Rename files (and folders) using Perl regular expressions (regex), in linux and Windows, recursively (if desired) and with UTF-8 support.
A list of changes to be made is presented previous to any action, so that you can check that everything will be correctly renamed.
All the renaming actions can be exported to a text file.
rnm [-adlnNryY] 's/PATTERN/SUBSTITUTION/' [ 'FILTER' [PATH] ]
where FILTER is one of: {/FILTER_REGEX/ | LIST_PATTERN}
depending on if -r or nothing is used (so FILTER_REGEX is needed)
or -l is used (so LIST_PATTERN is needed).
If PATH is not indicated, . is used.
Please note that in linux simple quotation marks are preferred: '' whilst in Windows double quotation marks are needed: ""
-a: append unique numbers in case destination filename already exists.
Without -a an error would be raised and renaming wouldn't occur.
-d: treat directory names when parsing and renaming. If it is not indicated, directory names are ignored.
-l: Use ls command modifiers as FILTER parameter, instead of a regex.
Limitations of -l:
- USE WITH CAUTION as this JUST TRIES TO PARSE
lsOUTPUT. Preferred method should bernmorrnm -rin general. - DO NOT indicate the path inside FILTER, but as last parameter.
-lis not compatible withrnm -r- In Windows, there must be a Cygwin
lsin the PATH, and UTF-8 is not supported.
-n: when asked for confirmation a "NO" is automatically answered.
-N: as -n, but output is also written to a log file in current path.
-r: recursively filter all files and folders.
If -r is not used, only files under current path are processed.
-y: when asked for confirmation a "YES" is automatically answered.
-Y: as -y, but output is also written to a log file in current path.
The command shows a list of changes to be made, which must be confirmed with 'y' (yes). If capital 'Y' is entered, the results are written to a log file.
Parameters can also be indicated using stdin.
The stdin input for parameters is needed in Windows in order to
use UTF-8 characters on regex, FILTER and/or PATH. Note that a cmd
console with UTF-8 support must be used. CMD [/U] isn't appropriate
in general, even with UTF-8 fonts (see below). In Windows, if stdin is used,
-[yY] would be needed to apply changes, because input cannot be read from the keyboard.
As you can see, the command shows a list of actions to execute, and requires previous confirmation:
C:\temp> rnm "$c++; s/^/$c./" "/txt$/"
Using:
path: .
search pattern: /txt$/
substitution regex: $c++; s/^/$c./
recursive: no
treat directories: no
.\Sorcières.txt -> .\0001.Sorcières.txt
.\Люди Инвалиды.txt -> .\0002.Люди Инвалиды.txt
.\夢の足音が聞こえる.txt -> .\0003.夢の足音が聞こえる.txt
.\오렌지캬라멜.txt -> .\0004.오렌지캬라멜.txt
--- (files =~ search pattern: 4)
--- files to rename (listed): 4
Do you want to rename this file list? (y/ Y(=>log)/ *):
$ rnm 's/(\d{2}\.jpg)/\1/' '/^b.*\d{2}\.jpg$/' temp
This renames all jpg images in "temp" subdirectory which name starts with letter 'b' and end with two numbers, for just the two numbers and the extension.
There are some variables which can be used
in the SUBSTITUTION_PATTERN:
$c='0000', this variable is the only one available for writing in the regex$counternumber of files renamed so far$_filename$ddirectory of the file (available only if using-r, or-lwith-Ror*)$fcomplete filename path
For example:
$ rnm 's/^/$counter./' '/./'
This renames all files in current directory, prepending a consecutive number starting with '0000'.
$ rnm 's/^/($counter+1)."."/e' '/./'
This renames all files in current directory, prepending a consecutive number starting with '1'.
$ rnm -r '$c++; s/^/$c./' '/./'
This renames recursively all files and folders in the current directory, prepending a consecutive number starting with '0001'.
$ rnm -l 's/^/$counter./' '-rt *.jpg'
This renames all files with extension ".jpg" in current directory, ordered by modification time, prepending a consecutive number starting with '0000'.
$ rnm -r '$c=strftime "%Y%m%d", localtime(); s/(.+)/${c}.$1/' '/./'
This renames recursively all files and folders in the current directory, prepending the current date to every name.
$ rnm '$c=strftime "%Y%m%d", localtime(stat($f)->mtime); s/(.+)/$c.$1/' '/\.log$/'
This renames all files with ".log" extension in the current path, prepending their file modification date to every name.
$ rnm -l '$c=stat($f)->mtime; s/^/$c./' '*.log'
This renames all filenames with extension ".log" in the current directory, prepending to each one its modification unix timestamp.
In order to use the script in Windows you need:
- a Perl installation (for example ActivePerl or Strawberry Perl). The script has been tested with ActivePerl.
- copy the
rnmscript andrnm.batto a folder in your execution PATH
The rnm.bat batch script is provided as an example: it supposes that perl.exe is in the PATH, and rnm must be preceded by its complete path.
In order to use rnm -l you need a Cygwin installation in your PATH, which provides the ls command.
Do not use rnm -l in Windows if you are planning to manage file names with UTF-8 characters.
If your are planning to manage file names with UTF-8 chars (mostly outside Latin-1), a console with proprer UTF-8 I/O must be used. Windows' CMD.EXE isn't 100% adequate, even after installing UTF-8 fonts (See serganov fonts and metacpan UI-KeyboardLayout), because some visual artifacts remain. Instead, ConEmu is suitable.
Please, note that UTF-8 use in regex and code in Windows isn't yet perfect (this warning doesn't refer to UTF-8 file names, which are correctly renamed):
For example, Perl code prepended to the regex parameter can fail if Windows file names have UTF-8 characters. For example with (note that simple and double quotations are changed from the above linux example):
rnm "$c=strftime '%Y%m%d', localtime(stat($f)->mtime); s/(.+)/$c.$1/" "/./"
Nonetheless, if a pure regex without UTF-8 chars is used, all should run ok.
Also note that in order to use most UTF-8 chars directly in the regex or filter parameters, the stdin with a | must be used.
Note also that in Windows the use of stdin for input parameters to rnm command requires the use of -[yYnN] modifiers, because unfortunately input cannot be redirected to the keyboard.
In Windows, to substitute for example the japanese hiragana UTF-8 char "の" with "の - " in all files and directories under 'temp2\':
(Note though that -[yY] is needed in order to actually take actions):
C:\temp> echo -dr "s/(の)/\1 - /" "/./" "temp2" | rnm
2018-Nov amendment: In Windows perl.exe binary can be manually patched and recompiled in order to accept Unicode chars in command line: Please take a look at Perl-with-Unicode-for-Windows.
Subroutine ListContent() can be extracted from code and used indepently in other Windows or linux Perl projects.
It just needs some global stuff, commented as "# (...) ListContent() to run properly" in the code.
Input parameters are ListContent( $parameters_ref, $pattern, $path ) where:
$parameters_refis a reference to an array of boolean ( 0 | 1 ) numeric values representing, in order, the options:( $LS_STYLE, $TREAT_DIRECTORIES, $RECURSIVE, $NEGATED_MATCH, $MSDOS_SHORT_NAMES )$patternis a regex filter to apply to file names (or ls style pattern, even prepended with options (and even piped throu another command)). If$NEGATED_MATCHis1, is the regex filter that filenames do not comply with ($LS_STYLEmust be zero, or otherwise$NEGATED_MATCHwill be ignored!).$pathis the filesystem path to be examinated
Return parameter is a reference to an array containing:
\@FILE_LIST, a reference to an array of filenames (each path is in the same index on@PATH_LISTarray)\@PATH_LIST, a reference to an array of paths corresponding to the filename of the same index on@FILE_LISTarray- number of directories returned, only to inform the number. Has sense only if
$TREAT_DIRECTORIEScall option was1 \@SHORT_FILENAME, a reference to an array of path+filename in Windows' MSDOS short name format. Is not () only if OS is Windows and$MSDOS_SHORT_NAMEScall parameter was1(or the number of returned files is0)
Written by circulosmeos
2020-12.14
This code is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied.