[SOLVED] Batch rename to remove special characters from files.

linustalman · 01-09-2014, 03:04 PM

Hi.

I move MP3 files from my Linux Mint MATE PC using the Caja file manager to my Android phone from time to time. Sometimes the files contain a question mark or double quotes or a colon, etc. How can I batch rename all the mp3 files to remove all special characters?

Would the rename command be feasible? Or is there a GUI program to do this?

Thanks.

jlinkels · 01-09-2014, 08:32 PM

This is rather crude, but it works for me.

Code:

for f in *.mp3 *.flac; do
    mv "$f" `echo $f | tr -cd "a-zA-Z0-9\-_\ \." | sed s/' - '/'-'/g | sed s/' '/_/g | sed s/__/_/g | sed s/'('//g | sed s/')'//g`
done

Save the code to a file. Make the file executable (chmod ugo+x) and run the file in the directory with the music files.

jlinkels

linustalman · 01-10-2014, 09:56 AM

Cheers jlinkels. Your solution worked perfectly.

linustalman · 01-13-2014, 02:27 PM

A further tweak to your excellent code.

Code:

for f in *.flac *.mp3 *.oga *.ogg *.wav; do