Rename files with script

sharathkv25 · 05-31-2007, 03:57 PM

Hi,

I have about 400 files in the following format

Code:

A.fmtchanged
B.fmtchanged
C.fmtchanged
D.fmtchanged
E.fmtchanged
F.fmtchanged
neuser.fmtchanged
ov.fmtchanged
manage.fmtchanged
...
...

I need to change the file names to the followin format:

Code:

A.fmt
B.fmt
C.fmt
D.fmt
E.fmt
F.fmt
neuser.fmt
ov.fmt
manage.fmt

I need to remove the word "changed" from the filename.

Anyone know how to do this?
Thanks

wjevans_7d1@yahoo.co · 05-31-2007, 05:04 PM

Yes. The easiest way to do it is with bash (though you'll probably dip a bit into sed along the way). This could be your portal to having fun with shell scripts!

Do this at the command line:

Code:

man bash

Concentrate on the for statement. Write a script that does as much as you can, and play with it a bit. When you have a question, come back to this thread, post your question, and we'll take it to the next step.

Enjoy!

Tinkster · 05-31-2007, 07:17 PM

Aye ... and my take on it would indeed be sed.

Code:

for i in `ls *fmtchanged`; do newname=`echo $i|sed -i 's/changed$//'`; mv $i $newname; done

Cheers,
Tink

sibtay · 05-31-2007, 07:19 PM

Alternatively, if you are familiar with vim, you can also do this with its awesome recording feature.

sibtay · 05-31-2007, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sibtay

Alternatively, if you are familiar with vim, you can also do this with its awesome recording feature.

I am sorry I misread your initial question. This is not the solution to your problem.

Follow what Tinkster and wjevans_7d1 have explained

ghostdog74 · 05-31-2007, 10:31 PM

in bash

Code:

#!/bin/sh
for files in *fmtchanged
do
   mv $files ${files//changed/} 
done

cfaj · 06-01-2007, 02:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sharathkv25

Hi,

I have about 400 files in the following format

Code:

A.fmtchanged
...
manage.fmtchanged
...
...

I need to change the file names to the followin format:

Code:

A.fmt
...
manage.fmt

I need to remove the word "changed" from the filename.

Code:

for file in *.fmtchanged
do
  mv -i "$file" "${file%changed}"
done

Tinkster · 06-01-2007, 03:01 AM

Ghostdog, cfaj .. I'll have to read "man bash" more closely, I guess :}

Awesome.

Cheers,
Tink

bulliver · 06-01-2007, 03:56 AM

Geez, you guys never heard of the 'rename' command?

Code:

$ rename fmtchanged fmt *.fmtchanged

Done...

ghostdog74 · 06-01-2007, 04:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bulliver

Geez, you guys never heard of the 'rename' command?

Code:

$ rename fmtchanged fmt *.fmtchanged

Done...

not every *nix has it. anyway, here's a makeshift rename

Code:

#!/bin/sh
from=$1
to=$2
files=$3
for file in "$files"
do
   mv $file ${file/$from/$to}
done

Code:

./rename fmtchanged fmt *fmtchanged

Tinkster · 06-01-2007, 04:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bulliver

Geez, you guys never heard of the 'rename' command?

Code:

$ rename fmtchanged fmt *.fmtchanged

I certainly have (and have advocated it more than once);
but debi(li)an and its derivatives have a perl-script
by the same name instead that works quite differently.

Cheers,
Tink
Done... ;)

bulliver · 06-01-2007, 01:43 PM

Quote:

but debi(li)an and its derivatives have a perl-script
by the same name instead that works quite differently.

Ahh, it becomes clear now...

On a ML I subscribe to a fellow asked for help with rename. He was trying to give it a PCRE and I informed him that rename wants three arguments. He responded that he had read the manpage and was aware of that. Seems he had found some (Debian) tutorial that used the PCRE 'rename' hence his confusion, and the 'real' rename's failure.

Although I have no doubt the Perl version may be very powerful, I don't think it is wise for Debian et al to overwrite apps from the util-linux package. Did they clobber cal and agetty with a Perl version as well?

Anyway, I just thought it was odd that after 6 posts and several shellscripts no one had mentioned rename, so I did...

cfaj · 06-01-2007, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bulliver

Although I have no doubt the Perl version may be very powerful, I don't think it is wise for Debian et al to overwrite apps from the util-linux package. Did they clobber cal and agetty with a Perl version as well?

I believe the Perl version preceded the other version, so it is util-linux that overwrote an existing (in some distros) command.

Whichever it was, it is a non-standard command, and is not portable. I avoid it.

msantinho · 06-03-2007, 05:59 PM

and if you're using Zsh:

Code:

for i in *.fmtchanged; do mv $i ${i:r}.fmt; done

Miguel

secretlydead · 06-25-2007, 03:00 AM

I need to change some filenames.

They all need to be called piers.*csv because they need to go into a MySQL database into a table called piers with the mysqlimport command.

So, the first file should be called piers.1csv, the second piers.2csv, etc.

...

i'd still be interested in how to do this in perl or something, but i just found this solution:

(the first thing was to look for a program in the repository with the filename 'rename')

use gwenrename to rename them all piers001.csv

then use the rename utility to rename them from s0 -> s.0 and then .c -> c

now they can be imported to MySQL the way I need.