[xplorer˛] — Sizeof selected files
home » blog » 29 August 2010
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When you move files around especially in small devices like USB sticks (anyone still using floppies?), you may run out of disk space. Knowing the file size (in bytes) of a bunch of selected files comes handy.

The fourth pane in xplorer˛ status bar is the selection information pane. As you select more files their total number and total byte size is shown, e.g. 12: 151,442 means that there are 12 files selected with a total size of 151,442 bytes (~147 KB). size information pane

Another way to work with total sizes is Mark > Total size menu command. Here you specify a byte size limit and xplorer˛ selects as many files as necessary to make up the requested total size. This comes handy if you want to fill a CDROM up to the brink with small files.

What about more exotic summations? I had one customer the other day asking if he could calculate the total play time (minutes:seconds) of a bunch of music MP3 files. xplorer˛ on its own cannot do this summation, but with a little tweaking everything is possible!

First you need to install Audioshell column handler which among other things offers reliable indications of music and video file durations — it installs an extra column for detailed view mode called Audio duration. That will display the individual song duration.

To sum the total song duration, use Edit > Copy columns menu command to extract the file information as text in the clipboard, then paste it in MS Excel to do the 'complex' aritmetic involving minutes and seconds. You may remember we have used a similar export text trick to print directory listings.

More information in today's demo video

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