Judgement Day

About Judgement Day

Judgement Day is a free AppleScript utility for Mac OS X that shuffles words from one end of a paragraph to the other: the last shall be first and the first shall be last. It's as simple as that, intended for working with lists of names in a word processor, to shuffle the surname to/from either end...
Bigglesworth, John Joachim III

First Last

John Joachim Bigglesworth III
John Joachim Bigglesworth III

Last First

Bigglesworth, John Joachim III
...but it will work on any series of paragraphs.

Since it's intended for working with names it includes a default set of common suffixes (I II III etc up to XV plus Jr & Sr) that are disregarded and remain at the end. Choose the Set Prefs button if you want to turn this option on, off, or to add more suffixes.

Instructions
Copy your list of names, launch Judgement Day (double click, run it from the script menu, or do whatever you'd normally do), decide which way you want to go, paste the rearranged list into your document.

Judgement Day assumes that whatever’s in the clipboard is the data you want to work with. If the clipboard is empty, you’re invited to enter your list of names. If the contents of the clipboard can’t be processed (say because you’ve got picture rather than text data in it), Judgement Day ends. Remember the GIGO rule: "Garbage In, Garbage Out".

Download Judgement Day Now Stuffit BinHex (hqx) file, 248k

Judgement Day should handle as many names as you care to throw at it: one name or a list of several hundred. The longest list I've tried had 500 names and it took about 2 seconds... well OK, maybe 3. Of course, the more high-falutin' the names, the longer it will take: a list of names like Jeremy Bobspopple Montgomery Smytheson-Gung-Ho Jr VII will take a tad longer to process than a list of Fred Bloggs type names.

System Requirements
Compiled and tested under Mac OS X 10.3.9 running AppleScript 1.9.3. No testing has been carried out under other OS versions, though there’s no reason to suppose it won’t run perfectly happily in them: it’s very straightforward text manipulation.

Disclaimer: Judgement Day is provided free of charge, with no warranty: use is entirely at your own risk. No liability whatsoever is accepted for any loss or damage of any kind howsoever incurred that may result from its use or from your use of the data it provides. Use is subject to acceptance of these terms.

Distribution: May be distributed freely provided that this document accompanies it. Adapt freely for your own use but please do not distribute modified copies.
Available for download from www.groomsville.co.uk/sls/judgementday.htm

Acknowledgments: Thanks to Barry for feedback via the AppleWorks discussion forums, where Judgement Day began. Where it ends is down to you.