Rename multiple files by replacing a particular pattern in the filenames using a shell script

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Write a simple script that will automatically rename a number of files. As an example we want the file *001.jpg renamed to user defined string + 001.jpg (ex: MyVacation20110725_001.jpg) The usage for this script is to get the digital camera photos to have file names that make some sense.

I need to write a shell script for this. Can someone suggest how to begin?

shell
8 Answers
find . -type f | 
sed -n "s/\(.*\)factory\.py$/& \1service\.py/p" | 
xargs -p -n 2 mv

eg will rename all files in the cwd with names ending in "factory.py" to be replaced with names ending in "service.py"

explanation:

  1. In the sed cmd, the -n flag will suppress normal behavior of echoing input to output after the s/// command is applied, and the p option on s/// will force writing to output if a substitution is made. Since a sub will only be made on match, sed will only have output for files ending in "factory.py"

  2. In the s/// replacement string, we use "& " to interpolate the entire matching string, followed by a space character, into the replacement. Because of this, it's vital that our RE matches the entire filename. after the space char, we use "\1service.py" to interpolate the string we gulped before "factory.py", followed by "service.py", replacing it. So for more complex transformations youll have to change the args to s/// (with an re still matching the entire filename)

Example output:

foo_factory.py foo_service.py
bar_factory.py bar_service.py
  1. We use xargs with -n 2 to consume the output of sed 2 delimited strings at a time, passing these to mv (i also put the -p option in there so you can feel safe when running this). voila.

NOTE: If you are facing more complicated file and folder scenarios, this post explains find (and some alternatives) in greater detail.

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