How to rename all file in linux

How to Rename Files in Linux

Renaming files in Linux is one of the easiest tasks that you can accomplish straight from the command line.

There are quite a few ways you can achieve this and in this guide, I will take you through how you can rename files in Linux.

1) Rename files using mv Command

The mv command is one of the easiest commands you can use to rename files in Linux. The syntax is quite straightforward.

Syntax

Example

I have created a new folder in my home directory called files. In the folder, I have a document called file1.txt.

To rename the ‘file1.txt’ to ‘file2.txt’, the command will be

You can verify the results using the ls command

To get verbose output, append the -v flag

Output

If the file is located in a file path e.g. / home/winnie/file1.txt, the syntax will be

NOTE:
If you specify a different file path, the mv command will simply move it to a different location without renaming it.

2) Rename multiple files using the rename command

The rename command can also be used to rename multiple files from one format to another. The syntax is

For example, I have 5 files- file1.txt, file2.txt, file3.txt, file4.txt, and file5.txt

To rename them all files (*.txt) to pdf (*.pdf) run

The wildcard symbol means that all files will be affected.

To change filenames from lowercase to uppercase run

In the above case, all lowercase png files will be converted to Uppercase

To view the man page of rename run

3) Using Metamorphose2 GUI tool

For GUI lovers, Metamorphose is a handy and powerful tool for renaming operations. Metamorphose is a free and open source cross-platform file and folder renamer, available for both Linux and Windows.

First off, head out to Metamorphose website and select your distribution’s installer. A couple of installer options are available e.g. Debian files for Ubuntu and Debian and RPM for RedHat based distros such as CentOS.

Once downloaded use the dpkg command to install

After successful installation of Metamorphose2, launch it on a terminal, by running

Choose your preferred language and click ‘Ok’ button

Click on the renamer tab. A Window like the one below will be displayed. On the left pane is a list of actions that you can take when renaming. in the middle section, these actions are further explained in detail.

Next, click on ‘Picker‘ tab and click on the folder containing the files you want to rename. Highlight the files.

Thereafter, click on the ‘Renamer‘ tab again and this time define the renaming rules. In the example below, I’m replacing ‘file’ with ‘doc’.

The bottom section gives you a preview of how your files will be renamed.

Once satisfied, click on the ‘Go‘ button

3) Using Pyrenamer GUI tool

Pyrenamer is yet another handy tool you can use to rename a batch of files simultaneously in Linux. To install in Ubuntu run

To launch Pyrenamer run

Once launched, scroll down to your directory and select the files you want to rename. Next, choose the actions you wish to apply. In my case, I will replace the extension txt with pdf.

To effect the changes, I will finally click on ‘Rename‘

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have touched on various ways you can rename files (both individual files and batches of files) on the terminal and using GUI tools. Found nomino a batch rename utility for developers.

Give it a try and let us know how it went! Thanks and keep it locked for more informative tutorials!

Источник

How to Rename Files in Linux

A command-line terminal is an essential tool for administrating Linux servers. It provides Linux users some of the best productivity tools while saving your machine’s resources.

To effectively use the potential of Linux, you will need to have strong knowledge of the fundamentals – simple commands, like renaming existing files and folders. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to rename folders in Linux.

How to Rename Files in Linux with the mv Command

Shortened from “move,” the mv command is one of the easiest commands to use. It can do two basic but essential tasks when handling files on Linux. One is moving files from one location to another, and the other is renaming one or more files through the terminal.

First, let’s see how renaming files with mv works on Linux.

To begin, we access our server through the command line using SSH. If you are unsure about SSH and would like to learn more, here’s a helpful tutorial.

To access our server, type the following into your terminal:

If we are using a local computer, instead of a server, then we will have to open the terminal from the main menu.

Afterward, it is important to know how the mv command works. To do this, we run the following:

As we can see in the previous image, the basic use of the mv command is as follows:

Here are some of the most popular mv options:

• -f – shows no message before overwriting a file.
• -i – displays warning messages before overwriting a file.
• -u – only move a file if it is new or if it does not exist in the destination.
• -v – show what the command does.

And the parameters are:

[SOURCE] – the source destination of the file

[DESTINATION] – the destination directory.

Rename File on Linux Using the mv Command

If we want to rename a file, we can do it like this:

Assuming we are located in the directory, and there is a file called file1.txt, and we want to change the name to file2.txt. We will need to type the following:

As simple as that. However, if you are not in the directory, you will need to type a bit more. For example:

Rename Multiple Files With the mv Command

The mv command can only rename one file, but it can be used with other commands to rename multiple files.

Let’s take the commands, find, for, or while loops and renaming multiple files.

For example, when trying to change all files in your current directory from .txt extension to .pdf extension, you will use the following command:

This will create a loop (for) looking through the list of files with the extension .txt. It will then replace each .txt extension with .pdf. Finally, it will end the loop (done).

If you want more advanced features, you’ll need to use the rename command, we’re about to cover.

Rename Files on Linux Using the Rename Command

With the rename command, you will have a bit more control. Many Linux configurations include it by default. But, if you don’t have it installed, you can do it in just a minute with a simple command.

In the case of Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and derivatives:

On the other hand, if you are using CentOS 7 or RHEL:

And, if you are using Arch Linux:

Now, we can start using the rename command. In general, the basic syntax of the rename command looks like this:

It may seem complex at first, but it’s a lot simpler than it might seem.

In this example, we will create a new folder called filetorename, and using the touch command, we will create 5 files.

With the last ls command, you can view the files that you created.

If we want to rename a single file called file1.txt, the sentence would be like this:

If we wanted to change the extension to all files, for example, to .php. We could do it this way:

We can also specify another directory where the files you want to rename are.

We’d like to mention that rename uses a regular expression of Perl, meaning this command has extensive possibilities.

Finally, it is a good idea to check all the command options. You can view them in the terminal by executing:

Some common examples of how to use the rename command are:

• • Convert filenames to uppercase:
  • Convert filenames to lowercase:
  • Replace spaces in filenames with underscores:

Remove Rename Command

If you no longer wish to have rename installed on your system, remove it using the software manager. Or from the terminal.

For Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint and derivatives:

And for CentOS and RHEL:

That’s it, rename is removed from your Linux machine.

Conclusion

Renaming files in Linux using the terminal is a simple and practical task but sometimes very important. Knowing how to do it is something every server manager should know.

As we have seen, there are two commands that can do it. One is simpler than the other, but both accomplish the task.

We encourage you to continue researching these commands and improving the quality of your everyday workflow.

Edward is an expert communicator with years of experience in IT as a writer, marketer, and Linux enthusiast. IT is a core pillar of his life, personal and professional. Edward’s goal is to encourage millions to achieve an impactful online presence. He also really loves dogs, guitars, and everything related to space.

Источник

6 Methods To Rename Multiple Files At Once In Linux

In this tutorial, we will learn how to rename multiple files at once in Linux using various tools. All examples provided here are tested in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, however they should work on any Linux operating systems.

Introduction

As you may already know, we use mv command to bulk rename or move files and directories in Linux and Unix-like operating systems.

But, the mv command won’t support renaming multiple files at once. It can rename only one file at a time. What would you do if you wanted to rename multiple files at a time? Worry not!

There are a few other utilities available for batch renaming files in Linux.

Rename multiple files at once in Linux

There could be many commands and utilities to a rename bunch of files. As of writing this, I know the following methods only. I will keep updating the list if I come across any new method in future.

Method 1 — Using mmv

The mmv utility is used to move, copy, append and rename files in bulk using standard wildcards in Linux and Unix-like operating systems. It is available in the default repositories of Debian-based systems.

To install mmv on Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and Pop OS, run the following command:

Let us say, you have the following files in your current directory.

Now you want to rename all files that starts with letter «a» to «b» . Of course, you can do this manually in few seconds.

But just think if you have hundreds of files and want to rename them? It is quite time consuming process. Here is where mmv command comes in help.

To rename all files starting with letter «a» to «b» , simply run:

Let us check if the files have been renamed or not.

As you can see, all files starts with letter «a» (i.e a1.txt , a2.txt , a3.txt ) are renamed to b1.txt , b2.txt , b3.txt .

Explanation

In the above example, the first parameter ( a* ) is the ‘from’ pattern and the second parameter is ‘to’ pattern ( b#1 ).

As per the above example, mmv will look for any filenames staring with letter ‘a’ and rename the matched files according to second parameter i.e ‘to’ pattern.

We use wildcards, such as ‘*’ , ‘?’ and ‘[]‘ , to match one or more arbitrary characters. Please be mindful that you must escape the wildcard characters, otherwise they will be expanded by the shell and mmv won’t understand them.

The ‘#1′ in the ‘to’ pattern is a wildcard index. It matches the first wildcard found in the ‘from’ pattern. A ‘#2′ in the ‘to’ pattern would match the second wildcard and so on.

In our example, we have only one wildcard (the asterisk), so we write a #1 . And, the hash sign should be escaped as well. Also, you can enclose the patterns with quotes too.

You can even rename all files with a certain extension to a different extension. For example, to rename all .txt files to .doc file format in the current directory, simply run:

Here is an another example. Let us say you have the following files.

You want to replace the the first occurrence of abc with xyz in all files in the current directory. How would you do?

Please note that in the above example, I have enclosed the patterns in single quotes.

Let us check if «abc» is actually replaced with «xyz» or not.

See? The files abcd1.txt, abcd2.txt, and abcd3.txt have been renamed to xyzd1.txt, xyzd2.txt, and xyzd3.txt.

Another notable feature of mmv command is you can just print output instead of renaming the files using -n option like below.

This way you can simply verify what mmv command would actually do before renaming the files.

For more details, refer man pages.

Method 2 — Using rename utility

The rename utility will rename given files by substituting the first occurrence of expression in their name by replacement.

The rename command comes preinstalled in most Unix-like operating systems. If it is not available by default, run the following command to install it on Debian-based systems:

For instance, I have the following files in the current directory.

Let us replace the the first occurrence of abc with xyz wherever found. To do so, run:

Now, verify if the changes have been made with ls command.

Sometimes, you might to just print output instead of renaming the files. If so, use -n flag to display which renames would occur without performing them:

As you can see, the above command didn’t make any changes, instead just displays which renames would occur.

You can force renaming task even if the operation would overwrite existing files using -f flag like below.

If you don’t want to overwrite the files, you can simply convert them to upper or lowercase letters (and vice versa) to prevent «already exists» errors.

To convert all filenames to lower case, so:

Let us check if the changes have been made.

Yes, the letters in the filenames have been changed from lower case to upper case.

Similarly, to convert filenames to lower case, run:

We can remove all blank lines in a filename as well. For example, I have the following file.

To remove all blank spaces in the above filename, run:

Now, the filename doesn’t have any blank spaces.

Replace blank spaces with underscores:

You might want to change the file extension, but not rename the filenames. It is also possible. The following command would rename all *.txt files to *.doc .

Verify the changes using ls command:

To remove extension in all files matching .txt, run:

For more details, refer man pages.

Method 3 — Using renameutils

The renameutils is a set of programs that is designed to batch renaming files and directories faster and easier.

Renameutils consists of the following five programs:

1. qmv (quick move),
2. qcp (quick copy),
3. imv (interactive move),
4. icp (interactive copy),
5. deurlname (delete URL).

Install renameutils in Linux

Renameutils is available in the default repositories of most Linux distributions. To install it on Arch-based systems, enable the community repository and run:

On Debian-based systems:

Now, let us see some examples.

1. qmv

The qmv program will open the filenames in a directory in your default text editor and allows you to edit them.

I have the following three files in a directory named ‘ostechnix’.

To rename the filenames in the ‘ostechnix’ directory, simply do:

Now, change the filenames as you wish. You will see the live preview as you edit the filenames.

Alternatively, you can cd into the directory and simply run ‘qmv’ .

Once you opened the files, you will see the two columns as shown in the following screenshot.

The left column side displays the source filenames and the right column displays the destination names (the output filenames that you will get after editing).

Now, rename all the output names on the right side as you wish.

After renaming filenames, save and quit the file.

Finally, you will see the following output:

Now, check if the changes have actually been made using ‘ls’ command:

See? All files are renamed. Not just files, the renameutils will also rename the directory names as well.

Here is a quick video demo of qmv program:

If you don’t want to edit the filenames in dual-column format, use the following command to display the destination file column only.

Where, ‘-f’ refers the format and ‘do’ refers destination-only .

Now, you will see only the destination column. That’s the column we make the changes.

Once done, save and close the file.

For more details, refer man pages.

2. qcp

The qcp program works like qmv, but copies files instead of renaming them. In this case, you will get two instances of same file. That means it will keep both original and duplicate files.

Rename the filenames listed on the right side. Save and quit the file. Finally, verify the changes made using ls command:

For more details, refer man pages.

3. imv

The imv program allows us to interactively rename the filenames. Obviously, it is not for bulk renaming. You could only rename the files one by one.

Edit the filename as you like and hit ENTER to rename it.

For more details, refer man pages.

4. icp

The icp program is same as imv , but it copies the files instead of moving them.

For more use cases and commands, please refer man pages.

I don’t know why the developers added these two utilities while we can do the same using mv and cp command.

5. deurlname

The deurlname program removes URL encoded characters (such as %20 representing space) from file names. Some programs, for examples w3m, tend to keep those characters encoded in saved files.

You can this tool for cleaning up the filenames you downloaded from the Internet.

Take a look the the following file.

There are some special characters and numbers in the filename. If you clean it up, just run:

Now, look how the file name is changed.

The filename is clean and readable.

Refer man pages for more details.

Also, refer the project’s website given at the end of this guide.

Method 4 — Using vimv

As the name says, Vimv is a command line utility to bulk rename files using Vim editor. You can, of course, change the editor by changing the value of $EDITOR environment variable.

To install Vimv, git clone the repository:

Copy the vimv binary to your $PATH , for example /usr/local/bin/ .

Finally, make it executable:

Now go to the directory and run the following command to edit the filenames.

You will see the filenames in Vi editor. Press i to switch to interactive mode and edit the filenames as the way you edit text in Vi editor. Once done, press ESC key and type :wq to save and exit.

The files inside the directory should be renamed now. Here is a short video demo.

For more details, refer the project’s GitHub repository given at the end of this guide.

Method 5 — Using Emacs

If you have a system with Emacs editor installed, you can do batch renaming easily by following these steps.

1. Open your Emacs editor.

2. Press Alt+x and type the following and hit ENTER to switch to wdired-mode (short for «writable directory editor mode»).

3. Enter the path to the directory (E.g. /home/sk/ostechnix ) which contains the files to rename and hit ENTER key.

4. Then, press Ctrl+x and Ctrl+q to switch to read-write mode.

5. Now, rename the files. Once done, press Ctrl+c and Ctrl+c (two times) to save the changes. To abort the changes, press Ctrl+c and Ctrl+k .

Watch the demo video:

See? It is very simple to rename multiple files at once.

Method 6 — Using Thunar file manager

The Thunar file manager has built-in bulk rename option by default.

Thunar is available in the default repositories of most Linux distributions.

To install it on Arch-based systems, run:

On Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux:

On Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint:

Once installed, you can launch bulk rename utility from menu or from the application launcher. To launch it from Terminal, use the following command:

This is how bulk rename looks like.

Click the plus sign and choose the list of files you want to rename. Bulk rename can rename the name of the files, the suffix of the files or both the name and the suffix of the files.

Thunar currently supports the following Bulk Renamers:

• Insert Date or Time
• Insert or Overwrite
• Numbering
• Remove Characters
• Search & Replace
• Uppercase / Lowercase

When you select one of these criteria from the picklist, you will see a preview of your changes in the New Name column, as shown in the below screenshot.

Once you choose the criteria, click on Rename Files option to rename the files.

You can also open bulk renamer from within Thunar by selecting two or more files. After choosing the files, press F2 or right click and choose Rename .

Suggested read:

And, that’s all for now. Hope this was useful. Do you know any other method to add in this list? Please mention them in the comment section below. I will check and update this guide accordingly.

Источник