Linux command tip: How to rename multiple files under Linux

I know I can rename the file with the MV command. But what if I want to rename a lot of files? It would be tedious to do this for every file. Is there a way to rename multiple files at once?

In Linux, when you want to change a file name, use the MV command. However, MV cannot use wildcard rename characters to name multiple files. You can use SED, awk, or in combination with Xargs to handle multiple files. However, these command lines are cumbersome and unfriendly, and are prone to error if you are not careful. You don't want to undo the wrong name of 1000 files!

When you want to rename multiple files, the Rename tool is probably the simplest, safest, and most powerful command-line tool. This rename command is actually a Perl script that is preinstalled on all Linux distributions now.

The following is the basic syntax for renaming commands.

Rename [-v-n-f] <pcre> <files>

<pcre> is a Perl-compatible regular expression that represents the file to be renamed and what to do. The regular expression is in the form of ' s/old-name/new-name/'.

The '-V ' option displays the details of the file name change (for example: XXX renamed to YYY).

The '-n ' option tells the rename command to show that the file will be renamed without actually changing the name. This option is useful in situations where you want to simulate changing the file name without changing the file name.

The '-f ' option enforces overwriting of existing files.

Below, let's look at a few practical examples of the rename command.

Change the file name extension

Suppose you have a lot of. jpeg picture files. You want to change their names to. jpg. The following command will change the. jpeg file to *.jpg.

$ Rename ' s/\.jpeg$/\.jpg/' *.jpeg

Uppercase to lowercase, and vice versa

Sometimes you want to change the case of the file name, you can use the following command.

Change all files to lowercase:

# rename ' y/a-z/a-z/' *

Change all files to uppercase:

# rename ' y/a-z/a-z/' *

Change the file name pattern

Now let's consider more complex regular expressions that contain sub-patterns. In Pcre, the sub-pattern is enclosed in parentheses, and the $ character is followed by a number (such as $1,$2).

For example, the following command will change ' imgnnnn.jpeg ' to ' dannnnn.jpg '.

# rename-v ' S/img_ (\d{4}) \.jpeg$/dan_$1\.jpg/' *.jpeg

Img_5417.jpeg renamed as Dan_5417.jpg

Img_5418.jpeg renamed as Dan_5418.jpg

Img_5419.jpeg renamed as Dan_5419.jpg

Img_5420.jpeg renamed as Dan_5420.jpg

Img_5421.jpeg renamed as Dan_5421.jpg

For example, the following command will change ' img_000nnnn.jpeg ' to ' dan_nnnn.jpg '.

# rename-v ' s/img_\d{3} (\d{4}) \.jpeg$/dan_$1\.jpg/' *jpeg

Img_0005417.jpeg renamed as Dan_5417.jpg

Img_0005418.jpeg renamed as Dan_5418.jpg

Img_0005419.jpeg renamed as Dan_5419.jpg

Img_0005420.jpeg renamed as Dan_5420.jpg

Img_0005421.jpeg renamed as Dan_5421.jpg

In the above example, the sub-mode ' \d{4} ' captures 4 consecutive digits, and the four digits captured are $ $, which will be used for the new file name.

Linux command tip: How to rename multiple files under Linux