remove part of multiple filenames?

steve51184 · 01-19-2011, 01:24 AM

hey all i have a folder with lots of random jpegs but they all have the words 'SOMETHINGRANDOM' in there name that i want to remove and i'm trying something like this but it just renames all the files to 'newname' any help?

Code:

for filename in *.jpg; do newname=`echo $filename | sed -e 's/SOMETHINGRANDOM//g'` mv $filename newname; done

druuna · 01-19-2011, 01:53 AM

Hi,

Code:

for THISFILE in *.jpg; do rename "SOMETHINGRANDOM" "" $THISFILE; done

Hope this helps.

steve51184 · 01-19-2011, 02:04 AM

just tested that on some test files and it gave this error:

Quote:

$ ls
test1.jpg test2.jpg test3.jpg test4.jpg test5.jpg
$ for THISFILE in *.jpg; do rename "test" "" $THISFILE; done
Bareword "test" not allowed while "strict subs" in use at (eval 1) line 1.
Bareword "test" not allowed while "strict subs" in use at (eval 1) line 1.
Bareword "test" not allowed while "strict subs" in use at (eval 1) line 1.
Bareword "test" not allowed while "strict subs" in use at (eval 1) line 1.
Bareword "test" not allowed while "strict subs" in use at (eval 1) line 1.

thanks so far

druuna · 01-19-2011, 02:24 AM

Hi,

edit: See post #7, rename has 2 different versions

Strange, works here:

Code:

$ touch test1.jpg test2.jpg test3.jpg test4.jpg test5.jpg

$ ls *.jpg
test1.jpg  test2.jpg  test3.jpg  test4.jpg  test5.jpg

$ for THISFILE in *.jpg; do rename "test" "" $THISFILE; done

$ ls *.jpg
1.jpg  2.jpg  3.jpg  4.jpg  5.jpg

I was assuming that the command is executed from the command line, but the ...in use at (eval 1) line 1. makes me wonder.

Try using single quotes instead of double: rename 'test' ''

Hope this helps.

EDIT:

BTW: test is a unix/linux command, try to avoid using it for other purposes.

colucix · 01-19-2011, 02:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve51184

hey all i have a folder with lots of random jpegs but they all have the words 'SOMETHINGRANDOM' in there name that i want to remove and i'm trying something like this but it just renames all the files to 'newname' any help?

Your solution is plain and simple and it would work if it were not for some syntax errors. You missed a semi-colon to separate the sed and the mv command and you missed the $ sign in the reference of the variable newname. Check this:

Code:

for filename in *.jpg; do newname=`echo $filename | sed -e 's/SOMETHINGRANDOM//g'`; mv $filename $newname; done

steve51184 · 01-19-2011, 02:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by druuna

Hi,

Strange, works here:

Code:

$ touch test1.jpg test2.jpg test3.jpg test4.jpg test5.jpg

$ ls *.jpg
test1.jpg  test2.jpg  test3.jpg  test4.jpg  test5.jpg

$ for THISFILE in *.jpg; do rename "test" "" $THISFILE; done

$ ls *.jpg
1.jpg  2.jpg  3.jpg  4.jpg  5.jpg

I was assuming that the command is executed from the command line, but the ...in use at (eval 1) line 1. makes me wonder.

Try using single quotes instead of double: rename 'test' ''

Hope this helps.

EDIT:

BTW: test is a unix/linux command, try to avoid using it for other purposes.

single quotes still didn't work but thanks for the help

Quote:

Originally Posted by colucix

Your solution is plain and simple and it would work if it were not for some syntax errors. You missed a semi-colon to separate the sed and the mv command and you missed the $ sign in the reference of the variable newname. Check this:

Code:

for filename in *.jpg; do newname=`echo $filename | sed -e 's/SOMETHINGRANDOM//g'`; mv $filename $newname; done

oops silly me... just tested and its working perfect thank you

colucix · 01-19-2011, 02:35 AM

@druuna: since rename is a mass renaming command, you don't really need a loop. The following should work for all the JPG files in the current working dir:

Code:

rename "test" "" *.jpg

Anyway, take in mind that the rename command has two different versions with two different syntax. The one you've used in your example is an ELF executable coming from the util-linux package and it's typically installed on RPM based systems. The other one is a perl script typically available on Debian-based systems.

For the latter the syntax is:

Code:

rename <options> perlexpr [ files ]

so that a correct version for the OP could be:

Code:

rename "s/test//" *.jpg

steve51184 · 01-19-2011, 02:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colucix

so that a correct version for the OP could be:

Code:

rename "s/test//" *.jpg

also works perfectly.. i might use that command instead and it's a lot simpler

druuna · 01-19-2011, 02:39 AM

@colucix: Learned something today, didn't know there are 2 versions (I indeed have the ELF version, not the perl script).

EricTRA · 01-19-2011, 02:47 AM

Hello,

@druuna: we're so lucky that we can still learn, that's what life's all about.

@colucix: Thanks for the update, I also have learned something new. The suggestion from druuna gave me the same error as reported on my Debian based system.

Kind regards,

Eric