file-rename(1p)

Usage

file-rename {[{-h | -m | -V}] [-v] [-0] [-n] [-f] [-d] [-u [enc]] [{-e | -E perlexpr}] * | perlexpr [files]}

Overview

"file-rename" renames the filenames supplied according to the rule specified as the first argument. The perlexpr argument is a Perl expression which is expected to modify the $_ string in Perl for at least some of the filenames specified. If a given filename is not modified by the expression, it will not be renamed. If no filenames are given on the command line, filenames will be read via standard input.

Examples (Larry Wall, 1992)

For example, to rename all files matching "*.bak" to strip the extension, you might say

        file-rename -- 's/\.bak$//' *.bak

To translate uppercase names to lower, you'd use

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

Examples rewritten to avoid globs which could inject options.

More examples (2020)

You can also use rename to move files between directories, possibly at the same time as making other changes (but see --filename)

        file-rename 'y/A-Z/a-z/;s/^/my_new_dir\//' ./*.*

You can also write the statements separately (see -e/-E)

        file-rename -E 'y/A-Z/a-z/' -E 's/^/my_new_dir\//' -- *.*

You can use the predefined variables "$a, $b" in the code; for instance to create sequences of numbers

    rename -e '$a++;s/\w+/file_$a/' -- *.*

Options

-v, --verbose: Verbose: print names of files successfully renamed.

-0, --null: Use \0 as record separator when reading from STDIN.

-n, --nono: No action: print names of files to be renamed, but don't rename.

-f, --force: Over write: allow existing files to be over-written.

--path, --fullpath: Rename full path: including any directory component. DEFAULT

-d, --filename, --nopath, --nofullpath: Do not rename directory: only rename filename component of path.

-h, --help: Help: print SYNOPSIS and OPTIONS.

-m, --man: Manual: print manual page.

-V, --version: Version: show version number.

-u, --unicode [encoding]

Treat filenames as perl (unicode) strings when running the user-supplied code.

Decode/encode filenames using encoding, if present.

encoding is optional: if omitted, the next argument should be an option starting with '-', for instance -e.

-e

Expression: code to act on files name.

May be repeated to build up code (like "perl -e"). If no -e, the first argument is used as code.

-E: Statement: code to act on files name, as -e but terminated by ';'.

Environment

No environment variables are used.

Diagnostics

If you give an invalid Perl expression you'll get a syntax error.

Releases

6 releases since Debian 8 (Jessie); the text changed 5 times.

8
9
10
11
12
13

--filename since Debian 10 (Buster); --force since Debian 10 (Buster); --fullpath since Debian 10 (Buster); --help since Debian 10 (Buster); --man since Debian 10 (Buster); --nofullpath since Debian 10 (Buster); --nono since Debian 10 (Buster); --nopath since Debian 10 (Buster); --null since Debian 10 (Buster); --path since Debian 10 (Buster); --unicode since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --verbose since Debian 10 (Buster); --version since Debian 10 (Buster); -0 since Debian 10 (Buster); -d since Debian 10 (Buster); -u since Debian 12 (Bookworm).

-force until Debian 9 (Stretch); -help until Debian 9 (Stretch); -man until Debian 9 (Stretch); -nono until Debian 9 (Stretch); -verbose until Debian 9 (Stretch); -version until Debian 9 (Stretch).