[SOLVED] Bash script to rename files

acacius · 08-23-2016, 09:24 AM

I have bash 4.3.30. I am trying to make a script that will do the following:

If a filename in current directory contains a special character other than a dot or a dash, replace character with underscore.

Here is what I've tried:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

for FILE in *
do
 case [[ $FILE2 =~ (^\.a-zA-Z0-9\-) ]] in 

# trying to substitute a space here: but I get a
# syntax error at line 5.

  *\ *) $FILE2 = "${FILE2// /_}" ;;
 esac
  mv "$FILE" "$FILE2"
done

Can someone guide me?

keefaz · 08-23-2016, 09:50 AM

What is your strategy, replace a special specific character with a specific character in each case?
Wouldn't be more efficient to replace all special characters with a specific character in one pass?

TenTenths · 08-23-2016, 10:04 AM

https://centos.tips/fixing-troublesome-filenames/

keefaz · 08-23-2016, 10:55 AM

substitution example

Code:

str=',;!!&@`(|^=+}'
echo ${str//[^\.a-zA-Z0-9\-]/_}

It's possible to limit the _'s, eg replace all consecutive special chars with one _

Code:

shopt -s extglob
str=',;!!&@`(|^=+}'
echo ${str//+([^\.a-zA-Z0-9\-])/_}

acacius · 08-23-2016, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TenTenths

https://centos.tips/fixing-troublesome-filenames/

Great, that worked.

pan64 · 08-24-2016, 02:13 AM

Code:

  *\ *) $FILE2 = "${FILE2// /_}" ;;

is syntactically incorrect:

Code:

  *\ *) FILE2="${FILE2// /_}" ;;
#      ^    ^ ^  no $, no space before/after =

this is just one line, probably there are other errors

allend · 08-24-2016, 07:56 AM

Thanks keefaz! That is a keeper.

Code:

echo ${str//+([^\.a-zA-Z0-9\-])/_}

can also be written as

Code:

echo "${str//+([^[:alnum:].-])/_}"