mv command question

skilletlicker · 02-03-2006, 01:18 AM

If I have a file called "long_file_name" and would like to rename it "01_long_file_name", how could I do that without retyping the "long_file_name" part? I know about using copy and paste, but I'm looking for the scriptable way to do it.

thanks.

twantrd · 02-03-2006, 01:35 AM

Just save it to a variable and use the mv command this way - "mv $filename 01_$filename"

-twantrd

WilliamsJD · 02-03-2006, 01:22 PM

If you need to do a bunch of files you can do it this way:

for f in starname
do
mv $f 01_$f
done

where starname is a starname giving the list of files to rename.

Example:

Suppose you want to rename all the files ending in ".in" and ".list" to have a prefix of "froggy.":

for f in *.in *.list
do
mv $f froggy.$f
done

Hope that helps,
WilliamsJD