrible cap filenames… your programme has dealt with them all.”
— Joanna Baron (via CompuServe)
“Thank you for Guillotine 1.0, exactly what I've been looking for. DOS-style file names have kept annoying me ever since DOS Mounter-like software has been available…”
— Einar Magnus Råberg, Trondheim, Norway (via Internet)
How to Contact Me
Please send me any comments, suggestions, or (heaven forbid) bug reports. I can be reached at the following addresses:
Internet:
JasonTownsend@mail.utexas.edu
Snail mail:
Jason Townsend
6306 Sunview
San Antonio, TX 78238
Guillotine 1.0a3 changes:
• Better handling of foreign characters when capitalizing the first letter of each word.
Guillotine 1.0a2 changes:
• Fixed bug which prevented capitalizing with command key on some 68K Macs.
• Added capability to capitalize only the first letter of each word.
Guillotine 1.0a1 changes:
• Fixed misspellings in Doc file, about box.
• Yet another new icon. Now resembles a dropping blade.
• Names are made all caps when you hold down the command key.
Guillotine 1.0d3 changes:
• Redesigned, larger icon.
Guillotine 1.0d2 changes:
• Decapitates folders and disks as well as files.
• Less cramped splash screen.
Future plans:
• Better updating of filenames in the Finder.
• Progress indicator for longer decaptitations.
• Better about box/removal of splash screen.
• More options like stripping/adding suffixes (.sea, .cpt, etc.), restricting names to DOS limits (8.3).