Apple

set target_folder to choose folder with prompt "Choose target folder to clean"

tell application "Finder"

set filecount to count item target_folder

end tell

display dialog "There are:" & filecount & " files"

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now I know your going to say use a 'do shell' something like:

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set target_folder to choose folder with prompt "Choose target folder to clean"

set posixfolder to POSIX path of target_folder

set filecount to do shell script "ls -l " & quoted form of posixfolder & " | wc -l | awk '{print $1}'"

display dialog "There are:" & filecount & " files"

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but the problem here is the folder path selected may contain illegal 'shell' characters thus it breaks

the shell script.

suggestions.... speed is important here, so shell script is the preferred method.

thanks.