Howto: Linux Rename Multiple Files At a Shell Prompt

From my mailbag:

How do I rename multiple files at a shell prompt under Linux or UNIX operating systems?

Renaming multiple files at a shell prompt is always considered as a black art by many UNIX gurus.

To be frank if you understand regex then it is not a black art anymore. A regular expression is a string that describes or matches a set of strings, according to certain syntax rules (see regex @ wikipedia for more information). Linux (and *BSD) comes with handy utility called rename. As a name suggest 'rename' renames the filenames supplied according to the rule specified (syntax):

rename "regex-rule" files 

The rename command discussed here is nothing but a perl script. You can download the script as described below.

Rename command syntax

rename oldname newname *.files

For example rename all *.bak file as *.txt, enter:
$ rename .bak .txt *.bak

Examples: Linux Rename Multiple Files

Convert all mp3 filenames to more readable and usable format. Most of the time MP3 got multiple blank spaces, which may confuse many command line based Linux utilities and mp3 players

$ ls 

Output:

06 -  Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.mp3
DDR - Kung- Fu Fighting (bus stop).mp3
AXEL CRAZYFROG.mp3

Remove all blank space with rename command:
$ rename "s/ *//g" *.mp3
$ ls
Output:

06-Gorillaz-FeelGoodInc.mp3
DDR-Kung-FuFighting(busstop).mp3
AXEL-CRAZYFROG.mp3

Linux Shell script to rename files

Before using the rename command I was using the following shell script to rename my mp3s:

#!/bin/bash
# To remove blank space
if [ $# -eq 0 ];
then
 echo "Syntax: $(basename $0) file-name [command]"
 exit 1
fi
FILES=$1
CMD=$2
for i in $FILES
do
# remove all blanks and store them OUT
OUT=$(echo $i | sed 's/  *//g')
if [ "$CMD" == "" ];
then
#just show file
echo $OUT
else
#else execute command such as mv or cp or rm
[ "$i" != "$OUT" ] && $($CMD  "$i"  "$OUT")
fi
done

To remove .jpg file extension, you write command as follows:

$ rename 's/\.jpg$//' *.jpg

To convert all uppercase filenames to lowercase:

$ rename 'y/A-Z/a-z/' *

Read the man page of rename command for more information:
man rename

Perl Script To Rename File

Download the following script and save as rename in /usr/local/bin/ directory or $HOME/bin and run it as follows:
$ ~/bin/rename 'y/A-Z/a-z/' *
OR
$ /usr/local/bin/rename 'y/A-Z/a-z/' *
Perl script (download):

 
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
#
#  This script was developed by Robin Barker (Robin.Barker@npl.co.uk),
#  from Larry Wall's original script eg/rename from the perl source.
#
#  This script is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
#  under the same terms as Perl itself.
#
# Larry(?)'s RCS header:
#  RCSfile: rename,v   Revision: 4.1   Date: 92/08/07 17:20:30 
#
# $RCSfile: rename,v $$Revision: 1.5 $$Date: 1998/12/18 16:16:31 $
#
# $Log: rename,v $
# Revision 1.5  1998/12/18 16:16:31  rmb1
# moved to perl/source
# changed man documentation to POD
#
# Revision 1.4  1997/02/27  17:19:26  rmb1
# corrected usage string
#
# Revision 1.3  1997/02/27  16:39:07  rmb1
# added -v
#
# Revision 1.2  1997/02/27  16:15:40  rmb1
# *** empty log message ***
#
# Revision 1.1  1997/02/27  15:48:51  rmb1
# Initial revision
#
 
use strict;
 
use Getopt::Long;
Getopt::Long::Configure('bundling');
 
my ($verbose, $no_act, $force, $op);
 
die "Usage: rename [-v] [-n] [-f] perlexpr [filenames]\n"
    unless GetOptions(
	'v|verbose' => \$verbose,
	'n|no-act'  => \$no_act,
	'f|force'   => \$force,
    ) and $op = shift;
 
$verbose++ if $no_act;
 
if (!@ARGV) {
    print "reading filenames from STDIN\n" if $verbose;
    @ARGV = <STDIN>;
    chop(@ARGV);
}
 
for (@ARGV) {
    my $was = $_;
    eval $op;
    die $@ if $@;
    next if $was eq $_; # ignore quietly
    if (-e $_ and !$force)
    {
	warn  "$was not renamed: $_ already exists\n";
    }
    elsif ($no_act or rename $was, $_)
    {
	print "$was renamed as $_\n" if $verbose;
    }
    else
    {
	warn  "Can't rename $was $_: $!\n";
    }
}
 
__END__
 
=head1 NAME
 
rename - renames multiple files
 
=head1 SYNOPSIS
 
B<rename> S<[ B<-v> ]> S<[ B<-n> ]> S<[ B<-f> ]> I<perlexpr> S<[ I<files> ]>
 
=head1 DESCRIPTION
 
C<rename>
renames the filenames supplied according to the rule specified as the
first argument.
The I<perlexpr>
argument is a Perl expression which is expected to modify the C<$_>
string in Perl for at least some of the filenames specified.
If a given filename is not modified by the expression, it will not be
renamed.
If no filenames are given on the command line, filenames will be read
via standard input.
 
For example, to rename all files matching C<*.bak> to strip the extension,
you might say
 
	rename 's/\.bak$//' *.bak
 
To translate uppercase names to lower, you'd use
 
	rename 'y/A-Z/a-z/' *
 
=head1 OPTIONS
 
=over 8
 
=item B<-v>, B<--verbose>
 
Verbose: print names of files successfully renamed.
 
=item B<-n>, B<--no-act>
 
No Action: show what files would have been renamed.
 
=item B<-f>, B<--force>
 
Force: overwrite existing files.
 
=back
 
=head1 ENVIRONMENT
 
No environment variables are used.
 
=head1 AUTHOR
 
Larry Wall
 
=head1 SEE ALSO
 
mv(1), perl(1)
 
=head1 DIAGNOSTICS
 
If you give an invalid Perl expression you'll get a syntax error.
 
=head1 BUGS
 
The original C<rename> did not check for the existence of target filenames,
so had to be used with care.  I hope I've fixed that (Robin Barker).
 
=cut

Page last updated at 5:43 AM, February 18, 2012.

• Tweet
• 

If you would like to be kept up to date with our posts, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or even by subscribing to our RSS Feed.