Renaming multiple files


 
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# 1  
Old 02-27-2008
Renaming multiple files

Hi,

I have several hundred files I need to rename, and I'm would rather not hit F2 for each file individually to rename them.

Example of file:
large1961.jpg
What I need the file to be renamed as:
1961.jpg

I don't know what type of command I can execute within a shell script that would remove a specific unwanted part of the file name ("large") and leave the rest intact.

I am an obvious novice in shell scripting and would appreciate any help.
Thanks in advance.
# 2  
Old 02-27-2008
many ways...one is:

Code:
#  echo large1981.jpg | sed 's/large//'
1981.jpg

# 3  
Old 02-27-2008
Thanks.

So in order to actually rename the file, how could I take the output of that command and make it the final file name?
# 4  
Old 02-27-2008
Code:
$ rename
Usage: rename [-v] [-n] [-f] perlexpr [filenames]

... if you have rename I would go that route ...

Code:
rename 's/^large(.*)/$1/' large*.jpg

# 5  
Old 02-27-2008
Thanks a lot. That did what I needed it to, and saved a lot of time on my part.

Could you explain the options you used in the command? I read the man page, but I'm not exactly sure what each parameter actually means.
# 6  
Old 02-27-2008
oldtimer..... hope it helps..

Smilie if all of the files start with large or even a similar structure try this;

^large1967.*^1967.*
# 7  
Old 01-12-2009
Folks, It all worked fine until i hit a filename with spaces in between.. how do i overcome this?
ex..
i tried on files "a.txt", "b.txt", "c d.txt", i got..
mv: cannot stat `c': No such file or directory
mv: cannot stat `d.txt': No such file or directory

Thanks,
OT
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