I have a couple of files in a Unix folder, let's say /home/TRANS.
Files are received within this folder on a monthly basis. File names are like:

• ENCD_213_E-DM_CCA_ID3490_A01.txt
• ENCD_213_E-DM_CCA_ID33120_A01.txt
• ENCD_213_E-DM_CCA_IDP3664_A01.txt
• ENCD_213_E-DM_CCA_ID3327_A01.txt
• ENACT_215_E_DM_CCA_IDA33320_25OCT2017.csv
• ENACT_215_E_DM_CCA_IDA31116_25OCT2017.csv

After renaming, the final output should be:

• id3490.txt
• id33120.txt
• idp3664.txt
• id3327.txt
• ida33320.csv
• ida31116.csv

So essentially, I want to have the following strings replaced across all file names within the TRANS folder, and make the final output filename as lowercase:

• ENCD_213_E-DM_CCA_
• _A01
• ENACT_215_E_DM_CCA_
• _25OCT2017

How can I execute this either in a single line command or as a shell script? I did check multiple questions but couldn't find replacement of multiple characters in addition to changing to lowercase. Need your help as I am pretty new to Unix.

I use a utility called "mmv". How you install "mmv" depends on what linux distribution you use (or whatever OS you use...you say "Unix", which suggests you're not using Linux).

For example, with Debian it's simply

For your purposes, a way to do it could be:
The basics for using mmv are:

mmv "sourcepattern" "destpattern"

The sourcepattern is pretty intuitive - you use * to match any number of characters, and ? to match any single character.

Then, imagine numbering each wildcard from left to right:

This lets you map output in the destpattern using #1, #2, #3, and so on. Additionally, you can convert to lowercase with #l1, #l2, #l3, and so on; you can convert to uppercase with #u1, #u2, #u3, and so on.

When you run mmv, it will test the destination files before doing anything. If there are any name collisions, it will FAIL SAFE! It will do no changes to any files, and it will give you an error saying there were destination name collisions.

That is, to me, the killer feature of mmv. You can use it with confidence that you won't lose files because renamed files overwrote. And you won't have to worry about some fancy script messing up in the middle of things, leaving some files renamed and others not renamed.

Basically, mmv is a wonderful little tool for these tasks.

1 members found this post helpful.

I have not used mmv and does look like a good little tool (will have to check it out), but you could also write a simple bash script as well.

Looks a bit odd, but definitely a keeper.
Thanks for the explanation - I've seen it mentioned before, but never botherered looking into it.

Thanks. I hadn't seen mmv either. I usually use the perl version of rename. It has the -n option to do a dry run first, so you can check the results before applying the. Also, since it handles full perl expressions, functions like printf() and even variables are allowed, too. So I've used it for renumbering files. But I'm definitely looking closer at mmv