pyratelog

20230522-ara.md (2263B)

---

 It is Monday and I am in one of those rare moods when I can't decide what music to listen to while I work.
 
 This happens every so often although I can usually find something from my digital collection, but today I can't settle on anything.  Metal, synth, Spanish guitar, even chiptune; nothing is quenching my ear thirst.
 
 In a moment of desperation (or madness?), I threw together a script to pick an album at random from my digital library and add it to [cmus](https://cmus.github.io/){target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"}.  Behold, `ara`
 ```
 #!/bin/bash
 #    ██████   ██████  ██████
 #   ░░░░░░██ ░░██░░█ ░░░░░░██
 #    ███████  ░██ ░   ███████
 #   ██░░░░██  ░██    ██░░░░██
 #  ░░████████░███   ░░████████
 #   ░░░░░░░░ ░░░     ░░░░░░░░
 # a d d  r a n d o m  a l b u m
 
 # default to adding one album
 [ $# -eq 0 ] && num=1 || num=$1
 
 # set path to music and read into array
 library_dir="$HOME/lib/music/"
 readarray -d '' library < <(find ${library_dir} -mindepth 2 -maxdepth 2 -type d -print0)
 
 # get some randomness
 RANDOM=$$$(date +%s)
 
 # add _n_ random albums to cmus library
 for n in $(seq 1 ${num}) ; do
 	random_album=${library[$RANDOM % ${#library[@]}]}
 	cmus-remote -C "add ${random_album}"
 done
 ```
 
 The script is simple enough.  Find albums in my music library path, add them to an array, then select one or more albums and add them to my `cmus` library using `cmus-remote`.
 
 The `find` command uses `-mindepth 2 -maxdepth 2` on the basis that my music library directory is organised as
 ```
 artist
 └── album
 ```
 
 I can then add as many random albums as I like, defaulting to one if no number is specified
 ```
 ara 8
 ```
 
 You can view the script on my [git server](https://git.pyratebeard.net/dotfiles/file/cmus/bin/ara.html){target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"} or incant
 ```
 curl -L git.pyratebeard.net/pub/dotfiles/cmus/bin/ara
 ```
 
 For those following my [#weeklymusictoot](https://harbour.cafe/tags/weeklymusictoot){target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"} on the fediverse, this week's listening may be a bit weird.