Rename great number of files in ubuntu terminal

Question

I have some files which was written as : test_026542_time0663550.5.jpeg and I would like to rename as test_0663550.jpeg in order to classify easily by order number because I have some errors with the current names.

Flat directory or recursively? Any risk on dupes after renaming? — Jacob Vlijm, Nov 07 '15 at 15:54
What parts of the filename always change ? Which parts never change ? — Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy, Nov 07 '15 at 19:42

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

0

Use the rename function. It's basic(prototype form) is $ rename s/"SEARCH"/"REPLACE"/g *. This replaces the file "SEARCH" with "REPLACE". The /g means global, so if you had a "SEARCH SEARCH.jpg", it would be renamed "REPLACE REPLACE.jpg". The * is the extension type like .mp3 or .pdf. So, your example would be:

$ rename s/'test_026542_time0663550.5.jpeg'/'test_0663550_.jpeg'/g *

This should help.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

Community

1

answered Nov 07 '15 at 15:50

Tony Lancer

1,003
9
23

Thanks for your help ;) but i m trying to automate it because i have a thousand of files... – user3601754 Nov 07 '15 at 15:52
@user3601754 you can create a BASH script then. – iamatrain Nov 07 '15 at 15:54
i have some difficulties to see how to do that – user3601754 Nov 07 '15 at 15:55

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 07 '15 at 20:44

My battery is running out , so I'll make this short

Find+awk oneliner

 find . -type f -printf "%f\n" |  awk -F "_" 
    '{ORIG=$0;gsub(/\_[[:digit:]].*\_time/,"_");gsub(/\.[[:digit:]].*\.jpeg/,".jpeg"); NEW=$0;cmd="mv "ORIG" 
    "NEW;system(cmd)}'

Demo

testdir2:$ ls
test_13442_time1446925878.1.jpeg  test_27796_time1446925887.4.jpeg
test_25495_time1446925884.3.jpeg  test_29681_time1446925881.2.jpeg


testdir2:find . -type f -printf "%f\n" |  awk -F "_" 
'{ORIG=$0;gsub(/\_[[:digit:]].*\_time/,"_");gsub(/\.[[:digit:]].*\.jpeg/,".jpeg"); NEW=$0;cmd="mv "ORIG" 
"NEW;system(cmd)}' 

testdir2:$ ls
test_1446925878.jpeg  test_1446925881.jpeg  test_1446925884.jpeg  test_1446925887.jpeg

Rename great number of files in ubuntu terminal

2 Answers2