QCMD(1) 						      General Commands Manual							   QCMD(1)

NAME

       qmv, qcp - Rename or copy files quickly, editing the file names in a text editor

SYNOPSIS

       qcp [OPTION]... [FILE]...

       qmv [OPTION]... [FILE]...

       qcmd --command=COMMAND [OPTION]... [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION

       This manual page document describes the qcp, qmv and qcmd commands.

       The  qmv program allows files to be renamed by editing their names in any text editor. By changing a letter in a text document, a letter in
       a filename can be changed. Since the files are listed after each other, common changes can be made more quickly.

       The qcp program works like qmv, but copies files instead of moving them.

       The qmv program was built with safety in mind - bogus renames caused by human error are avoided by performing as many checks  as  possible.
       Because of this, qmv supports an interactive mode where each step in the rename procedure can be executed manually. The default is to start
       qmv in non-interactive mode. However, when there is a conflict or error, qmv will drop to interactive mode (instead of losing all user-made
       changes). For more information on the renaming process and interactive mode, see below. This also applies to qcp.

       The qcmd program works just like qmv and qcp but allows you to specify which command to execute.

       The ls(1) program is used to list files to rename or copy. Therefore qmv, qcp, and qcmd accepts some ls options.

RENAMING
/COPYING PROCESS
       The process of renaming or copying files consists of many steps. They are:

       List files
	      Generate a list files to rename from command-line arguments by using ls(1).

       Create an editable text file
	      The edit format creates an editable text file with the file names.

       Start the editor
	      Start the text editor and wait until the user has finished editing it.

       Read the edited text file
	      The edit format reads the edited text file now with updated file names.

       Check rename and reorder to resolve conflicts (qmv only)
	      This is a complicated step which involves the following tasks:

	      Tag  renames  where  the	destination  file  already  exists, renames where the old file is now missing or inaccessible, and renames
	      renames where the new name was not changed. Perform a topologic sort on the renames,  so	that  renaming	b->c,  a->b  is  possible.
	      Resolve cross references by renaming into temporary names, so that renaming e->f, f->e (or e->f, f->g, g->e and so on) is possible.

	      This step results in a plan of renames.

       Display the plan.
	      Display the plan to the user.

       Apply the plan.
	      Apply the plan by actually renaming or copying files (unless --dummy was specified).

       If  an error occurs during any of the above steps (except the first), qmv/qcp drops the user into the interactive mode. This way no changes
       should be lost, and errors can be corrected manually before continuing.	See below for a description of the interactive mode.

OPTIONS

       These programs follow the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with two dashes (`-').

       -a, --all
	      (Passed to ls.) Do not hide entries starting with `.'.

       -A, --almost-all
	      (Passed to ls.) Do not list implied `.' and `..'.

       -B, --ignore-backups
	      (Passed to ls.) Do not list implied entries ending with `~'.

       -c     (Passed to ls.) Sort by ctime (time of last modification).

       --command=COMMAND
	      Execute COMMAND instead of mv or cp.

       -d, --directory
	      (Passed to ls.) List directory entires instead of contents.

       -r, --reverse
	      (Passed to ls.) Reverse order while sorting.

       -R, --recursive
	      (Passed to ls.) List subdirectories recursively.

       -S     (Passed to ls.) Sort by file size.

       --sort=WORD
	      (Passed to ls.) Sort by extension (-X), none (-U), size (-S), time (-t), version (-v), status (-c), time (-t), atime (-u), or access
	      (-u).

       --time=WORD
	      (Passed to ls.) If sorting is done by time (--sort=time), sort by atime, access, use, ctime or status time.

       -t     (Passed to ls.) Sort by modification time.

       -u     (Passed to ls.) Sort by access time.

       -U     (Passed to ls.) Do not sort; list entries in directory order.

       -X     (Passed to ls.) Sort alphabetically by entry extension.

       -f, --format=FORMAT
	      Change edit format of text file. See below for possible values.

       -o, --options=OPTIONS
	      Pass options to the selected edit format. OPTIONS is in the format

	      OPTION[=VALUE][,OPTION[=VALUE]...]

	      For a list of available options for each format, use --options=help or see below.

       -i, --interactive
	      Start in command mode (see below for information on this mode).

       -e, --editor=PROGRAM
	      Specify  program to edit text file with. The default program is determined by looking at the VISUAL environment variable, or if that
	      is not set, the EDITOR environment variable. If that is not set either, use the program called editor.

       --ls=PROGRAM
	      Specify path of the ls program. If you omit the directory, the executable will be searched for in the directories specified  by  the
	      PATH environment variable.

       -v, --verbose
	      Be more verbose about what is being done.

       --dummy
	      Do everything as usually, except actually renaming any files ("dummy" mode).

       --help Show summary of options.

       --version
	      Output version information and exit.

EDIT FORMATS

       An  edit  format is responsible for generating a text file for editing, and parsing it once it has been edited. The default format is dual-
       column, but there are other formats as well.

       Not all edit formats take the same options. Therefore, it is necessary to specify them using the --options (-o) option. This option takes a
       list of "suboptions" similar to the -o option in mount(8).

       Available  edit	formats  are  `single-column'  (or `sc'), `dual-column' (or `dc'), and `destination-only' (or `do'). The default format is
       dual-column.

DUAL-COLUMN FORMAT
       The dual-column format (`dual-column' or `dc') displays files in two columns. This is the default and  recommended  format.   The  leftmost
       column is usually the source file name (which should not be edited), and the rightmost column the destination file name.

       Supported options:

       swap   Swap  location  of  old and new names when editing. I.e. the leftmost column is now the destination file name, and the rightmost the
	      source file name.

       separate
	      Put a blank line between all renames.

       tabsize=SIZE
	      By default, tab characters of size 8 are used to separate the columns.  With this option the width of these tab  characters  can	be
	      changed.

       spaces Use space characters instead of tab characters when indenting.

       width=WIDTH
	      This option specifies the character position (horizontally) which the second file name starts at.

       autowidth
	      Normally,  if  the source file name is longer than width characters, the destination name is printed on the next line instead.  With
	      this option enabled however, qmv/qcp will adjust the width so that source and destination file names can be displayed on one line.

	      If a width has been specified with width prior to autowidth, that width will be used as a minimum width.

	      Example: Assume that width=10,autowidth is specified. Even if all source file names are shorter  than  five  characters,	the  split
	      width  would  be 10. If there had been one file name longer than 10 characters, the final width would have been more than 10 charac-
	      ters.

	      This option is enabled by default.

       indicator1=TEXT
	      Text to put before the first file name (column).

       indicator2=TEXT
	      Text to put before the second file name (column).

       help   Show summary of edit format options.

SINGLE-COLUMN FORMAT
       The single-column format (`single-column' or `sc') displays files in a single column - first source file name and on the next line the des-
       tination file name.

       Supported options:

       swap   Swap  location  of old and new names when editing. I.e. the first line will contain the destination file name, and the next line the
	      source file name.

       separate
	      Put a blank line between all renames.

       indicator1=TEXT
	      Text to put before the first file name.

       indicator2=TEXT
	      Text to put before the second file name.

       help   Show summary of edit format options.

DESTINATION-ONLY FORMAT
       The destination-only format (`destination-only' or `do') displays files only the destination file name, one on each line.  This	format	is
       generally not recommended, since the only way to identify source file name is by looking at the line number. But it may be useful with some
       text editors.

       Supported options:

       separate
	      Put a blank line between all renames (file names).

INTERACTIVE MODE

       In interactive mode qmv/qcp reads commands from the keyboard, parses them, and executes them. This is done using GNU readline.

       The following commands are available:

       ls, list [OPTIONS].. [FILES]..
	      Select files to rename. If no files are specified, select all files in current directory. The accepted options are those	which  are
	      passed to ls(1). Use `help ls' to display a list of these.

       import FILE
	      Read files to rename from a text file. Each line should correspond to an existing file to rename.

       ed, edit
	      Edit renames in a text editor. If this command has been run before, and not `all' is specified, only edit renames with errors.

       plan   Display the current rename-plan. (This plan is created after `edit'.)

       apply  Apply the current plan, i.e. rename files. Only those files marked as OK in the plan will be renamed.

       retry  If some rename failed earlier during `apply', this command will try those renames again.

       show   Display the value of the specified configuration variable, or all variables if none specified. See below for a list of configuration
	      variables.

       set VARIABLE VALUE
	      Set the value of a configuration variable.

       exit, quit
	      Exit the program. If there are unapplied changes, the user will be notified so, and it will be necessary	to  run  this  command	an
	      extra time to exit the program.

       help [ls|usage]
	      If  `ls'	is specified, display list options. If `usage' is specified, display accepted command line options. Otherwise display help
	      on commands in interactive mode.

       version
	      Display version information.

VARIABLES

       The following variables are available in interactive mode:

       dummy BOOLEAN

       editor STRING

       format STRING

       options STRING
	      These variables corresponds to the options with the same name.

       tempfile STRING
	      This variable contains the name of the temporary file which is edited with `edit'. It cannot be set; only be read with `show'.

       A boolean value is specified as `0', `false', `no', `off' or `1', `true', `yes', and `on'. Strings are specified without quotes.

EXAMPLES

       Edit names of files in current directory.
	    qmv

       Edit names of files with extension `.c'. Sort files by modification time.
	    qmv -t *.c

       Edit names of files using the nedit editor and with column width 100.
	    qmv -enedit -owidth=100

REPORTING BUGS

       Report bugs to <oskar@osk.mine.nu>.

AUTHOR

       The author of renameutils and this manual page is Oskar Liljeblad <oskar@osk.mine.nu>.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011 Oskar Liljeblad

       This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICU-
       LAR PURPOSE.

qcmd (renameutils)						 December 4, 2007							   QCMD(1)