bash - Move numbers in a filename to the start

07
2014-07
  • handuel

    I have several files in a folder, with names in the form: SOMETEXT1 number SOMETEXT2.mp3, or SOMETEXT number.mp3. I want to rename these to number SOMETEXT SOMETEXT2.mp3, or number SOMETEXT.mp3. Using bash and common GNU command line tools, how would I achieve this?

    • Answers
  • grawity

    Using perl-rename (sometimes called prename):

    prename -v 's/^(.+) (\d+)( .+|\.[^.]+)$/\2 \1\3/' *

    Use -n to just test without renaming.

    The same with bash:

    re='^(.+) ([0-9]+)( .+|\.[^.]+)$'
for file in *; do
    new=$file
    if [[ "$file" =~ $re ]]; then
        new="${BASH_REMATCH[2]} ${BASH_REMATCH[1]}${BASH_REMATCH[3]}"
    fi
    if [[ "$new" != "$file" ]]; then
        mv -v "$file" "$new"
    fi
done

    • Related Question

    bash - Rename sets of files based on size
  • Dave Jarvis

    Background

    Rename one set of files based on a name that corresponds to another set, using a sort order based on file size to match the file names. The files from both sets have approximately the same sizes. Close enough that when sorted by file size both lists are in the same order. The number of files in each set is exactly the same.

    Problem

    First file set:

    master~$ for f in $(ls -S); do echo $f; done
06-AudioTrack_06.flac
08-AudioTrack_08.flac
01-AudioTrack_01.flac
05-AudioTrack_05.flac
02-AudioTrack_02.flac

    Second file set:

    corrupt~$ for f in $(ls -S); do echo $f; done
Groove_de_V..flac
Jump.flac
Do_You_Savvy.flac
Gershwins_Blues.flac
Blue_Skies.flac
If_I_Had_A_Ribbon_Bow.flac

    Question

    How do you rename the first set as follows:

    06-Groove_de_V..flac
08-Jump.flac
01-Do_You_Savvy.flac
05-Gershwins_Blues.flac
02-Blue_Skies.flac

    Script

    So far...

    master~$ for f in $(ls -S); do
  IDX=$(echo $f | awk '{print substr( $1, 1, 2 )}');
  echo "mv $i $IDX-";
done

    Produces:

    mv 06-AudioTrack_06.flac 06-
mv 08-AudioTrack_08.flac 08-
mv 01-AudioTrack_01.flac 01-
mv 05-AudioTrack_05.flac 05-
mv 02-AudioTrack_02.flac 02-

    Thank you!


    • Related Answers
  • Dennis Williamson

    Some modifications to your script eliminating the need for AWK and simplifying the incrementing of the index variable. It will also now correctly handle filenames that include spaces.

    #!/bin/bash

index=0

# Store the names of original (corrupt) files
while read -r f
do
    corrupt[index++]=${f##*/}
done < <(ls -S "$1"/*.flac)

index=0

while read -r f
do
    idx=${f:0:2}
    original=${corrupt[index++]}
    echo mv "$f" "$idx-$original"
done < <(ls -S *.flac)
  • Dave Jarvis 
    #!/bin/bash

let INDEX=0

# Store the names of original (corrupt) files
for f in $(ls -S "$1"/*.flac); do
  corrupt[$INDEX]=$(basename "$f");
  let INDEX="$INDEX+1"
done

let INDEX=0

for f in $(ls -S *.flac); do
  IDX=$(echo $f | awk '{ print substr( $1, 1, 2 ) }');
  original=${corrupt[$INDEX]};

  echo "mv $f $IDX-$original";

  let INDEX="$INDEX+1"
done