rename | Cheatsheet¶

rename will rename the specified files by replacing the first occurrence of expression in their name by replacement.

Rename parantheses by "'expression'¶

rename -e 's/\(|\)//g; s/\(/_/g' *

Remove all parentheses from file/folder names¶

rename '(' '' *
rename ')' '' *

Rename all spaces to underscore¶

for file in *' '*; do 
    mv -- "$file" "${file// /_}";  
done                   

Rename all files with spaces to underscore¶

for file in *;  do 
    mv -- "$file" "${file// /_}"; 
done                      

Rename uppercase to lowercase¶

for i in * ; do 
    mv $i `echo $i | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z'`; 
done    

for i in $( ls | grep [A-Z] ); do 
    mv -i $i `echo $i | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z'`; 
done  

Rename all uppercase to lowercase¶

rename 'y/A-Z/a-z/' *                                                          

Remove .sh file extension for files in current directory¶

rename 's/\.sh//' ./*

Remove all spaces from all files in current folder¶

rename 's/ //g' *

Renamed multiple file from .php to .html¶

rename s/ .php/ .html/ *.html

Replace spaces in filenames with underscores¶

rename 's/ /_/g' *

Batch rename extension of all files in a folder, in the example from .txt to .md¶

rename *.JPG *.jpg

Renames all files in the current directory such that the new file contains no space characters.¶

rename 's/ /_/g' *

Batch file suffix renaming¶

rename -n "s/-.*//" *

Rename all files which contain the sub-string 'foo', replacing it with 'bar'¶

rename foo bar directory/filename

Rename all files which contain the sub-string 'foo', replacing it with 'bar'¶

rename foo bar filename

Batch rename extension of all files in a folder, in the example from .txt to .md¶

rename .txt .md *.txt

Rename all files which contain the sub-string 'foo', replacing it with 'bar'¶

rename 's/foo/bar/g' ./*

Batch rename extension of all files in a folder, in the example from .txt to .md¶

rename 's/.txt/.md/i' *

convert single digit to double digits¶

rename 's/\d+/sprintf("%02d",$&)/e'  $@

Replace space in filename¶

rename "s/ *//g" *.jpg

Command to rename multiple file in one go¶

rename 's/.xls/.ods/g' *.xls

convert filenames in current directory to lowercase¶

rename 'y/A-Z/a-z/' *

Title Case Files¶

rename 's/\b((?!(a|of|that|to)\b)[a-z]+)/\u$1/g' *

convert uppercase files to lowercase files¶

rename 'y/A-Z/a-z/' *

Change the extension of a filename by using rename to convert¶

rename .JPG .jpg *.JPG

Replace strings in file names¶

rename 's/foo/bar/g' foobar

Clean up poorly named TV shows.¶

rename -v 's/.*[s,S](\d{2}).*[e,E](\d{2}).*\.avi/SHOWNAME\ S$1E$2.avi/' poorly.named.file.s01e01.avi

Yet Another Rename (bash function)¶

rename(){ 
    txtToReplace=${1} ; 
    replacementTxt=${2} ; 
    shift 2 ; 
    files=${@} ; 
    for file in $files ; do 
        mv ${file} ${file/${txtToReplace}/${replacementTxt}} ; 
    done 
}

Convert spaces in file names to underscores¶

rename 'y/ /_/' *

Rename all .jpeg and .JPG files to have .jpg extension¶

rename 's/\.jpe?g$/.jpg/i' *

Replace spaces in a filename with hyphens¶

rename 's/ /-/g' *

Replace spaces in filenames with underscores¶

rename 'y/ /_/' *

Replace spaces in filenames with underscores¶

rename 'y/ /_/' *

Copy/move a bunch of files to dot files and back¶

rename s/^/./ *

Replace spaces in filenames with underscores¶

rename -v 's/ /_/g' *

Rename all .jpeg and .JPG files to .jpg¶

rename 's/\.jpeg/\.jpg/' *.jpeg; rename 's/\.JPG/\.jpg/' *.JPG

Rename files in batch¶

rename 's/^hospital\.php\?loc=(\d{4})$/hospital_$1/' hospital.php*

Batch rename extension of all files in a folder, in the example from .txt to .md¶

rename 's/\.txt$/\.md$/i' *

Title Case Files¶

rename 's/(^|[\s\(\)\[\]_-])([a-z])/$1\u$2/g' *

Title Case Files¶

rename 's/\b([a-z])/\u$1/g' *

Add prefix onto filenames¶

rename 's/^/prefix/' *

Tracklist reaplace backspace to '-'¶

rename 's/ /-/g' *.mp3

Files extension change¶

rename .oldextension .newextension *.oldextension

Numeric zero padding file rename¶

rename 's/\d+/sprintf("%04d",$&)/e' *.jpg

Adding Prefix to File name¶

rename 's/^/PREFIX/g' *

Adding Prefix to File name¶

rename 's/^/CS749__/' *.pdf

Renames multiple files that match the pattern¶

rename 's/foo/bar/g' *

Space to underscore across single directory¶

rename ' ' '_' *

Replace all the spaces in all the filenames of the current directory and including directories with underscores.¶

rename "s/ /_/g" * .*

Adding leading zeros to a filename (1.jpg -> 001.jpg)¶

    rename.ul "" 00 ?.jpg; rename "" 0 ??.jpg;

Replace Space In Filenames With Underscore¶

rename 's/ /_/g' *

Rename with regular expression and leading zeros¶

rename 's/result_([0-9]+)_([0-9]+)_([0-9]+)\.json\.txt/sprintf("%d%02d%02d.txt",$3,$2,$1)/ge' result_*.txt

Rename with regular expression and leading zeros¶

rename 's/result_([0-9]+)_([0-9]+)_([0-9]+)\.json\.txt/sprintf("%d%02d%02d.txt",$3,$2,$1)/ge' result_*.txt

convert uppercase files to lowercase files¶

rename -fc *

Adds characters at the beginning of the name of a file¶

rename 's/.*/[it]$&/' *.pdf

Remove all spaces from all files in current folder¶

rename 's/ //g' *

Replace spaces in filenames with underscores¶

rename 's/ /_/g' *

Rename all files which contain the sub-string 'foo', replacing it with 'bar'¶

rename 's/foo/bar/g' ./*

Batch rename extension of all files in a folder, in the example from .txt to .md¶

rename 's/.txt/.md/i' *

convert single digit to double digits¶

rename 's/\d+/sprintf("%02d",$&)/e'  $@

Replace space in filename¶

rename "s/ *//g" *.jpg

Command to rename multiple file in one go¶

rename 's/.xls/.ods/g' *.xls

convert filenames in current directory to lowercase¶

rename 'y/A-Z/a-z/' *

Title Case Files¶

rename 's/\b((?!(a|of|that|to)\b)[a-z]+)/\u$1/g' *

Convert uppercase files to lowercase files¶

rename 'y/A-Z/a-z/' *

Change the extension of a filename by using rename to convert¶

rename .JPG .jpg *.JPG

Replace strings in file names¶

rename 's/foo/bar/g' foobar

Clean up poorly named TV shows.¶

rename -v 's/.*[s,S](\d{2}).*[e,E](\d{2}).*\.avi/SHOWNAME\ S$1E$2.avi/' poorly.named.file.s01e01.avi

Yet Another Rename (bash function)¶

rename(){ 
    txtToReplace=${1} ; replacementTxt=${2} ; shift 2 ; 
    files=${@} ; 
    for file in $files ; do 
        mv ${file} ${file/${txtToReplace}/${replacementTxt}} ; 
    done ; 
}

Convert spaces in file names to underscores¶

rename 'y/ /_/' *

Rename all .jpeg and .JPG files to have .jpg extension¶

rename 's/\.jpe?g$/.jpg/i' *

Replace spaces in a filename with hyphens¶

rename 's/ /-/g' *

Replace spaces in filenames with underscores¶

rename 'y/ /_/' *

Copy/move a bunch of files to dot files and back¶

rename s/^/./ *

Replace spaces in filenames with underscores¶

rename -v 's/ /_/g' *

Rename all .jpeg and .JPG files to .jpg¶

rename 's/\.jpeg/\.jpg/' *.jpeg; rename 's/\.JPG/\.jpg/' *.JPG

Rename files in batch¶

rename 's/^hospital\.php\?loc=(\d{4})$/hospital_$1/' hospital.php*

Batch rename extension of all files in a folder, in the example from .txt to .md¶

rename 's/\.txt$/\.md$/i' *

Title Case Files¶

rename 's/(^|[\s\(\)\[\]_-])([a-z])/$1\u$2/g' *

Title Case Files¶

rename 's/\b([a-z])/\u$1/g' *

Add prefix onto filenames¶

rename 's/^/prefix/' *

Tracklist reaplace backspace to '-'¶

rename 's/ /-/g' *.mp3

Files extension change¶

rename .oldextension .newextension *.oldextension

Numeric zero padding file rename¶

 rename 's/\d+/sprintf("%04d",$&)/e' *.jpg

Adding Prefix to File name¶

rename 's/^/PREFIX/g' *

Adding Prefix to File name¶

rename 's/^/CS749__/' *.pdf

Renames multiple files that match the pattern¶

rename 's/foo/bar/g' *

space to underscore across single directory¶

rename ' ' '_' *

Replace all the spaces in all the filenames of the current directory and including directories with underscores.¶

rename "s/ /_/g" * .*

Adding leading zeros to a filename (1.jpg -> 001.jpg)¶

rename.ul "" 00 ?.jpg; rename "" 0 ??.jpg;

Replace Space In Filenames With Underscore¶

rename 's/ /_/g' *

Rename with regular expression and leading zeros¶

rename 's/result_([0-9]+)_([0-9]+)_([0-9]+)\.json\.txt/sprintf("%d%02d%02d.txt",$3,$2,$1)/ge' result_*.txt