Hi

I am trying to remove a word in a filename for example this

Filename orginal is [bla bla bal ] document 1.zip

Now i want to remove that [bla bla bla] and rename it to document 1.zip.

I found some tips but none do what i like them to do. I tried detox but that program only deleted the brackets.

Also tried this command but that only delete the last bracket.and made a - (which i also dont want i rather want it gone for good.

Any pointers for me ?

Try
If the filename is stored in a shell variable, you can try a parameter substitution like this:
Please note that the rename command uses perl-like regular expressions, whereas the parameter substitution in bash uses patterns, hence the difference between the two forms.

2 members found this post helpful.

Have a look at these links:

parameter substitution
string manipulation
globbing
exended globbing
regular expressions introduction
regular expressions tutorial

Colucix's substitution is good, but this may be easier:
It simply removes everything from the start of the name up to the first "]" and the space following it.

As for the rename command above, it will generally work, but since "*" is "greedy" in regex, if there ever happen to be two "]" characters in the string it will delete everything up to the second one.

In addition the using "[]" character range expression to match individual characters is considered more reliable than backslash escaping them (if not quite as readable in this specific case ).

So this version is a bit more robust:

1 members found this post helpful.

Hmmm it doesnt work

I forgot to mentoin it is about multiple files and for some reason the file doesnt start with [ but with \[ . Could this \ give all the trouble ?

Well, to match a literal backslash in a regular expression you have to escape it using a... backslash:
If you add this to the rename command suggested by David the H. followed by an asterisk, it should match both the files w/ and w/o a leading backslash in their name. Since you mentioned multiple file names, it should be useful at this point to see a list of the real files you want to rename or at least establish an exact criterion to remove all the unwanted parts, e.g.

remove all the parts embedded in square brackets (brackets included) possibly with leading backslashes and trailing blank spaces.

I think colucix has seized upon one of the essential concepts: the distinction between the use of patterns and regular expressions. It is also worth mentioning that assigning the filename to a shell variable provides opportunity for manipulation, and such manipulation may be performed both piece-wise and iteratively. This may lead to code that is easier to develop, easier to understand and easier to modify. In other words, you don't have to make the transformation in one step if it is confusing or overly complex.

--- rod.

Are you absolutely sure the name starts with "\["? If you use tab completion, then the shell will automatically backslash escape all shell-reserved characters in the completed match.

If you run echo *.zip, for example, what output matches do you get?

And see these links for details on how the shell handles whitespace and other reserved characters:

http://mywiki.wooledge.org/Arguments
http://mywiki.wooledge.org/WordSplitting
http://mywiki.wooledge.org/Quotes