Answers: How to batch rename files using bash

Alex Popov

I know there are lots of such questions, but I couldn't find one (or a combination of several), which describes the things I want to do. I think I need to use regular expressions, but I am not very good with that. I use zsh. I have a folder with files, which I want to rename:

I want the files challenge1.rb, challenge2.rb, challenge3.rb, etc. to be renamed to c1.rb, c2.rb etc. Similarly task1.rb and similar must be renamed to t1.rb etc.
sample_spec_c1.rb, sample_spec_c2.rb etc. must be renamed to c1_spec.rb, c2_spec.rb etc.

So I guess I need some combination of regular expressions and iteration, but I don't know how to write the bash script.

pabouk

Here is a short script which will do what you want. You can call the script with a list of files like: ./scriptname *.rb or with directories (it will recurse them): ./scriptname .

Do not forget to set the executable bit: chmod a+x scriptname.

#!/bin/sh

suff=rb     # suffix of files to rename

script="$0" # this script name for recursion

for f in "$@" ; do
    if test -d "$f" ; then
        echo "=== recursing directory $f"
        find "$f" -type f -name "*.$suff" -exec "$script" {} +
    elif test -f "$f" ; then
        d="$(dirname "$f")"
        b="$(basename "$f")"
        r="$(echo "$b" | sed -r "s/^([a-zA-Z])[a-zA-Z]*([0-9]+\.${suff})\$/\1\2/;s/^[a-zA-Z]+_([a-zA-Z]+)_([a-zA-Z]+[0-9]+)(\.${suff})\$/\2_\1\3/")"
        echo "-- renaming $f -> $d/$r"
        mv "$f" "$d/$r"
    fi
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

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How to batch rename files using bash