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Change part of filenames in a bulk way

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# 1  
Old 06-06-2011
Change part of filenames in a bulk way
Hallo!

I have generated lots of data file which all having this format:

Code:
sp*t1overt2*.txt

Now I want to change them in this way:

Code:
sp*t2overt1*.txt

The rest of the file names stay unchanged. I know this is kind of routine action in sed or awk, but dont know how! I tried this command:

Code:
ls sp* | sed 's/\(t1)su(t2)/mv & \2\1/'

and also this:

Code:
ls sp* | sed 's/\(t1).\(t2)/mv & \2\1/'

but none worked and I get this error:

Code:
sed: -e expression #1, char 24: Unmatched ( or \(

Can someone tell me how to fix? I really need to change those file names.

Cheers,
Renzo
Last edited by pludi; 06-06-2011 at 01:53 PM..
# 2  
Old 06-06-2011
Code:
ls sp* | sed '
  s/\(.*\)t1overt2\(.*\)/mv & \1t2overt1\2/
 ' | sh

This User Gave Thanks to DGPickett For This Post:
forgi
# 3  
Old 06-06-2011
yet another way...
Code:
ls sp*t1overt2*.txt | sed 's/\(.*\)\(t1\)\(.*\)\(t2\)\(.*\)/\1\4\3\2\5/' | xargs mv sp*t1overt2*.txt

# 4  
Old 06-06-2011
No, don't think xargs can apply. Only if t1overt2 is substring of a directory can you move more than one per mv, and then you must make it one per directory.
# 5  
Old 06-06-2011
Quote:
Originally Posted by DGPickett
No, don't think xargs can apply. Only if t1overt2 is substring of a directory can you move more than one per mv, and then you must make it one per directory.
I copied and pasted incorrectly...but you can apply xargs to a wildcard filename as follows...
Code:
ls sp*t1overt2*.txt | sed 'p;s/\(.*\)\(t1\)\(.*\)\(t2\)\(.*\)/\1\4\3\2\5/' | xargs -n 2 mv

# 6  
Old 06-06-2011
Well, it is just doing one file at a time, then, so xargs is not adding any value over that of a shell.
# 7  
Old 06-06-2011
Quote:
Originally Posted by DGPickett
Code:
ls sp* | sed '
  s/\(.*\)t1overt2\(.*\)/mv & \1t2overt1\2/
 ' | sh

Thank you so much! That was all I wanted Smilie
cheers,
R
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