- DnD Renamer enables user to rename files in bulk using a specified pattern. It offers a list of parameters which can be applied to rename or to perform other batch operations via simple drag & drop. It offers a list of parameters which can be applied to rename or to perform other batch operations via simple drag & drop.
- This would allow your answer to work for any input of the same pattern (garbage + s01e01 + garbage.mp4) – Mitch Apr 28 '16 at 19:08 @Musher FIle renaming should not be based on any assumption.also your regex could be simplified to just w.also + is.
- Windows Rename Files
- Windows Rename Files By Patterns
- Can't Rename Files Windows 10
- Rename Multiple Files Windows 10
- Windows Rename Files Matching Pattern
In continuation with the previous blog post that deals with the folder and file rename options, here we discuss how to deal with renaming of folders/files that contain illegal characters.
As said earlier, folders and files residing in legacy systems will have having special characters that are invalid (disallowed) in SharePoint. DocKIT facilitates this renaming by providing folder and file naming rules while migrating into SharePoint.
Certain users might also need migration of different versions of a file with their version named with certain patterns. DocKIT also supports this file version history creation seamlessly.
Rename folders & files using naming rules
This option is intended /recommended for renaming folders & files that have characters not accepted in SharePoint as part of their names.
SharePoint disallows certain invalid characters in the folder and file names. In order to overcome this behavior, you need to replace certain characters that appear in Windows folder & file names and are invalid folder / file characters in SharePoint libraries, with valid characters (all characters except ~ # % & { } * | : < > / ?) in SharePoint.
For this, you can use the “Folder & File Renaming Rules” feature in DocKIT. This feature in DocKIT uses ‘Regular Expressions’ technique that is widely used in software applications where character pattern matching is crucial.
Consider the following cases:
Example 1: Order of entries when constructing renaming rules
The Folder and File Renaming rule in DocKIT requires the rule entries to be correctly placed for successful and meaningful replacement of invalid characters. The order of the entries (sequence) is important depending on the name of the files and folders. For example, if you want dot and double underscore OR triple dots to be treated as a single entity, then a rule entry with this value has to be given first. After this, you should provide dot and single underscore OR double dots value as entry.
Example:
File Renamer makes it easy to rename large number of files in in a few clicks. Have a large picture library and wished files were called something more descriptive than DSCsomething.jpg? File Renamer gets the job done without wasting hours. File Renamer values your privacy and does not send any data on the internet.
Invalid File Name | Valid File Name | Description of the Renaming requirement |
Sa…ple File 1.doc | Sample File 1,doc | Replace 3 dots with ‘m’ |
Sam.le File2.doc | Sample File2.doc | Replace 2 dots with ‘p’ |
_ample File3.doc | Sample File3.doc | Replace_ with ‘S’ |
.Feb Report.xlsx | Feb Reprt.xlsx | Remove dot if the file name starts with . (dot) |
Jan Report.xls | Jan Report.xls | Remove dot if the file name ends with . (dot)Replace two consecutive dots with one |
._March Report.pdf | March Report.pdf | Replace ._ with empty |
.__ April Report.txt | April Report.txt | Replace .__ ( dot, two underscores) with empty |
__ May Report.pptx | May Report.pptx | Replace __ (two consecutive underscores) with empty |
._. June Report.ppt | justify;line-height:normal;mso-yfti-cnfc:128″>June Report.ppt | Replace ._. (dot, underscore, dot) with empty |
Equivalent Naming Rules:
Windows Rename Files
Find | Replace | Description |
… | m | Replace 3 dots with ‘m’ |
. | p | Replace 2 dots with ‘p’ |
.* | Remove dot if the file name starts with . (dot) | |
*. | Remove dot if the file name ends with . (dot) | |
.__ | Replace .__ ( dot, two underscores) with empty | |
._. | Replace ._. (dot, underscore, dot) with empty | |
._ | Replace ._ with empty | |
__ | Replace __ (two consecutive underscores) with empty | |
_ | S | Replace _ with ‘S’ |
Figure 1: Naming rule as specified in DocKIT application
Example 2: Usage of reserved characters
The ‘Regular Expressions’ technique used by DocKIT for pattern matching categorizes some of the operators as reserved and has its own meaning for the operators in the pattern syntax. In order to treat the reserved characters as normal characters like ‘A’, ‘1’, you have to use ” (backslash) as an escape sequence character in DocKIT Renaming rule as given below:
Invalid file name | Valid file name | Description | Naming rule | |
Find | Replace | |||
My File name#.xls | My File name.xls | Replace # with empty | # | |
Programs & Schedules.docx | Programs and Schedules.docx | Replace & with ‘and’ | & | and |
My $ File name.docx | My File name.docx | Replace $ with empty | $ | |
policydoc *74565.xls | policydoc 74565.xls | Replace * with empty | * | |
Sample.Doc | SampleDoc | Replace . with empty | . | |
Sample?File | SampleTextFile | Replace ? with ‘Text’ | ? | Text |
Test^Document | Testdocument | Replace ^ with empty | ^ | |
Sample+File | SampleTextFile | Replace plus with ‘Text’ | + | Text |
Word<Document | WordDocument | Replace < with empty | < | |
PDF>Document | PDFDocument | Replace > with empty | > | |
[Document | Document | Replace [ with empty | [ | |
Sample] | SampleFile | Replace ] with ‘File’ | ] | File |
(File | DocumentFile | Replace ( with ‘Document’ | ( | Document |
TextFile) | TextFile | Replace ) with empty | ) |
Create file version history by using certain naming patterns
We will discuss a situation where certain files in a folder have their names appended with version numbers. If you would like these version numbers to stack up nicely as version history of the file / document, this is what you can do.
Example 1: Uniform file naming pattern for file version
Invalid File Name | Valid File Name | Description | Naming Rule | |
Find | Replace | |||
My File name_v1.0.docx | My File name.docx | Replace underscore, v and version number appended with the parent file name with empty so as to create as respective versions of a file First version | *_v??.?? | |
My File name_v1.1.docx | My File name.docx | Next minor version | ||
My File name_v1.2.docx | My File name.docx | Next minor version |
Example 2: Random file naming pattern for file version:
Invalid File Name | Valid File Name | Description | Naming Rule | |
Find | Replace | |||
My doc_v1.0.doc | My doc.doc | Replace underscore, v and version number appended with the parent file name with empty so as to create as respective versions of a file First version | *_v* *v??.?? | v |
My docv1.1.doc | My doc.doc | Next minor version | ||
My docv1.2.doc | My doc.doc | Next minor version |
Note: Entries under the Find section should be in the same order as listed.
Figure 2: File Settings in DocKIT Task Wizard
To create version history, select ‘Create new version’ option in ‘File Settings’ step in DocKIT Task Wizard.
For more information, please refer the following help sections in the Dockit online help document. You can launch the help document from Help menu (Help -> Contents menu) in the application.
- DocKIT Features -> Folder & File Renaming Rules
- DocKIT Special Cases -> Rename Documents in File System
Rename a file or files.
Both the SourceMask and TargetMask can contain * and/or ? wildcards.
As described below, the behavior of these wildcards is slightly different for a source or a target mask.
As described below, the behavior of these wildcards is slightly different for a source or a target mask.
REN can also be used to rename directories, but this behaviour is undocumented.
A simple REN folderA folderB will work, but wildcard operations are not supported for directories, if you issue a wildcard rename that matches both files and directories, the file(s) will be renamed and the folders will be ignored. If you issue a wildcard rename that matches only directories then a syntax error will be thrown.
A simple REN folderA folderB will work, but wildcard operations are not supported for directories, if you issue a wildcard rename that matches both files and directories, the file(s) will be renamed and the folders will be ignored. If you issue a wildcard rename that matches only directories then a syntax error will be thrown.
You cannot specify a different drive or path for TargetMask - use the MOVE command instead.
RENAME is a synonym for REN
Rename files within subdirectories
By default REN with a wildcard will only rename the files in a single folder, to recurse down into sub folders use a FOR /R command, after first changing to the top level directory.
e.g. A batch file to rename all .LOG files to .TXT in the 'C:demo' folder and all sub-folders:
CD C:demo
For /R %%G in (*.LOG) do Echo REN '%%G' '%%~dpnG.TXT'
Remove the echo to run this for real
For /R %%G in (*.LOG) do Echo REN '%%G' '%%~dpnG.TXT'
Remove the echo to run this for real
SourceMask
The sourceMask works as a filter to determine which files are renamed. The wildcards work here the same as with any other command that filters file names.
? Matches any 0 or 1 character except . This wildcard is greedy - it always consumes the next character if it is not a . However it will match nothing without failure if at name end or if the next character is a .
* Matches any 0 or more characters including . (with one exception below). This wildcard is not greedy. It will match as little or as much as is needed to enable subsequent characters to match.
All non-wildcard characters must match themselves, with a few special case exceptions.
. Matches itself or it can match the end of name (nothing) if no more characters remain. (Note - a valid Windows name cannot end with .)
{space} Matches itself or it can match the end of name (nothing) if no more characters remain. (Note - a valid Windows name cannot end with {space})
*. at the end, Matches any 0 or more characters except . The terminating . can actually be any combination of . and {space} as long as the very last character in the mask is . this is the one and only exception where * does not match any set of characters.
The above rules are not that complex. But there is one more very important rule that makes the situation confusing: The SourceMask is compared against both the long name and the short 8.3 name (if it exists). This last rule can make interpretation of the results very tricky, because it is not always obvious when the mask is matching via the short name.
It is possible to use FSUTIL to disable the generation of short 8.3 names on NTFS volumes, at which point interpretation of file mask results is much more straight forward. Any short names that were generated before disabling short names will remain. New installations of Windows server now default to disabling 8.3 names.
TargetMask
The TargetMask specifies the new name. It is always applied to the full long name; The TargetMask is never applied to the short 8.3 name, even if the SourceMask matched the short 8.3 name.
The presence or absence of wildcards in the SourceMask has no impact on how wildcards are processed in the TargetMask.
In the following discussion c represents any character that is not *, ?, or .
The TargetMask is processed against the source name strictly from left to right with no back-tracking.
c Advances the position within the source name as long as the next character is not . and appends c to the target name. (Replaces the character that was in source with c, but never replaces .)
? Matches the next character from the source long name and appends it to the target name as long as the next character is not . If the next character is . or if at the end of the source name then no character is added to the result and the current position within the source name is unchanged.
* At end of sourceMask - Appends all remaining characters from source to the target. If already at the end of source, then does nothing.
*c Matches all source characters from current position through the last occurance of c (case sensitive greedy match) and appends the matched set of characters to the target name. If c is not found, then all remaining characters from source are appended, followed by c This is the only situation I am aware of where Windows file pattern matching is case sensitive.
*. Matches all source characters from current position through the last occurance of . (greedy match) and appends the matched set of characters to the target name. If . is not found, then all remaining characters from source are appended, followed by .
*? Appends all remaining characters from source to the target. Any additional characters after the *? in sourceMask will be appended to target. If already at end of source then does nothing.
. without * in front - Advances the position in source through the first occurance of . without copying any characters, and appends . to the target name. If . is not found in the source, then advances to the end of source and appends . to the target name.
After the TargetMask has been exhausted, any trailing . and {space} are trimmed off the end of the resulting target name because Windows file names cannot end with . or {space}
It appears these same rules also work for the target name of the COPY commmand. Iexplorer 4 3 0 cr2.
8.3 Filename bug - a single command can rename the same file twice!
When 8.3 filenames exist then the SourceMask will first look for a match against the long file name, and then against the short file name. If the result of the first rename operation still matches the SourceMask then the same file can be renamed twice. For example:
Expected result = 223456789.123.x
Actual result = 223456789.123.xx
Actual result = 223456789.123.xx
If 8.3 name generation is enabled, the SourceMask matches the original long name, the initial rename generates a short name that still matches SourceMask and sorts later in the alphabet, then this bug might be triggered.
If 8.3 name generation is disabled then RENAME always gives the expected result.
Errorlevels
If the File(s) were successfully renamed %ERRORLEVEL% = 0
If the File was not found, could not be renamed or bad parameters %ERRORLEVEL% = 1
If the File was not found, could not be renamed or bad parameters %ERRORLEVEL% = 1
Windows Rename Files By Patterns
Examples
Rename Monday.txt as Tuesday.txt
C:> REN Monday.txt Tuesday.txt
C:> REN Monday.txt Tuesday.txt
Substitute a character in the 1st and 3rd positions prior to any extension (adds a 2nd or 3rd character if it doesn't exist yet)
Can't Rename Files Windows 10
Change the (final) extension of every file
Append an extension to every file
Remove any extra extension after the initial extension. Note that adequate ? must be used to preserve the full existing name and initial extension.
Same as above, but filter out files with initial name and/or extension longer than 5 chars so that they are not truncated. (Obviously could add an additional ? on either end of targetMask to preserve names and extensions up to 6 chars long.)
Change characters after last _ in name and attempt to preserve extension. (Doesn't work properly if _ appears in extension.)
Any name can be broken up into components that are delimited by . characters can only be appended to or deleted from the end of each component. Characters cannot be deleted from or added to the beginning or middle of a component while preserving the remainder with wildcards. Substitutions are allowed anywhere.
Rename Multiple Files Windows 10
A sourceMask with at least 8 ? for the name and at least 3 ? for the extension will match all files because it will always match the short 8.3 name.
Credits:
Dave Benham - List of How does the Windows RENAME command interpret wildcards? from SuperUser Dec 2012
Dave Benham - List of How does the Windows RENAME command interpret wildcards? from SuperUser Dec 2012
Windows Rename Files Matching Pattern
REN is an internal command.
“We may dig in our heels and dare life never to change, but, all the same, it changes under our feet like sand under the feet of a sea gazer as the tide runs out. Life is forever undermining us. Life is forever washing away our castles, reminding us that they were, after all, only sand and sea water” - Erica Jong (Parachutes and Kisses)
Related:
MOVE - Move a file from one folder to another.
Stamp.cmd - Batch file to rename a file to include the current date and time.
Powershell: Rename-Item - Change the name of an existing item (ren/rni).
Equivalent bash command (Linux): rename - rename files, mv - Move or rename files or directories.
“We may dig in our heels and dare life never to change, but, all the same, it changes under our feet like sand under the feet of a sea gazer as the tide runs out. Life is forever undermining us. Life is forever washing away our castles, reminding us that they were, after all, only sand and sea water” - Erica Jong (Parachutes and Kisses)
Related:
MOVE - Move a file from one folder to another.
Stamp.cmd - Batch file to rename a file to include the current date and time.
Powershell: Rename-Item - Change the name of an existing item (ren/rni).
Equivalent bash command (Linux): rename - rename files, mv - Move or rename files or directories.
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