We will look at the ways of…

…chopping* the entire content of a folder (simple drag&drop)
…chopping* a single file or folder (drag&drop + Command key)
…deleting ".DS_Store" files (drag&drop + Command-Opt-Ctrl keys)


The default mode :: chopping* the entire content of a folder

The default mode is the behaviour that you get......ehm......by default :-), i.e. when you simply drag & drop a file or folder onto the Chop application icon.

Let's see when and how to use it. We will do an example. Let's say you have some folders (full of files and other subfolders) that you often have to chop as follow: modify the Group to "admin", change the privileges to rw-rw-r-- (664) for all the enclosed files and to rwxrwxr-x (775) for all the enclosed folders. Here is what you have to do:

  • Launch Chop.
  • Choose "Preferences..." from the Chop menu. You'll get the following window (click to enlarge):

  • Choose "admin" from the "Group" pop-up menu.
  • Change the permissions setting in the "Files" tab to be rw-rw-r-- (664) and in the "Folders" tab to be rwxrwxr-x (775). You can either select the respective checkboxes or, if you're used to the chmod command-line tool, you can directly enter the chmod "octal" equivalent and hit Return.
  • Close the Preferences window. From now on, if you drag & drop a folder onto Chop, its content will be chopped to reflect the settings in the Preferences window. Of course, if you keep Chop in the Dock, you can drag your desired folder directly onto the Chop icon in the Dock.
  • Please note the On/Off switches. If, for example, you turn off the Ownership switch and turn on the others, only modifications to the files and folders permissions will be applied: the ownership setting (User and Group) of the enclosed files and folders won't be modified.


Now, let's say you are ready to drag & drop a folder onto Chop, but you don't remember the settings you previously set in the Preferences window. There's a quick way to check those settings without having to go to the Chop menu and choose "Preferences...": simply do a right-click (control-click or hold down the mouse button) on the Chop icon in the Dock. A Dock menu will show you at a glance the current Preferences settings:

Note the "" (On) and "" (Off) symbols in the Dock menu that reflect the current status of the switches.
Please note also that choosing an item from the Dock menu will bring you directly to the Preferences window at the appropriate section to change that value.


The single mode :: chopping* a single file or folder

The single mode is activated when you hold down the Command key while you drag & drop a file or folder onto the Chop application icon.

The result is a window that shows you at a glance the ownership and permissions information of the dragged file or folder:

This could be useful as a quick Info panel to identify the attributes of a desired file or folder. And of course, you can change any attribute (User, Group, Read – Write - Execute privileges) you want and hit the "Chop it !" button to apply the modifications.


The extra mode :: deleting ".DS_Store" files

The extra mode is activated when you hold down simultaneously the Command, Option and Control keys while you drag & drop a folder onto the Chop application icon.

Let's say you have a folder you want to compress to a .zip archive or burn to a CD to give to a "PC friend". Before doing that, it could be a good idea to delete those invisible ".DS_Store" files hidden in that folder and in its subfolders; 'cause those files will be visible under Windows or another operating system...
So, drag your folder to Chop in extra mode to do that clean-up before giving it to your friend: you'll prevent him from complaining about the invisible "crap" Macs store inside folders (which in reality is NOT crap, but a decent way used by the Mac OS X Finder to store and remember windows size and position, selected View options for each window, etc.).

 

(*: read the paragraph A little bit of "grammar" in the read section)