Open Multiple Text Files With One Click using ActiveState Perl

This is a convenient way of opening many text files at once in an editor that supports multiple tabs.  For those that use a text editor for taking notes, logs, work files, journaling, etc. and often reference these files frequently this technique is very easy to use.

Requirements are:

• An editor that supports multiple files open at once in separate tabs.
• ActiveState Perl installed (and in your PATH)
• The sourcecode below
• setup a Windows Shortcut to the perl code

In the code below you will see that it is configured to open 4 files when "log.pl" runs. 
The files are:
YYYY_MM.txt (each month it will create a new file)
JOURNAL.txt
INFO.txt
TIPS.txt

You can change the names and the number of files you wish to open and the script will build the appropriate command line to run (see lines 20-23 below).

Make sure you specify the correct editor you are using... In this case it is using TextPad.exe, but it can use other editors if you specify the correct path to your editor (see line 14 below).

Source Code:

#!/usr/bin/perl
#Script : log.pl
#Purpose: To open multiple files at once in the editor that supports tabs
#Requirements: ActivePerl (in your path)
#Create a shortcut for this script
# Target: path to your script
# Start in: directory your script is in
use POSIX qw(strftime);

$scnt = 0; #string count
@strings = (); #array of strings
$cmd = ""; #command to run

$strings[$scnt++] = "C:\\Progra~1\\TextPa~1\\TextPad.exe"; #Use Textpad editor
#$strings[$scnt++] = "C:\\Progra~1\\EditPl~1\\editplus.exe"; #Use Editplus editor

#--------------------------------------------------------------------
# FILES YOU ENTER HERE WILL BE OPENED IN SEPARATE TABS IN YOUR EDITOR
#--------------------------------------------------------------------
$strings[$scnt++] = strftime("c:\\dir1\\notes\\%Y_%m.txt", localtime);
$strings[$scnt++] = "c:\\dir1\\notes\\JOURNAL.txt";
$strings[$scnt++] = "c:\\dir1\\notes\\INFO.txt";
$strings[$scnt++] = "c:\\dir1\\notes\\TIPS.txt";

foreach $str (@strings) { #Build Command string
$cmd .= chr(34) . $str . chr(34) . " ";
}

system ($cmd); #Open files in editor
  

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Enjoy!