Questions tagged [rename]

The rename tag refers to the action of giving a different name to either an existing file or to a copy of a file as part of some other operations (.e.g. remote copy, backup). Use this tag as well for questions related to the (perl) rename command.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
440 votes
18 answers
650k views

How do I change the extension of multiple files?

I would like to change a file extension from *.txt to *.text. I tried using the basename command, but I'm having trouble changing more than one file. Here's my code: files=`ls -1 *.txt` for x in $...
afbr1201's user avatar
  • 4,729
253 votes
16 answers
317k views

Merging folders with mv?

If I use mv to move a folder called "folder" to a directory that already contains "folder" will they merge or will it be replaced?
Dominique's user avatar
  • 5,235
221 votes
9 answers
461k views

Move folder content up one level

I have a directory that is unpacked, but is in a folder. How can I move the contents up one level? I am accessing CentOS via SSH.
user avatar
202 votes
14 answers
248k views

Batch renaming files

I have a directory full of images: image0001.png image0002.png image0003.png ... And I would like a one-liner to rename them to (say). 0001.png 0002.png 0003.png ... How do I do this?
Internet man's user avatar
  • 3,631
202 votes
5 answers
175k views

How to choose directory name during untarring

Say I have a file named ugly_name.tar, which when extracted, becomes ugly_name directory. What command can I use so that the resulting directory name is pretty_name instead?
tshepang's user avatar
  • 65.6k
175 votes
7 answers
819k views

How to move all files and folders via mv command [duplicate]

How can I move all files and folders from one directory to another via mv command?
Luka's user avatar
  • 2,107
130 votes
12 answers
374k views

how to rename multiple files by replacing string in file name? this string contains a "#"

https://serverfault.com/questions/70939/how-to-replace-a-text-string-in-multiple-files-in-linux https://serverfault.com/questions/228733/how-to-rename-multiple-files-by-replacing-word-in-file-name ...
user avatar
119 votes
7 answers
82k views

Flattening a nested directory

This is probably very simple, but I can't figure it out. I have a directory structure like this (dir2 is inside dir1): /dir1 /dir2 | --- file1 | --- file2 What is ...
turtle's user avatar
  • 2,667
80 votes
9 answers
123k views

Bulk rename, change prefix

How can I bulk replace the prefix for many files? I have a lot of files like TestSRConnectionContext.h TestSRConnectionContext.m I would like to change all them to CLConnectionContext.h ...
ErikTJ's user avatar
  • 923
71 votes
5 answers
301k views

Appending a current date from a variable to a filename

I'm trying to append the current date to the end of a file name like this: TheFile.log.2012-02-11 Here is what I have so far: set today = 'date +%Y' mkdir -p The_Logs & find . -name The_Logs -...
I AM L's user avatar
  • 873
69 votes
8 answers
146k views

How to replace one char with another in all filenames of the current directories?

How do you rename all files/subdirs in the current folder? Lets say, I have many files and subdirs that are with spaces and I want to replace all the spaces with an underscore. File 1 File 2 File 3 ...
NobbZ's user avatar
  • 807
66 votes
3 answers
246k views

How to rename multiple files in single command or script in Unix? [duplicate]

I have the below list of files aro_tty-mIF-45875564pmo_opt aro_tty-mIF-45875664pmo_opt aro_tty-mIF-45875964pmo_opt aro_tty-mIF-45875514pmo_opt aro_tty-mIF-45875524pmo_opt that I need to rename to ...
Udhayakumar's user avatar
64 votes
5 answers
84k views

How can I find files and then use xargs to move them?

I want to find some files and then move them. I can find the file with: $ find /tmp/ -ctime -1 -name x* I tried to move them to my ~/play directory with: $ find /tmp/ -ctime -1 -name x* | xargs mv ...
Michael Durrant's user avatar
60 votes
6 answers
41k views

Quickest way to rename files, without retyping directory path

I know how to rename files in Unix: $ mv ~/folder/subfolder/file.txt ~/folder/subfolder/file.sh ^-------this part------^ ^------this part-------^ It takes too long time to repeat ~/folder/...
Hamed Kamrava's user avatar
46 votes
6 answers
157k views

Rename multiple files with mv to change the extension

I want to rename files to change their extension, effectively looking to accomplish mv *.txt *.tsv But when doing this I get : *.tsv is not a directory I find it somewhat strange that the ...
Sander Van der Zeeuw's user avatar
42 votes
6 answers
79k views

adding text to filename before extension

I would like to add text to the end of filename but before the extension. Right now I am trying, for f in *.shp; do echo $f_poly; done the output is, Quercus_acutifolia.shp_poly Quercus_agrifolia....
Sam007's user avatar
  • 523
36 votes
12 answers
59k views

Preserve directory structure when moving files using find

I have created the following script that move old days files as defined from source directory to destination directory. It is working perfectly. #!/bin/bash echo "Enter Your Source Directory" read ...
KK Patel's user avatar
  • 1,855
36 votes
4 answers
5k views

Quick way to include a directory path when calling mv? [duplicate]

Often I will work out of the root of a rails directory where I find my self navigating the same path twice every time I would like to move a file: mv app/views/layouts/application.html.erb app/views/...
rudolph9's user avatar
  • 1,425
36 votes
4 answers
65k views

How can I move files by type recursively from a directory and its sub-directories to another directory?

What would be a good way to move a file type from a directory and all of its sub-directories? Like "move all *.ogg in /thisdir recursively to /somedir". I tried a couple of things; my best effort was ...
Steve Burdine's user avatar
36 votes
2 answers
143k views

How to move files in sftp server?

How can I move a file in sftp server on a different directory? I connect to this server using sftp and then try to move a file using mv myfile.csv /my/dir/myfile.csv but this generates an error. How ...
jrara's user avatar
  • 2,089
36 votes
2 answers
274k views

mv: cannot stat No such file or directory in shell script

I wrote a script to move some files form one folder to another folder but I got the following error, I checked 2 folders and notice for 1 folder there are such files and another there is no such files,...
misteryes's user avatar
  • 1,323
34 votes
6 answers
123k views

how can I rename multiple files by removing a character or string?

As a follow-up to my previous question, if I have multiple files of the form sw.ras.001 sw.ras.002 sw.ras.003 … What command can I use to remove the ras. in the middle of all the files?
Paul's user avatar
  • 9,403
33 votes
2 answers
28k views

Remove prefixes from filenames

I have a bunch of files as follows: 04602635_b0294.DAT20120807164534 04602637_b0297.DAT20120807164713 04602638_b0296.DAT20120807164637 04602639_b0299.DAT20120807164819 04602640_b0298....
Pieter van Niekerk's user avatar
33 votes
1 answer
4k views

What's with all the renames: prename, rename, file-rename?

On my Debian system (well, my LMDE system, but close enough), I have at least 3 different rename programs: /usr/local/bin/rename : This is a Perl script, written by Tom Christiansen. Oddly enough, I ...
terdon's user avatar
  • 241k
32 votes
4 answers
64k views

How to replace spaces in all file names with underscore in Linux using shell script?

I tried following shell script which should replace spaces from all xml filenames for xml_file in $(find $1 -name "* .xml" -type f); do echo "removing spaces from XML file:" $xml_file mv "$xml_file"...
krishna's user avatar
  • 529
32 votes
3 answers
71k views

Copy files with renaming

I have a huge file tree. Some files have same name but in different case, e.g., some_code.c and Some_Code.c. So when I'm trying to copy it to an NTFS/FAT filesystem, it asks me about whether I want ...
Alexander Dzyoba's user avatar
31 votes
5 answers
30k views

What does `mv ./*` without specifying destination do?

I accidentally forgot to specify destination before hitting the Return key. Where does mv ./* without specifying destination move the files and directories under current directory to?
Tim's user avatar
  • 102k
31 votes
3 answers
27k views

Move files and change ownership at the sametime

On Linux (Debian, Ubuntu Mint...), Is there any option command or something that I can use to transfer files to another user without having to do : sudo mv /home/poney/folderfulloffiles /home/...
Kiwy's user avatar
  • 9,524
31 votes
3 answers
11k views

Renaming the current directory from a shell - possible?

Is it possible to rename the current working directory from within a shell (Bash in my particular case)? If I attempt to do this the straightforward way, I end up with an error: nathan@nathan-desktop:...
Nathan Osman's user avatar
  • 6,230
31 votes
1 answer
14k views

Best way to continue stopped move (mv) by merging directories?

I have moved (mv) a pretty large directory on my NAS (Linux based), but had to interrupt the procedure. Not being a regular Linux user, I though I could just continue and merge the rest later in. mv /...
Horst Walter's user avatar
29 votes
6 answers
156k views

Rename multiples files using Bash scripting

I want to rename multiple files in the same directory using Bash scripting. Names of the files are as follows: file2602201409853.p file0901201437404.p file0901201438761.p file1003201410069.p ...
franvergara66's user avatar
29 votes
2 answers
29k views

Why can't I have a folder and a file with the same name?

I've never had this problem before, but for some reason, I can't rename my folder to packages/. This is the structure: root - packages_old/ - packages When I try to rename the folder with ...
Blender's user avatar
  • 1,863
28 votes
1 answer
10k views

zmv for zsh: Dry runs and man pages

I've heard great things about zmv in zsh, and would love to really learn to use it. However, I am still relatively unexperienced in zsh, and have some basic questions: Is there is a man page for zmv ...
Amelio Vazquez-Reina's user avatar
27 votes
3 answers
10k views

How to rename file to .. (dot dot)?

Apparently you can rename file to .... If I were insane, how would I rename file to .. or .? Is such a filename even allowed? Backslash doesn't seem to disable dot's special meaning: $ mv test \. ...
gronostaj's user avatar
  • 708
27 votes
7 answers
64k views

How to rename multiple files by removing the extension?

I have a number of tiff files named: sw.001.tif sw.002.tif ... and I want to remove the .tif at the end of each of the files. How can I use the rename command to do this?
Paul's user avatar
  • 9,403
27 votes
7 answers
70k views

Remove a specific extension from all the files in a directory [duplicate]

I have a couple of files with ".old" extension. How can I remove the ".old" extension without remove the file? I can do it manually but with more work: mv file1.key.old file1.key mv file2.pub....
DiogoSaraiva's user avatar
26 votes
3 answers
15k views

How to decide that mv moves into a directory rather than replacing directory?

Say I have a directory /hello. Then I do mv /hello /hello2. Am I moving /hello into /hello2/hello? Or am I moving /hello to /hello2? It seems that when I do something like this, I get inconsistent ...
user4951's user avatar
  • 10.5k
26 votes
2 answers
27k views

mv a file without breaking a symlink to that file

Is it possible to mv a file w/out breaking a symbolic link to that file? My initial response to this is no, and I'm working out a script based solution to change the links immediately following the ...
gabe.'s user avatar
  • 11.8k
24 votes
8 answers
70k views

Rename files by incrementing a number within the filename

I have a directory which contains numbered image files, something like this: 01.png 02.png 03.png 03.svg 04.png 05.png 06.jpg 07.png 08.png 09.png 09.svg 10.png Sometimes there may be multiple ...
robertc's user avatar
  • 343
23 votes
4 answers
64k views

How can you move (or copy) all files of a certain type to a directory in Unix?

I'm not very familiar with all the tricks of grep/find/awk/xargs quite yet. I have some files matching a particular pattern, say *.xxx. These files are in random places throughout a certain directory....
qodeninja's user avatar
  • 709
21 votes
4 answers
30k views

How can I rename a lot of files using a regex?

I want to rename a lot of files on Mac OS X (10.7.2).. I don't have the perl package for the rename command. My files have names like "T452-102456-0.png" and I want to delete the "-0" part. I know I ...
Raphaël's user avatar
  • 543
21 votes
4 answers
15k views

bulk rename (or correctly display) files with special characters

I have a bunch of directories and subdirectories that contain files with special characters, like this file: robbie@phil:~$ ls test�sktest.txt test?sktest.txt Find reveals an escape sequence: ...
RobbieV's user avatar
  • 313
21 votes
3 answers
54k views

How to force overwrite non-empty directories using `mv`

I am wanting to move (not just copy) a group of files/directories to a different directory some of which have name clashes with files/directories in the target directory. My main objective is to move ...
user1227038's user avatar
20 votes
6 answers
9k views

Subtract 1 from all file names (rename them) in a directory.

I have a directory which contains image files with names like image1.jpg image2.jpg image3.jpg ... Unfortunately, the image names must be zero based, so image1.jpg should be image0.jpg, image2....
Wes's user avatar
  • 831
20 votes
5 answers
62k views

move file by list in file (with leading whitespace)

I have a file that contains file names. For example: /tmp/list.txt (it is with the spaces at the start of each line): /tmp/file.log /app/nir/home.txt /etc/config.cust I want, using one line, ...
Nir's user avatar
  • 1,335
20 votes
4 answers
21k views

What's the difference between 'rename' and 'mv'?

It's not completely clear to me, but what is the difference between mv and rename (from util-linux-ng 2.17.2 as /usr/bin/rename)? Are there advantages of one over the other beyond rename accepting ...
Urda's user avatar
  • 326
20 votes
2 answers
5k views

What does mv do in case of errors?

I've just tried to move a big tree from one disk to another, which was too small. Now, I'm left with something I can't really understand - it looks like some files were indeed moved away from the ...
maaartinus's user avatar
  • 5,059
20 votes
1 answer
833 views

How to move a directory, file by file? (instead of "copy then remove")

My computer has one 500GB drive. I want to move 400GB of data from /unencrypted to /encrypted. Both directories are on the same partition, but /encrypted is handled by ecryptfs, so mv /uncrypted/* /...
Nicolas Raoul's user avatar
19 votes
5 answers
46k views

What is the most efficient way to move a large number of files that reside in a single directory?

CentOS 5.x I apologize if this is a repeat question. I've seen a lot of similar questions (regarding deleting files) but not exactly the same scenario. I have a directory containing hundreds of ...
Mike B's user avatar
  • 8,890
19 votes
6 answers
38k views

How copy and rename files found in "find" function Linux?

I have a folder named /home/user/temps which has 487 folders. In each folder I have a file called thumb.png. I want to copy all files named thumb.png to a separate folder and rename them based on ...
Mirage's user avatar
  • 1,547

1
2 3 4 5
25