UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

ok I have a list of files for example:

130-4-32.HindIII.0.ids
130-4-32.HindIII.0.ppm
130-4-32.HindIII.0.ppm.gz
130-4-33.HindIII.0.bands
130-4-33.HindIII.0.ics
130-4-33.HindIII.0.ids
130-4-33.HindIII.0.ppm
130-4-33.HindIII.0.ppm.gz
130-4-34.HindIII.0.bands
130-4-34.HindIII.0.ics
130-4-34.HindIII.0.ids
130-4-34.HindIII.0.ppm
130-4-34.HindIII.0.ppm.gz
130-4-35.HindIII.0.bands

What I need is to change all names so that djd comes before the file name (as part of the name of course). I need this to be done in batch because I have a few 100 files.

thanks for the help!

cd

Following script targets a specific fileset (you can adjust the ls command as needed), and renames each of those with a djd prefix. Only regular files will be processed (directories etc will be ignored). If you don't want the counts, that code can be dropped. And to be more thorough, should confirm the results of the mv (can use "if mv ...").

Code:

#!/bin/sh

rcount=0
icount=0

for fname in `ls *HIND*`
do
  if [ -f $fname ] ; then
     mv -i $fname djd$fname
     ((rcount=rcount+1))
  else
     echo "Bypassing $fname - not a regular file"
     ((icount=icount+1))
  fi
done

echo "file renames: $rcount  ignored: $icount"