Shell Programming and Scripting

Say a directory contains files
1) "file name 1.xxx"
2) "file name2.yyy"
3) etc

Using a cshell script, is there a way to (1)search for all files that contain " " in the filename and then (2)rename the files so that you replace the whiitespace " " with a "_".

First problem I run into is when I put "file name 1.xxx" into a list contianing other filenames with spaces each word seperated by a space is treated as a seperate element when used in a foreach loop. Instead of getting "file name 1.xxx" as an element I get 1) "file" 2) "name" 3) "1.xxx".

Example:

set list = `find -type d -name '* *' | tr -d "./"`
foreach i ( $list )
set newfile = `echo $file | sed 's/ /_/' `
mv $i $newfile
end

Second problem, let's assume the $i contained the directory/file name string "file name 1.xxx". If we were to use $i in a mv statement such as

mv $i $newfile

the mv would interpret "file name 1.xxx" as three seperate files 1) "file" 2) "name" 3) "1.xxx" . mv would attempt to mv 3 files into $newfile. Of course this is not what we want. We would like to rename the file named "file name 1.xxx" to a newfile name.

mv "file name 1.xxx" to file_name_1.xxx

It is easy enough at the command line. But it becomes a tedious task when you have many files/directories that you have to rename. It would be nice to do it with a script but I am at a lost. It kills me that I am actually considering doing this by hand. What a waste of time. Spaces in file/directory names are a _itch.

Thanks
O

Answer for the first part

% find . -name *' '*
./ashish patil

The task can be completed at the command line. The trick is getting it in a script.

Is this an impossible task for a script?

here is oneliner

bash> for i in `find . -name '* *' | tr -d './' | tr ' ' '~'`; do mv "$(echo $i| tr '~' ' ')" "$(echo $i | tr '~' '_')"; done

assuming there is no "~" in the filenames

Darn.

I guess I will have to use a bash shell script. Yup there are no "~" in the file names.

If ANYBODY has a solution for a CShell script that would be great.

I will look at the solution to see if there is any way I can incorporate that into a cshell script.

FYI: I am using Cygwin under windows running the tcsh shell. Any cshell solution would be great.


Thanks
O

i haven't actively used csh for over a decade, but this MAY be of SOME help... hopefully...


in csh... you maybe able to try this (and this is ASSUMING you're looking in the CURRENT DIRECTORY ):

foreach filename (*)
echo $filename|tr ' ' '_'
end



it's lame... but it MAY be insight on where you may wanna start. now... this will only DISPLAY the changed name... you'll need to insert your own "mv" command where appropriate.

also note that this is very generic and will not traverse down the directory tree. oh... and be a little careful since this will process DIRECTORIES as well as files.

OK, folks here it is...

I GIVE UP. Replacing ' ' with '_' in file/directory names is impossible/very messy using a CSHELL script. The spaces in file/directory names is a killer.

I decided to take the next career change. I will go over to my boss and tell him I quit. I am incapable of creating a cshell script that will find and rename files with spaces in them. I am useless. I have poured over numerous websites, books and interrogated colleagues. I will go to McDonalds and fill out an application. Good Bye!
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Just kidding, but I was getting to feel this way. This issue is like using a tool like a wrench to turn a phillips head screw. I have played around with Perl but have not really made much use of it. I hear how powerful it is but yet is very cryptic. I have put of learning perl long enough. This issue has opened my eyes. But what a headache. Yes, I was able to create a script that searches for and renames files/directories with ' '.

O