Answers: bash - Batch rename files that do not match pattern

Atul Kakrana

I do not have programming experience and mostly use one-liner or sometimes more to get the job done. I am having problem to batch rename the files that do not match a particular pattern.

Sample file-names from directory:

Meeting_Packages.pdf
13_textfile0
19_textfile0
23_textfile0
29_textfile0
33_textfile1
45_textfile0
5_textfile3
Membership.pdf
13_textfile1
19_textfile1
23_textfile1
29_textfile1
34_textfile0
46_textfile0
6_textfile0
xyz2009.pdf
13_textfile2
19_textfile2
23_textfile2
29_textfile2
34_textfile1
47_textfile0
6_textfile1
meeting.ics

I want to rename the files e.g. Meeting_Packages.pdf, Membership.pdf, meeting.ics and xyz2009.pdf to the file from where they came (input file). Actually it is output of ripmime with mails as xx_textfilex and others are attachments. I want to name attachments as the original input file

My Code:

#!/bin/bash

FILES=*.mime
for f in $FILES
do
    echo "Processing $f"
    #rip mails into attachments and text files also add a prefix to text files
    ripmime -i $f -d ~/test/ripmime --prefix 
    #Remove white spaces from files 
    rename 's/ /_/g' ~/test/ripmime/*
    #rename attachments as original input files
    rename 's/\[^0-9]/'$f/ ~/test/ripmime/* 
done

My problem is the last rename line where I try to filter files other than xx_textfilex and rename. I tried different regular expressions but could not do that. I can select and rename the textfiles by:

rename 's/textfiles/'$f/ ~/test/ripmime/*

but I need the inverse of that and rename files other then textfiles.

How can I do this?

Simon Sheehan

I use https://gist.github.com/995151

rename 's/\.bak$//' *.pdf

Darthenius

You can combine ls and grep -v:

ls | grep -v ".*textfile.*" | while read filename; do
  # rename $filename to something
done

How can I batch rename files in bash?

bash

Nathan Long

I've got some files like this:

database1-backup-01-01-2011.sql
database2-backup-01-01-2011.sql

...etc. I want to rename them to add AM, like this:

database1-backup-01-01-2011-AM.sql
database2-backup-01-01-2011-AM.sql

What's the most concise way to do that from the bash shell?

Related Answers

chrish

Another option:

for i in *.sql ; do
    mv -v $i ${i%.sql}-AM.sql
done

This loops through all the .sql files and renames them to end in -AM.sql instead.

PROTIP: Use $(command) instead of `command` in your scripts (and command-lines), it makes quoting and escaping less of a nightmare.

Majenko

Try this little script:

#!/bin/sh

FILES=`ls *.sql`
for FILE in ${FILES}
{
    BASE=`basename ${FILE} .sql`
    mv ${FILE} ${BASE}-AM.sql
}

I just typed that from memory so if it doesn't work 100% don't blame me (i.e., back up your data first ;) )

How it works:

Collect all files into a variable (you could put this inside the for instead but I like to keep things easy to read):

FILES=`ls *.sql`

Loop through each file:

for FILE in ${FILES} { ... }

Get the filename without .sql:

BASE=`basename ${FILE} .sql`

Rename the file, adding -AM.sql to the base name:

mv ${FILE} ${BASE}-AM.sql

Dennis Williamson

Using the Perl script version of rename:

rename 's/\.sql$/-AM$&/' *.sql

Using the util-linux-ng version of rename (but only if ".sql" only appears at the end of the filename):

rename .sql -AM.sql *.sql

Using mmv:

mmv '*.sql' '#1-AM.sql'

Nathan Long

Since a Perl script has been suggested, here's a Ruby script to do the same:

`ls *.sql`.split("\n").each do |filename|
  new_filename = filename.split('.').join('-AM.')
  `mv #{filename} #{new_filename}`
end

Home

bash - Batch rename files that do not match pattern