help in batch renaming

aapkae · 02-13-2008, 07:53 AM

i have a problem in my site.that all for my sites which have ' in there names are not getting download and i m getting a 404 error.i want to know that if there is any command which can rename all files in one folder and sub folders i want to replace "'" with "-"..so kindly help me in it
i know a command rename "'" "-"* but it only works for current directory i want it to work on current directory and all sub folders in it

please help me out

premnarayan · 02-13-2008, 09:51 AM

Hi,
You could write a shell script using a recursive function to rename your files. Something like this one should do:
-----------------
#!/bin/sh
myrename()
{
rename "$1" "$2" *
for f in *;do
if [ -d "$f" ];then
cd "$f"
myrename "$1" "$2"
cd ..
fi
done
}
if [ -z "$1" ];then
echo "No renaming rules given"
exit
else
myrename "$1" "$2"
fi
------------------------------

Save this code into a file like batchRename.sh in home directory and then make it executable by "chmod u+x batchRename.sh".
To use it, go to the folder you want to recursively rename and then type
~/batchRename.sh "'" "-"

Hope it works the way you want.

PS: Rerun the command if there are multiple "'" in names.

bigrigdriver · 02-13-2008, 11:11 AM

Here's a script I copied from somewhere on the internet 2 or 3 years ago. Unfortunately, I didn't keep a record of where I got it, so I don't know to whom to give credit. I've modified it slightly to fit your situation.

Code:

#! /bin/bash
# blank-rename.sh
#
# Substitutes underscores for blanks in all the filenames in a directory.
# The comment above reflects the original purpose of this script.
# I have changed the script to substitute dash (-) for apostrophe (').

ONE=1                     # For getting singular/plural right (see below).
number=0                  # Keeps track of how many files actually renamed.
FOUND=0                   # Successful return value.

for filename in *         #Traverse all files in directory. Edit to add path to directory
do                                # + containing the files indicated by  the wildcard *.
     echo "$filename" | grep -q "'"         #  Check whether filename
     if [ $? -eq $FOUND ]                   #+ contains apostrophe(s).
     then
       fname=$filename                      # Strip off path.
       n=`echo $fname | sed -e "s/'/-/g"`   # Substitute dash for apostrophe.
       mv "$fname" "$n"                     # Do the actual renaming.
       let "number += 1"
     fi
done   

if [ "$number" -eq "$ONE" ]                 # For correct grammar.
then
 echo "$number file renamed."
else 
 echo "$number files renamed."
fi 

exit 0

Notice that at the beginning of the loop, you should edit the script to add the path to the directory containing the files with the apostrophe (') in the name.
Example: for filename in /home/<username>/files/*

kilgoretrout · 02-13-2008, 12:54 PM

I think this simple command might do it:

$ find -name "*\'*" -exec rename \' - {} \;

The tricky part is that the ' character is reserved and used in the syntax of many bash commands and the bash shell itself. You have to use the "\" in front of ' as an escape character or you can run into all kinds of problems. Note, some of the above posted general purpose scripts may run into problems because you are searching for the reserved character ' and they are not using the escape character \. My simple command sequence should search the working directory and all subdirectories for any file with a ' in its file name and rename the file substituting - for '. Before you run the full command, be sure to test to make sure the find command is picking up the right files you want to rename and nothing else. Do that by running just the first part:

$ find -name "*\'*"

That will tell you which files find is picking up. In the full command, these results are sent one at a time to the rename command for renaming.

aapkae · 02-13-2008, 02:10 PM

thanks for the suggestion and your help guys.but it did not fix the problem.can someone please be more specific

chrism01 · 02-13-2008, 06:49 PM

The above answers look pretty specific, what have you tried? what seems to be the problem? Show us what you did and what msgs you got.